What an absolute blessing and privilege it was to meet up for a coworking session at the beautiful Cafeina Cafe located in the vibrant City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. We met up with @Teresa Valenzuela and vibed with our mutual AI projects, our dreams and designs.💻🚨☕️🎯🇲🇽❤️

Hola Mi Gente! This information is far too important not to get out to the group as soon as possible. In doing my research I’ve compiled a checklist to know if you have the opportunity to apply for a life changing grant. Please do your due diligence and make sure you check all your requirements before submission. If the opportunity exists to get a group Zoom call to help each other submit their application count me in. 📅🚨🎯💵💻📲 SBIR Grant Application — Complete Requirements Checklist U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) FY26 Phase I Solicitation Prepared: May 14, 2026Solicitation Opens: June 3, 2026Proposals Due: ~July 7, 2026Prepared for: Founders preparing DOT SBIR Phase I applications 1. Timeline & Key Dates MilestoneDatePre-Solicitation Q&A PeriodApril 29 – May 29, 2026 (5:00 PM ET)Full Solicitation OpensJune 3, 2026Proposals Due~July 7, 2026Anticipated Award NotificationsTBD (typically 4–6 months after close)Phase I Period of PerformanceTypically 6–12 months Note: The SBIR program was reauthorized in April 2026 via the Small Business Innovation and Economic Security Act (SBIESA) after a lapse from Sept 2025. New rules apply — see Section 9. 2. Registration Requirements (Complete Before June 3) Every registration must be active before submission. Some take weeks — start immediately. 2A. Login.gov Account - Required for SAM.gov, Grants.gov, SBA systems - Free at login.gov 2B. SAM.gov Registration - Register at sam.gov - Assigns your Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) — 12-character alphanumeric ID (replaces DUNS) - Registration is free but can take 6–8 weeks - Must be renewed annually — verify it's active and not expired - Required info: legal business name, address, EIN/TIN, banking info, NAICS codes, business type 2C. Grants.gov Account - Register at grants.gov - DOT uses its own Volpe portal, but Grants.gov account is recommended

Up to 250K Federal Grant Money Available My fellow builders — if you're creating something with AI and you haven't looked into SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research), you're leaving money on the table. The federal government sets aside roughly $4 BILLION per year for small businesses developing innovative technology. That's not a loan. That's grant money. You don't pay it back. Here's what I learned tonight: Phase 1 gives you up to $200K-$275K just for proof of concept. If you're already building a working product (which most of us in this cohort are), you're ahead of 90% of applicants who are still pitching ideas. To qualify you need: - A US-based small business (LLC, Corp, etc.) - Fewer than 500 employees - Majority US-owned - A technology with commercial potential That's it. If you're in this community, you probably already qualify. The DOT has a pre-solicitation open RIGHT NOW through May 29. NSF's America's Seed Fund is also accepting applications. There are 11 federal agencies giving out this money and most founders don't even know it exists. I'm building my application this week using Claude Dispatch. By the time I click "Start Application" I'll have every requirement mapped, every registration verified, and a proposal outline ready to go. If you're building something real — whether it's in trucking, healthcare, education, fintech, logistics, or any other space — go to sbir.gov and search for topics that match your technology. The money is there. The question is whether you're going to go get it. Don't sleep on this. sbir.gov

I had a goal of getting my coaching YouTube channel to 100 subscribers. Just crossed 105 and honestly, I’m really happy about the progress. BUT… A few months ago, I decided to start a second channel focused on something much more personal to me: Latino culture, masculinity, vulnerability, emotions, and the stuff many of us were never allowed to talk about growing up. Now I technically have “double the work.” - One channel helps educate and attract potential coaching clients. - The other doesn’t really fit neatly into a business strategy at all. It just feels meaningful. And honestly, that second channel has taught me something important: Sometimes the things that feel most aligned won’t immediately look like the most scalable or profitable decision. But they still matter. anyone else here has experienced this tension between building what grows… vs building what feels deeply connected to your mission? Heres the link if anyone is interested in checking it out (feedback welcome!): https://www.youtube.com/@wakinguphispanic

<gigasphere.io> is live — and it’s intentionally unfinished. We build on the lean method: ship fast, learn from real users, iterate in the open. What you’re seeing isn’t a polished pitch deck. It’s a working product ecosystem for the freight industry — compliance, fleet management, financial tools — actively being shaped by the operators who’ll use it. Every feature on that page exists in code, not in a slide. The rough edges are intentional. They mean we’re building, not presenting. Since the last time I posted here, a few things have changed. We’ve unified the brand across every product. We deployed Cloudflare Turnstile bot protection on our login pages. We launched Freight Intel — a 3x/week newsletter covering trucking regulations, compliance deadlines, and AI in freight. We brought on Yahaira Castillo who is my daughter/niece/ twin flame❤️ 🔥 as our President of Growth & Operations. And we’re in the early stages of onboarding our first client. I also passed LinkedIn’s security verification — so I’m fully back and active on the platform. If you’re a founder, operator, developer, or investor and want to connect professionally, find me there. I’m building in the open and my DMs are open. 6 patents pending. 3 live products. 0 investors. A 3-person team building from the cab of a truck and a home office, 7 days a week. 🌐 <gigasphere.io> 📰 <gigasphere.beehiiv.com> 💼 <linkedin.com/in/armando-galvan-holbrook> If you’re building something too — I’d love to hear about it. We’re all figuring this out together. <gigasphere.io