Editor’s note: Joan Siefert Rose is CEO of LaunchBio, which is a partner with WRAL TechWire. She also is a former CEO of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development.

DURHAM – How can I get money for my startup? That’s the question I hear most often from entrepreneurs, and it’s no surprise – the person starting a business likely has the motivation (the “why”), the product (the “what”) and the audience (the “who” and “where”).

That leaves “how” and “when,” with both questions usually tied to funding.

This month, LaunchBio presents a program that may provide answers.

In North Carolina, our friends at SBDTC will offer their insights into how to score points when writing an SBIR/STTR grant. It’s not enough to explain your science – you also need to make a case for the commercial potential of your research. Hear what they’ve learned from years of experience in successful grant writing in an April 5 workshop that will be part of our monthly Larger Than Life Science event.

The Sound of Science event

The theme of April’s Larger Than Life Science program is The Sound of Science, and we are thrilled to have RIoT, Duke University and Moogfest as our partners. RIoT (Raleigh Internet of Things) offers a panel of companies using voice recognition technology to aid healthcare delivery and medical research.  Duke researcher Jennifer Groh will talk about Hearing in a World of Light: How the Brain Connects Sights and Sounds Across Motion. To make her point, she’s bringing special goggles and bean bags for an audience participation project – see if you can “outsmart” your senses!

An oddball item on my bucket list is playing a theremin. It’s that distinctive tone-generating instrument prominently featured in the Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations, also used by bands like Radiohead and The Flaming Lips, as well as in much electronic music.  The thing is, you don’t touch the theremin so much as you stand in front of it and move your hands to generate tones. The team from Moogfest will be bringing a theremin for everyone to try at the April 5 event. They also will have keyboards, synthesizers, and other cool stuff to demonstrate The Sound of Science, plus information on the upcoming Moogfest festival in Durham.

You can sign up here for the April 5 Larger Than Life Science. I hope to see you there.  You can find me standing in line to play the theremin.