A grant isn't paid for in euros, it's paid for in attention

A grant looks like free money.

It almost never is.

Not because it costs euros, but because it costs something else.

Here's how I think about it.

There are public programmes that help small businesses pay for digital services. Agencies can sign up as providers and sell those services with the funding. On paper it's perfect: the customer pays less and you sell more easily.

We've looked at it closely. And what struck me most wasn't the money. It was everything that came with it.

The price that isn't in the call for applications

Forms. Deadlines. Requirements that change. Waiting to get in, waiting to justify, waiting to get paid. And above all, a door that someone else opens or closes.

All of that consumes something scarcer than money in a small company: attention.

And attention has a curious effect. When you put a lot of it into a programme, you start thinking of it as your sales strategy. How many customers will it bring? How will we sell it? Without noticing, you stop asking how you're going to find customers yourself.

It's like stopping looking for work because you've bought a lottery ticket.

A grant can help a business that already works, but it can't be the reason it works.

The risk of depending on someone else's decision

A company that lives off its customers controls its income. If something goes wrong, it can fix it.

A company built around a grant depends on rules it doesn't write. If the programme changes, is delayed or disappears, the whole plan wobbles. And that has nothing to do with how well it does its job.

That's why I'm wary of anything that makes us depend on a decision we don't control. Not because grants are bad. They can be great. But because our model only works if we stay in charge of our income.

How to use them without them using you

If a grant fits you, go ahead. But there are questions I'd ask first:

• Would I do this anyway without the grant? If the answer is no, the grant isn't helping you: it's steering you.
• How many hours will it cost me? Count the paperwork, the waiting and the follow-ups. That time is money too.
• What happens if it doesn't arrive? If the plan collapses, it wasn't a plan. It was a hope.

And one simple rule: sell as if the grant didn't exist. The customers you find yourself are the ones who stay when the programme changes.

Why it matters more without investors

We started Foxnice in 2014 with €300 and no outside money. Every euro we spend comes from a customer. So time spent on something that gives nothing back doesn't come out of any budget: it comes from the same place that pays for our products and our freedom.

A grant looks like free money.

Before you apply, ask how many hours are inside it.

P.S. Next time someone tells you "this is free money", ask them who fills in the forms.