Founder-To-Be, The Foundry

Please note: this is not a job or an employment opportunity with Forum Ventures. The Foundry is a part-time, five-week program you can do alongside your current role, and it's open to those working full-time roles. Expect about 4 hours per week.

Have a startup idea you can't stop thinking about? The Foundry: Forum's Studio Sprint is a five-week program where you validate your idea alongside Forum's AI Studio team. At the end, strong candidates can earn a $250K investment and a full team to build the company with us.

How The Foundry works

You bring the idea. We bring the same validation process we use internally to launch studio companies. Over five weeks, you work directly with our venture building, GTM, and product team to pressure-test your idea against real market demand, willingness to pay, and investor appetite.

You'll leave with one of three outcomes: an invitation to pitch us for $250K, a clear answer that the idea isn't the one, or the clarity to go build it on your own.

Forum derisks and accelerates the founder path by:

• Five weeks of hands-on work with our studio team, not a curriculum

• Market and customer diligence, ICP definition, and GTM validation

• Clear answers on market size, competitive positioning, and investor appetite

• A room of founders at the same inflection point

• For strong candidates, a $250K USD investment plus a CTO, designer, and GTM support by your side until you hire your own team

• A fundraising playbook and network to raise your Seed and Series A

• $100K+ worth of business perks

Who this is for:

You might be one of these. You don't need to be all of them.

The Repeat Founder. You've built before, you know you want to do it again, and you want structure and momentum to get back in fast.

The Domain Expert. You know an industry's problems better than anyone and have an insight you can't shake.

The Operator with a Technical Cofounder. You've got a builder in your corner and want to move from idea to something real.

The Product or GTM Leader. You've shipped products or built pipelines at scale and are ready to do it for your own company.

About you:

• An idea already in motion. You've started talking to customers, sketching the product, or testing the market

• Early-stage operator experience, and expertise in product, business, or a specific domain

• A real desire to be a venture-backed founder

• The ability to attract and lead a great team

• Able to commit [X hours per week] for five weeks, alongside your current role

• Able to collaborate in North American time zones

Next cohort: Cohort 5

Applications close November 4. Cohort 5 kicks off November 9. Applications stay open year-round, so if the timing isn't right, apply anyway and we'll slot you into a future cohort.

If you're currently fundraising your first check, pre-seed or Seed round, please pitch our investment team here.