[andyjsong]

For those who want a live example:

MakeSunsets has raised ~$1.8M from angels + VCs and another ~$133K in Cooling Credit sales over the past 12 months from individuals [1]. These purchases directly fund stratospheric aerosol injection — bringing awareness and cooling the Earth.

We’ve applied to SBIRs, explored DAOs, crowdfunding platforms, and are in conversations with family offices and UHNWI.

Most of our closed deals? They’ve come from Twitter and Substack. The key: talking directly to decision-makers — not committees.

[1] Climate dads: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0685/0042/2976/files/Make_...

[jfengel]

Uh... I feel like pumping more pollution into the atmosphere isn't really the best solution here. I could see funding research into it, to prove its safety and efficacy, but jumping ahead to doing it sounds reckless. It would likely be illegal if the amount weren't so small as to be useless.

[godelski]

Not all particulates are the same. Their site says they're injecting materials that are biodegradable and seed clouds. Such a thing should be fine, but also needs more physical testing.

  > I could see funding research into it

If they're on SBIR then it should be pretty small scale.

SBIR == Small Business Innovation Research. Phase I is up to ~$314k and pretty short term. Phase 2 is up to ~2M and a bit longer. I've worked on and won some NASA, DoD, and DARPA and these were usually around $150k and 6mo for Phase I and $750k for 2 years on Phase II (those were STTRs)[0]. So those maximums aren't always being handed out. (The first few Phase I awards I saw for 2025 were $140k and the first Phase II was <$650k)

So yeah, it's not much and they're not going to have a huge impact.

  > It would likely be illegal if the amount weren't so small as to be useless.

... What? ...

  => @andyjsong <=

do you have a link to your proposals? I can't seem to find them by searching "make sunsets" or "makesunsets" on the SBIR award site[1]. Even "sunsets" isn't showing up and "sunset" is only showing Sunset Laboratory, Inc. That you?

Or are you just saying you applied and have no award? Good luck, these can be tricky to write but once you get the hang of it it isn't too bad.

[0] They've since bumped the numbers, but not a ton. You can go look at awards on [1] to see actual numbers.

[1] https://www.sbir.gov/awards

[andyjsong]

I think you answered your own question. But to clarify, we applied for SBIRs, but were never awarded, yet.

[godelski]

Yeah I was just looking for confirmation in case I was missing it. Thanks! Good luck next round.

Also it can help getting some STTRs first. They like to promote the collaboration and from what I'm aware of it's considered less risky. Once you have a few under your belt they become easier to get