A resource for Maryland readers
Three Maryland programs: free consulting, funding and grants
Free one-to-one consulting, state funding, and grants to train the staff you already have. These are other people’s programs, and we put the list together because the question kept coming up.
Our stake in this
Our only stake is that you find them useful. All three are run independently of CAIS, anything you get from them is yours in full, and our advice is the same whether you apply or not. We checked each one on 23 August 2026. Their terms are theirs and can change, so read them.
We work with small businesses across the United States, and these three links are worth an afternoon if your business is in Maryland. If you are somewhere else, your own state almost certainly runs an SBDC too.
1. Maryland SBDC: free business consulting
Part of the national Small Business Development Center network, running since 1988, headquartered at the University of Maryland with six regional offices across the state (Maryland SBDC, 2026).
The consulting costs nothing. In their own words it is “FREE individualized consulting, from start up to established businesses” and “at NO COST TO YOU”. They also run no-cost and low-cost training in money management and marketing.
Why it leads this page: technology and AI advisory is one of the specialties they list, so if you want a second opinion on something a company like ours has quoted you, that is where to get one, free and by appointment.
marylandsbdc.org(opens in a new tab)2. TEDCO: state funding for technology businesses
Maryland’s technology investment arm, aimed at Maryland entrepreneurs and startups. The funding page lists Social Impact Funds for underserved founders and communities, Seed Funds, Venture Funds, Tech Transfer, Cultivate Maryland and the Equitech Growth Fund, federal SBIR and STTR matching funds, and the Rural Business Innovation Initiative.
Local businesses will find the most in the Social Impact and Rural streams, so start there.
tedcomd.com/funding(opens in a new tab)3. EARN Maryland: grants to train the staff you have
The Maryland Department of Labor’s workforce training initiative: grant funding to train the people already on your payroll, instead of to hire new ones. Confirmed active in the department’s current grant language.
labor.maryland.gov/earn(opens in a new tab)The one to diary for next year
Maryland Business Works comes up in every search for this, and it is currently paused: this fiscal year’s budgeted funding has been obligated, and the Department of Labor reopens applications in a future cycle. Put it in the calendar for next year and spend today’s afternoon on the three above.
Working out what to build first?
Up to eleven questions, about three minutes. It asks about your own week, and the report it produces is yours to take to any of the three programs above.
Get my free score