A few years ago, I started a biomedical engineering company. I was scrambling for cash and a seemingly easy way to get money was through the government's SBIR (Small Business Innovative Research) program. Writing SBIR proposals was easy. Winning them was another story.
After my third proposal, I got a call from an Army procurement officer who asked if I would be willing to develop a lightweight dental chair for $50,000. You bet I would. The basic problem was that when there was a choice between loading 300 lbs of ammo on an airplane versus 300 lbs of dental chair, the ammo won every time. Army dentists wanted a lightweight, (less than 15 lbs) portable chair.
In six months I designed and built a prototype that literally fit in a suitcase. I brought it to Washington D.C. to show the Primary Investigator, an Army Colonel. All the dentists loved it. The design wasn't perfect, but it demonstrated the concept. They asked me to work out the bugs in a phase II project for $100,000.
No problem. I wrote the phase II proposal. Several months passed with no word from the Army, so I called the Colonel. He was a little embarrassed. The Army already had an approved, lightweight dental chair in inventory. He just didn't know it until he submitted the request for the phase II funds.
I still have the $50,000 dental chair in my office. I can't bring myself to throw it out.

Doug B., Orange, Ohio