Expert refiling of a past claim results in a 15X return for Orderease and a new lease on life.

Client Overview

Bubblegum Kids is a small-scale Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) company with a mission to create the "perfect bubblegum" — a product embodying an ambitious combination of qualities such as being kosher, gluten-free, sugar-free, and xylitol-free.

The company, led by passionate entrepreneurs, had been collaborating with various manufacturers to achieve these characteristics but faced challenges in defining and documenting their innovative efforts.  

Challenge

The company’s innovation efforts seemed unconventional for SR&ED claims. Traditionally, bubblegum production isn’t associated with scientific research or experimentation. In addition, the manufacturing occurred overseas, complicating SR&ED eligibility.

The documentation of experiments and feedback was informal, reliant on personal notes and anecdotal evaluations. And finally, there was little precedence for similar claims.

As a result before connecting with Zero to One Strategic, the team had spoken to other providers and faced skepticism about eligibility. They weren’t willing to take the time to consider the innovative work they were doing within this product space.

The team at Bubblegum Kids hoped to use SR&ED credits to offset development costs but lacked the infrastructure and technical expertise to navigate the complexities of SR&ED eligibility.

Solution

The expert team of ex-CRA auditors and CPA’s at Zero To One Strategic spent the time needed to identify the unique uncertainty the Bubblegum Kids team faced.

It was confirmed that the R&D work done by Bubblegum Kids’ was in fact eligible within the SR&ED framework.

They did this by leveraging case law, reframing innovation, providing support with documentation and ultimately setting up Bubblegum Kids for future success by educating the client on better tracking methodologies for future claims, ensuring compliance and defensibility. A considerable amount of time was spent supporting the client to collect and organize feedback records that formed the basis for their claim.

Impact

Zero to One Strategic meticulously documented the client’s development process, capturing experimentation with the product as the central R&D activity.

Despite what on the surface seemed to be informal evaluation methods, the team emphasized the resource constraints of a small business, aligning with CRA guidelines for small-scale innovators. This resulted in a successful claim and Bubblegum Kids were able to secure SR&ED credits. This enabled them to offset their significant R&D expenses. Furthermore, the Zero to One team supported Bubblegum Kids in “future-proofing” their innovation by introducing structured documentation and tracking methods for future claims.

Client Overview

iMarketing is an integrated marketing services company with clients in the not-for-profit, political & association sectors.

They use lead generation techniques in a unique way to facilitate communication with potential and actual donors. They are a fundraising company that lacked a clear understanding of R&D within their operations without a dedicated R&D team.

Challenge

Innovation was embedded in day-to-day tasks managed by the IT department with the team juggling support duties and new product development interchangeably.

This blurred the lines between R&D and routine work and therefore the engineering team struggled to identify eligible R&D activities. And historically, their innovation efforts were not systematically documented.

Additionally, the fundraising sector is not typically associated with R&D and as result, there was internal skepticism about claim eligibility that had to be overcome. This would have been compounded by the fact that most SR&ED providers would likely have dismissed iMarketing’s efforts as ineligible early in the process.

Solution

Unlike traditional SR&ED providers that filter clients for obvious eligibility, the team at Zero to One Strategic spent time analyzing iMarketing’s work, uncovering hidden opportunities. They were able to reframe their operations and showcase measurable optimization.

They focused on data-driven innovation that highlighted cutting-edge processes, including a proprietary algorithm that analyzed vast datasets to optimize operations based on specific team member skill sets and schedules.

Finally, the Zero to One team was able to demonstrate how to best document work properly for SR&ED eligibility. In turn, the IT team realized that the “routine activities” they thought were ineligible were addressing uncertainties, exceeding industry standards, and demonstrating innovation in their niche.

This empowered iMarketing to see their work through an R&D lens, paving the way for future claims.

Impact

Determined to highlight this innovative company, the Zero to One team conducted detailed interviews to analyze two years of work. They isolated innovative processes from routine operations, building a defensible narrative for SR&ED eligibility. This resulted in the filing of a successful claim, aligned with CRA guidelines, focusing on the most innovative aspects of their operations.

The iMarketing team secured funding for previously unrecognized innovation efforts. This reinforced the importance of operational optimization as an R&D expense, transforming iMarketing’s view of their work. They have positioned themselves as a tech-enabled innovator in the fundraising space.

Client Overview

RetiSpec is a health technology company developing an AI-based retinal imaging solution that enables early, non-invasive detection of Alzheimer’s disease, years before cognitive symptoms appear. Their platform offers an accessible and scalable alternative to traditional diagnostic methods like PET scans.

As their research and clinical validation efforts expanded, RetiSpec worked with Zero to One to help translate their cutting-edge work into a strong, fundable SR&ED claim.

Challenge

Although RetiSpec’s technology is highly sophisticated, communicating its scientific complexity within the rigid framework of the SR&ED program required thoughtful translation.

The challenge was not proving that RetiSpec was innovative, it was ensuring that their work was presented in a way that:

• Clearly outlined the experimental development behind their AI platform
• Avoided referencing proprietary or confidential technical configurations
• Highlighted core uncertainties and advancements while preserving their IP strategy

Our team worked closely with RetiSpec’s technical leadership to unpack their development journey, clinical milestones, and integration challenges.

Finally, this was all structured this into a clear and defensible narrative aligned to the strict requirements of the SR&ED program.

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Impact

Ultimately, we took a collaborative and investigative approach, building a deep understanding of both the technical arc of RetiSpec’s innovation and the operational complexity behind their clinical milestones. Our work served as a bridge between raw technical insight and the structured, auditable documentation that SR&ED demands.

By ensuring their new technology advancements were properly captured, we were able to significantly increase their SR&ED claim, nearly doubling the prior year’s total.

This was only possible because we clearly understood their product and how the technological uncertainty applied to software-hardware integration, without focusing on the physical components themselves. We also took a rigorous approach to framing experimental activities around AI reliability, reproducibility, and clinical performance.

Future Outlook

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At Zero to One, we don’t just fill in forms. We dig into the engineering, understand the clinical realities, and structure claims that are both bold and defensible. And the result? RetiSpec will be able to reinvest a significantly larger amount of non-dilutive capital into further development of their proprietary system, fueling progress on protocol optimization, AI refinement, and clinical expansion. Their focus will

remain on validation at scale, regulatory readiness, and clinical integration.

And their next steps will require continued innovation.