About
Built by an operator who has had to make the capital actually convert.
Forged Catalyst Group works with institutions accountable for outcomes: deployed capital, commercialized technology, and companies that survive the next stage.
Positioning
Not a consultancy that studies the problem. A platform that installs the system.
The work sits where capital formation, federal funding, regulatory pathway, and commercialization meet — the seam where most organizations lose eighteen months.
Engagements are scoped as operating work: architecture, sequencing, evidence, and cadence. Deliverables are used by boards, funders, reviewers, and LPs — not filed.
$250M+
Funding and contracts led as PI or Co-PI
10+
Venture funds and capital vehicles structured or supported
60+
Countries reached through global innovation programs
$173M
Private capital raised by companies in supported programs
Heath Naquin
Founder & Managing Principal
Heath Naquin is employed by the University City Science Center. Forged Catalyst Group is an independent entity, and its engagements are separate from that employment.
The Operator
The platform carries the work. The reps came from inside the systems.
Founder-led. Principal-delivered. Built for institutional mandates. Every engagement is delivered by the principal, drawing on 25+ years operating inside venture capital, government innovation policy, and global ecosystem development — the three systems that have to align before capital converts.
The through-line is conversion: what has to be true structurally before public, private, and institutional capital move together instead of in sequence.
Selected institutions across prior leadership, advisory work, and programs
- National Science Foundation
- National Institutes of Health
- U.S. Small Business Administration
- U.S. Department of State
- European Investment Fund
- The Engine / Builder Platform
- Kauffman Foundation
- MD Anderson Cancer Center
Inclusion reflects prior leadership, program, advisory, investment, or institutional work. It does not imply current endorsement, partnership, or client status.
Philosophy
Four operating principles.
Systems over transactions
A single award or round is an event. We build the mechanism that produces the next five.
Evidence over narrative
Institutional capital underwrites proof. We build the proof before we build the pitch.
Deployment over commitment
Capital that cannot be deployed is not capital. Design starts from the deployment path backward.
Filtering over volume
Go / no-go discipline is the highest-leverage decision in any pursuit strategy.
Selected Experience
Where the reps came from.
- 10+ venture funds and capital vehicles structured or supported, including national technology-transfer vehicles
- Advisory to U.S. innovation agencies: NSF, NIH, ARPA-H, BARDA, SBA, and the U.S. State Department
- $250M+ in funding and contracts led as PI or Co-PI
- Innovation and commercialization programs reaching 60+ countries
- 100+ companies supported through designed and deployed programs
- Federal capital strategy and program positioning for deep tech, healthtech, and dual-use teams
Why Now
Why clients engage Forged Catalyst at this moment.
Funders are shifting from activity-based to outcome-based review. Programs that cannot evidence conversion are losing renewal.
Non-dilutive capital has become strategically decisive, and the organizations that treat it as an operating discipline are compounding against those that treat it as grant writing.
Capital vehicles are being formed faster than deployment capacity is being built — the gap shows up two years later, in the re-up conversation.
And most organizations do not need another advisor. They need embedded ownership. Much of the work is delivered as Fractional Chief Capital Officer leadership — one senior operator accountable for capital strategy, federal strategy and program positioning, investor readiness, and board alignment.
Context
Selected Experience & Programs
A secondary layer of programs and institutions connected to the work — listed quietly, without marks or claims.
- University City Science Center
- VentureWell
- The University of Texas at Austin
- State of Delaware
- Jobs for the Future
- Living Cities
A secondary layer of programs and institutions connected to prior leadership, advisory, or program work. Listed for context only — not an endorsement, partnership, or current client relationship.
Engage
If conversion is the constraint, start with the assessment.
The Capital Strategy Diagnostic takes about three minutes and returns a structured read on where conversion is breaking down.