[gnodar]

> Why should our taxes be handed out for risky business endeavors with no direct public benefit, when the private sector already has the means to handle this.

SBIR/STTR money is primarily used for R&D work for high risk technology. The risk being that it might not work, or might not solve the problem you're trying to solve. You don't spend the money on marketing and sales. It's meant for technologies precisely in the stage that the private sector is not good at handling, for similar reasons that the private sector isn't good at funding basic research. This stage is referred to as the funding gap or the valley of death[0][1].

[0] https://www.nap.edu/openbook/18944/xhtml/images/p37.jpg

[1] https://nsf.gov/eng/iip/innovation.pdf