Grant application success: Why preparation beats luck every time

For many small businesses, securing funding is one of the biggest barriers to growth. While loans and investments can help, they often involve repayment or giving away equity in your business. Grants offer a different option.

They provide funding that can help businesses grow, launch projects, or expand their impact – often without repayment.

A different option

Former IBM consultant, Kate Taylor, built a thriving six-figure-turnover global business, Evenly, through grants, not investment and no employees.

Her big breakthrough came in 2020 when Kate won a Women in Innovation Award from Innovate UK, securing £50,000 in grant funding.

After Innovate UK, she secured multiple grants from the European Regional Development Fund and, more recently, funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund for rural businesses in Dorset. Last month, she won £7,500 at Theo Paphitis's Small Business Sunday NatWest Accelerator Pitch. She explains:

"I'm a big fan of grants. I've grown it really sustainably alongside my personal life.

"I wanted to grow the business without taking external investment. You need to be able to have that flexibility in your business. That's very important as a founder, especially in times of uncertainty." 

Luck versus preparation

With over 80% of small business applicants failing to obtain grants, is Kate’s story just a lucky one? 

According to funding adviser Lucy Kebbell, success with grants is less about luck and more about preparation. She explains:

“Grants don’t go to the best causes or the best innovation. They go to the best-prepared organisation. Even if you have a great idea or you’re doing something really meaningful, if you’re not prepared with the right documents, the right answers and the right information, it becomes much harder to present a strong application.”

Since the launch of our revamped Enterprise Nation Groups, an always-popular topic – grant funding – has been cropping up even more of late.

All about the money

While SMEs want to know where they can find the best-suited grants and how to write a winning application, and experts want to know what the major challenges applicants face are, a question that has commonly arisen – are most funding rejections preventable?

Enterprise Nation member and funding expert, Amanda Brooks, thinks so. She points out a pattern that has emerged through her recent conversations with founders across tech, property, consultancy and procurement. She says:

“The issue isn’t a lack of ambition. It isn’t even a lack of opportunity. It’s misalignment.”

From multiple discussions, the recurring challenges look like this:

• Applying for the wrong type of funding

• Mixing multiple business models into one application

• Poor financial structuring

• No eligibility check before submission

• Confusing “good idea” with fundable innovation

• Submitting applications before being lender-ready

• Receiving rejections with no clear explanation

• Wasting months chasing unsuitable grants

It isn’t just about “needing funding”; the real issue is that businesses often don’t know how to position themselves correctly for funding. Amanda continues:

“In my seven supporting start-ups and SMEs with funding documentation and financial positioning, I’ve seen:

• established companies applying for start-up loans

• hybrid models (tech + property, service + platform) assessed under one structure

• £250,000+ requests submitted under schemes designed for £25,000

• Strong experience presented without financial clarity

• Innovation described without measurable differentiation

“When applications are rejected, it’s rarely because the idea is weak. It’s usually because the structure, positioning, and funding route don’t align with how lenders assess risk.”

Funding is not just about completing a form.

It requires:

• Eligibility analysis before applying

• Clear separation of business activities where necessary

• Robust financial forecasts and cash flow alignment

• A defensible innovation or growth narrative

• Strategic selection of the correct funding route (grant, structured debt, development finance, or investor capital)

Why grant readiness matters

In a nutshell, it requires a lot more preparation than small business owners often anticipate.

One of the most common mistakes founders make is starting an application before preparing the information they need. Lucy explains why preparation is so important:

“Being grant-ready means you’re in a strong position to apply for and manage funding. It saves you time, it reduces stress, and it increases your chances of getting funding. You don’t want to be scrambling around the night before the deadline trying to find documents or write your bio.”

Instead, she encourages founders to prepare key information before opportunities appear:

“I always recommend writing things like your founder biography, your team bios, and possible answers to common questions ahead of time.

"Do it when you feel motivated and excited about your business. The answers will flow much better than if you’re trying to write them late at night just before a deadline.”

VIDEO: How to prepare for grant applications

Explore how you can build a readiness toolkit and boost your online presence to make grant applications a breeze:

Building a grant readiness toolkit

Lucy suggests preparing a grant readiness toolkit to make the entire application process easier and faster. Key areas founders should focus on:

1. Clarify your mission and impact

Grant providers want to understand the purpose of your business and the impact you want to create. Lucy advises founders to clearly define their mission:

“Spend time crafting your vision and mission statement. Be clear about what you’re trying to achieve and how you’re going to achieve it. Can you explain it in 150 words or less? Could you explain it in a 30-second elevator pitch? If not, that’s a really good place to start.”

2. Understand your financial position

Some grants include financial eligibility requirements, which makes it essential to understand your numbers. Lucy emphasises this point strongly:

“You really need to know your numbers because that’s going to enable you to establish very quickly whether or not you might be eligible for a grant. Some grants might say you need a minimum turnover or a certain amount of trading history, so knowing your financial position helps you decide quickly whether it’s worth applying.”

3. Show traction and proof of concept

Grant providers want evidence that a business has potential or demand. Lucy explains traction like this:

“Traction is about showing that people actually want what you’re offering. That could be sales, it could be people on a waiting list, subscriber numbers, testimonials, social media engagement, brand partnerships, or even letters of intent.

"You want to show that there is a real need for what you’re doing.”

Importantly, traction doesn’t always require large numbers.

“No number is too small. If you have something that proves people are interested, it’s much better than having nothing at all.”

4. Prepare essential documents

Most grant applications ask for similar information, so preparing documents in advance saves time. Lucy recommends storing everything in one place:

“Keep everything together in one folder so you can easily grab it when you’re applying. That might include your founder bio, team bios, your CV, your LinkedIn links, testimonials, and anything that shows credibility.”

She also suggests creating a document explaining why you’re the right founder for your business:

“I always recommend writing a document called ‘Why Me’, where you explain why you’re the best person to solve the problem your business is addressing.”

5. Prepare template answers

Many grant applications ask the same types of questions, which makes template answers extremely useful. So draft responses in advance. She says:

“You’ll often see similar questions across applications, so drafting 200–400-word answers ahead of time can really help. Then, when a grant comes along, you can tweak those answers to make them relevant for that specific application.”

Typical questions include:

• What problem are you solving?

• How does your solution work?

• What makes it unique?

• Why are you the right person to lead this business?

• What will grant funding help you achieve?

Lucy also stresses the importance of linking answers to the funder’s goals:

“Always make sure you’re addressing the values or the problem the funder is trying to solve, because that’s why they want to give you the money.”

Tinder for finance

We spoke to adviser Karen McFadden, founder of Money Insights and creator of MiMi, a fintech platform that could change how entrepreneurs discover funding.

MiMi was the culmination of years of experience and frustration, a digital tool designed to act as the ‘friendly face of finance’ – a tech-based platform that helps business owners uncover financial opportunities without needing to know exactly what to ask. Karen explains:

“Business owners are busy. They go to accountants, but accountants can't do it all. They attend networking events but might not meet the right person. Or they try to DIY it with Google or ChatGPT, but only get good results if they already know what to ask. MiMi removes that guesswork.

“The idea is that she will ask you a few simple, smart questions in a conversation, and based on your answers, she’ll match you to funding or financial support options that suit your business.

“The first version focuses on grants. Over time, we’ll layer in more areas like tax relief, funding competitions, savings, and even spending advice. We want her to be the go-to guide for business finance, especially for those who find the topic overwhelming.”

The key to winning grant funding

Many founders assume the best ideas win grants. In reality, preparation is often a major deciding factor. Lucy concludes:

“Even with all the tools in the world, if you don’t have the confidence to go out there and apply regularly, you won’t succeed. Preparation and persistence are what make the difference.”

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