Maria Artunduaga, SBIR Recipient

SBIR was everything for us in those early days. As a woman of color without an engineering background, finding capital to build our MVP was brutal. Investors weren't knocking down our door. But SBIR gave us something money alone couldn't buy—third-party validation. When academicians and investors saw we'd won SBIR grants, suddenly we weren't just "Maria with an idea." We were a team the government believed in. That validation changed the conversation. SBIR filled a gap that so many women entrepreneurs have to face—that moment when you're technically solvent but practically invisible to traditional capital. The government stepped in when others wouldn't. And now, as we scale toward commercialization, I think about this often: one day, respiratory patients will have their lives changed because of tax dollars. Because someone believed in us when the odds weren't in our favor. I'm grateful every single day.