Find Labs That Just Won Funding

Overview

A research grant is a purchase order waiting to happen. When a lab wins an NIH or NSF award, it receives budget that is already allocated — for equipment, reagents, software, and services — with a defined performance period and, often, pressure to spend it. The principal investigator becomes a buyer overnight, usually without a procurement process standing between you and them.

This Hound watches federal research award announcements, filters for the labs whose science matches what you sell, finds the principal investigator, and opens the conversation while the budget is fresh and unspent.

How to set it up

Four things to brief your Hound. This is the exact configuration behind this play.

A · Describe the opportunity

This is the brief every source is filtered against. You describe what you're looking for in plain language, add keywords to sharpen it, then set the structured criteria.

Tell Forest what you're looking for:

"I'm looking for research labs that just won federal grant funding where the science means they'll need what I sell — the techniques, instruments, or reagents in my category. I want them soon after the award, while the budget is fresh and equipment decisions haven't been made. Prioritize new awards (not renewals) and labs whose abstracts mention methods my products serve. Skip awards too small to fund capital equipment and fields outside my catalog."

Keywords to watch for: R01 · new award · awarded · NSF grant · NIH funding · equipment supplement · core facility · [your techniques, e.g. flow cytometry, mass spec, cryo-EM] · [your product category]

Fields to extract: institution · principal_investigator · award_amount · award_date · funding_agency · project_title · abstract_keywords · performance_period · award_type

Match criteria:

• ✓ Abstract or project title indicates use of techniques your products serve

• ✓ Award amount large enough to fund your category

• ✓ New award (not a no-cost extension or renewal of existing work)

• ✗ Exclude awards too small for capital equipment

• ✗ Exclude fields outside your catalog

B · Choose the sources to monitor

Federal research awards are public, structured, and include the abstract — which is what makes this play work. The abstract tells you exactly which techniques the lab will use, so your brief can match on science, not just dollars.

Federal award data (free — connected by default) 🟢

• NIH RePORTER — reporter.nih.gov — Every NIH award with PI, institution, amount, and full abstract. The richest source in this play: search abstracts for your techniques.

• NSF Award Search — nsf.gov/awardsearch — NSF awards with abstracts and PI details.

• USASpending.gov — usaspending.gov — All federal grant awards across agencies, including DOE, DOD, and USDA research.

• Grants.gov — grants.gov — Award announcements alongside open opportunities.

News & Press 🟡 default source, always on — reads the open web against your brief for university press releases about new labs, new faculty hires, and core-facility launches — all of which mean buying, and often surface before the award posts.

C · Define the ICP to reach

Who to reach at the funded lab, in priority order, with fallbacks.

1. Principal Investigator — Primary — controls the grant budget directly — PRIMARY

2. Lab Manager — Runs purchasing day to day; often the real decision-maker on consumables

3. Core Facility Director / Department Procurement — Fallback for shared-instrument purchases — FALLBACK

D · Email & LinkedIn sequence

The play the Hound runs for each match. PIs are scientists — lead with the science, not the sale. Fields drop in as variables.

Email · Day 0 Congratulations on the {{funding_agency}} award for {{project_title}}. If the {{technique}} work in the abstract is central to the aims, we build {{your_offering}} specifically for that — several labs doing similar work use it to {{concrete_benefit}}. Happy to send specs or arrange a demo unit if it's useful as you set up.

↓ Wait 3 days · no reply

LinkedIn · connection request · Day 3 Hi {{first_name}} — congratulations on the {{funding_agency}} award. Interested in your work on {{project_title}} and would value connecting.

↓ Wait 4 days · no reply

Email · Day 7 · follow-up Following up once — happy to send a short application note on how other labs use {{your_offering}} for {{technique}}, no obligation. Useful reference even if you're already equipped.

⏸ Any reply on either channel pauses the whole sequence — the conversation is yours.