You brought the idea. We bring the discipline.
Forge is for founders who are building their own company, not running one of ours. We work on the business with you until the economics hold up, then we help you raise from outside investors. No fee. Equity only.
Applications are read on a rolling basis. There is no cohort, no deadline and no demo day.
We build cash-positive businesses ourselves. Forge holds outside founders to that same discipline before they raise, so that when they do raise, they raise from strength instead of from need.
What you get
The same operating machine behind A Foundery's own companies, pointed at yours.
No fee, ever
Forge is equity based. You never write us a cheque, and there is no monthly program fee. We are paid when the company is worth more, which means we lose if you lose.
Operators, not mentors
The people working on your company are the same people who conceive and run A Foundery's own businesses. Advice comes with hands on the work.
Delivery pods on tap
Engineering, design, back office and finance ops as a shared resource. You get senior capacity without carrying senior salaries before you can afford them.
Investment readiness as a deliverable
You leave with a model, a data room and a story that survives diligence, not a pitch deck template.
Warm introductions when earned
TheSeedFund.vc and Astir.vc are separate entities that make their own independent decisions. Forge does not guarantee either of them will invest.
You keep control
Forge is a minority equity position. It is your company, your board and your decisions. We do not take it over.
The six stages
Companies move stage by stage as they earn it. There is no fixed programme length.
Diagnose
We take the company apart. Unit economics, real gross margin, cost to acquire a customer, what the team actually does each week. Most founders discover the constraint is not the one they came in to fix.
Sharpen the offer
One customer, one problem, one price. We cut the roadmap down to the thing people already pay for, and we write the offer in language a buyer repeats back to you.
Prove the engine
A repeatable way to win a customer that does not depend on the founder being in the room. This is the stage most companies skip and the stage every investor tests.
Systemize delivery
Our delivery pods plug into the parts you should not be hiring for yet. Engineering, back office, finance ops. You keep the headcount low and the margin visible.
Instrument the numbers
Clean books, a live dashboard, cohort retention and a model an outsider can audit in an afternoon. Diligence stops being an event and becomes a file you already keep.
Raise, or do not
We introduce you to investors when the numbers earn it. If the business is better off compounding on its own cash, we will tell you that instead. Both are wins.
Who Forge is for
We would rather be clear now than waste your quarter.
Forge is for you if
- You already have an idea you have thought hard about, or a company that is trading
- You are willing to have the economics of your business examined honestly
- You want to raise from outside investors within the next twelve to eighteen months
- You are prepared to cut scope to get to a repeatable sale
- You want operators in the work with you, not a weekly office-hours slot
Forge is not for you if
- You want to run one of A Foundery's own companies instead of your own
- You are looking for a cheque with no change to how the business is run
- The idea has not been tested against a single real customer conversation
- You cannot give the company your full attention
- You want a certificate, a demo day photograph or a logo for your website
Would you rather run a business that is already conceived and funded, with a salary from day one? That is the venture studio, not Forge.
See the companies recruitingQuestions
Ready to have it looked at properly?
Two steps, no fee, and a straight answer either way.
Apply to Forge