The Foundry: Forum's Studio Sprint (Cohort 5)

About

Forum Ventures' free five-week remote sprint helps idea-stage founders pressure-test a B2B concept through customer and market diligence, with strong participants able to pitch for a $250K investment and Studio support.

Benefits

• 🆓Free participation
  The Foundry is free to participate in, with no cost to participate.
• 🧪Five-week validation sprint
  A remote, five-week program to pressure-test a B2B startup idea with Forum's Studio team.
• 👥Studio access
  Participants work directly with Forum's venture-building, GTM, and product team and join a cohort of 6 to 10 founders.
• 📊Validation work
  Participants run customer and market diligence, define their ICP, test GTM assumptions, and assess market size, competitive positioning, and investor appetite.
• 🎤Pitch opportunity
  Strong candidates can pitch Forum for $250K USD in investment and Studio support; investment is not guaranteed.
• 🧭Clarity outcomes
  Participants leave with a sharper thesis, customer evidence, and a pitch-ready narrative, or a clear answer that the idea is not the one.
• 💰Conditional funding
  If selected and Forum invests, the program states a $250K USD investment plus CTO, designer, and GTM support until the founder hires their own team.
• 📈Conditional terms
  If Forum invests, founders keep majority equity and board control according to the official page.

Eligibility Criteria

• Open to founders with a B2B startup idea at the idea or pre-build stage; the program is designed for the solo-founder stage before a company is built.
• Participants are expected to have an idea already in motion through customer conversations, product sketches, or market testing.
• Early-stage operator experience and product, business, or domain expertise are expected.
• Participants should want to become venture-backed founders and be able to attract and lead a great team.
• Participants must be able to commit about 4 to 6 hours per week for five weeks alongside a current role.
• Participants must be able to collaborate in North American time zones.
• Preferred profiles include repeat founders, domain experts, operators with a technical cofounder, and product or GTM leaders; applicants do not need to fit all profiles.
• No pitch deck is required.

Participation Commitments

• Submit an application for Cohort 5; applications close 4 November 2026.
• Cohort 5 starts 9 November 2026 and runs for five weeks.
• Commit 4 to 6 hours per week alongside a current role; the program is part-time and does not require quitting a job.
• Participate remotely in weekly group sessions plus async support.
• No pitch deck is required to apply.
• Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis; if selected as a fit, expect an intro call before the cohort starts.
• The Foundry is free to participate in; if Forum invests at the end, investment terms are a separate conversation.
• If Forum invests, founders keep majority equity and board control.

Target Sector

Agriculture & Food, Defense & Security, Education, Energy & Utilities, Financial Services, Government & Public Sector, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Media & Entertainment, Real Estate & Construction, Retail & Consumer, Semiconductors & Electronics, Sports & Fitness, Telecommunications, Transportation & Logistics, Travel & Hospitality, Other

Target Location

Remote; the Ashby listing specifies Remote US and Remote Canada, with additional locations Chicago, San Francisco, Boston and New York, and asks participants to be able to collaborate in North American time zones. The official program page states the format is remote but does not itself list applicant countries.