Questions, answered
The questions we are asked most, including the ones about how we charge and what we will not promise.
What does Gem Group actually do?
Four related things: federal grant strategy for research-driven organisations, government relations in Washington, and advisory work for companies raising private equity or venture capital. They connect because for a research-driven organisation the funding question is one question — public or private money, and in what order.
Who are your clients?
Universities and research institutes, early-stage life sciences and technology companies, academic spin-outs, and developers of energy and sustainability projects. Engagements are confidential unless a client says otherwise.
How are engagements priced?
Fee-based, agreed in advance and scoped to the work rather than to any outcome. We do not take a percentage of a federal award, and we do not price against results we cannot control.
Can you guarantee funding?
No. Federal competitions are peer-reviewed and oversubscribed, and investment decisions belong to investors. What can be influenced is whether a proposition is in front of the right people, framed for what they are trying to do, and credible on delivery.
Do you invest your own capital?
No. The capital work is advisory — readiness, positioning and introductions. Gem Group does not manage outside capital or hold client funds, and nothing here is an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security.
Is your lobbying activity disclosed?
Registration and quarterly reporting under the Lobbying Disclosure Act apply once the statutory thresholds are met, and those filings are public. Clients should expect the specifics of any engagement in writing.
Where are you based?
Washington, DC is the headquarters, at Watergate South on New Hampshire Avenue. There are also offices in San Diego and Scottsdale. Federal practice is national, so location is about proximity to the agencies and to the research clusters rather than about territory.
Federal Grant Advisory
Do you write the proposal?
We work on strategy, positioning, agency engagement and review. Where drafting support is part of an engagement it is scoped and priced explicitly. The science has to come from the people doing it — a consultant who writes your specific aims is a warning sign, not a service.
Do you work on contingency, or take a percentage of the award?
No. Engagements are fee-based and agreed in advance. Contingency arrangements tied to federal awards conflict with the cost principles that govern those awards, and would create an allowability problem for the grantee.
Which agencies do you work across?
Principally NIH, the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense and the SBIR/STTR programmes across participating agencies. Which is right depends on the work, not on preference.
How early should we come to you?
Before the solicitation you are targeting is published, if possible. Once a notice is out, the decisions that most affect the outcome — programme, mechanism, framing, team composition — are largely fixed.
Can you guarantee an award?
No, and nobody honestly can. Federal competitions are peer-reviewed and heavily oversubscribed. What is controllable is whether the application is in the right place, answers the right question and is credible on delivery.
Government Relations
Is your lobbying activity registered?
Registration and quarterly reporting under the Lobbying Disclosure Act apply once the statutory thresholds are met, and filings are public. Ask for the specifics of any engagement in writing — that is a reasonable thing for a client to expect.
Can a federal grantee pay for lobbying?
Not out of federal award funds, in the ordinary case. Costs of influencing the award of a federal grant are treated as unallowable, and separate disclosure requirements attach to using non-federal funds for that purpose. Any engagement with a grantee has to be structured with that in mind.
What outcomes can you commit to?
Access, preparation, monitoring and representation. Not results. Anyone promising a legislative or appropriations outcome is describing something they cannot control.
Private Equity Advisory
Do you invest your own capital?
No. This is advisory work — preparation, positioning and introductions. Gem Group does not manage outside capital or hold client funds.
Is this investment advice?
No. Nothing on this site or in an advisory engagement is investment advice, or an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Companies and investors should take their own legal and financial advice on any transaction.
Should we raise before or after applying for grants?
It depends on what each is being used to prove, but for research-driven companies a non-dilutive federal path first is often the stronger sequence. It de-risks the technology without costing equity, which changes what terms are available later.
Venture Capital Advisory
How early is too early?
If the honest answer to "what would have to be true for this to work" is still mostly unknown, that is usually a question for non-dilutive funding rather than a venture round. Raising against unanswered feasibility questions is expensive.
Do you work with university spin-outs?
Yes, and they are a substantial part of the early-stage work. The IP position and the technology transfer terms usually need settling before anything else is useful.
Do you take equity as a fee?
Engagements are fee-based and agreed in advance. Any other arrangement would be documented explicitly, and both sides should have their own counsel look at it.
Still have a question?
Email ggiolito@gemgroupllc.com and ask. We would rather answer it directly than have you guess.