Capabilities
Four systems that convert capital into capability.
Each capability is scoped the same way: the problem it solves, the work performed, who it is built for, and the outcomes it is accountable to.
Capital Formation Systems
Design and deploy capital strategies across venture, federal funding, and hybrid structures.
Problem Solved
Most organizations chase capital opportunistically. Without a formation system, each raise restarts from zero and the stack never compounds.
What We Do
- Map the full capital stack: dilutive, non-dilutive, strategic, and public.
- Sequence sources so each tranche de-risks and prices the next.
- Build the internal operating cadence: pipeline, diligence readiness, reporting.
- Install the narrative and data room that survive institutional scrutiny.
Who It's For
- Companies moving from founder-led raises to institutional rounds
- Innovation hubs financing program infrastructure
- Public-sector entities blending appropriations with private capital
Expected Outcomes
- A written 24-month capital sequence with owners and trigger points
- Higher conversion per capital conversation, not more conversations
- Reduced dilution through non-dilutive substitution
Commercialization Infrastructure
Build programs that move companies from concept to revenue, not just participation.
Problem Solved
Accelerators and translation programs report attendance. Boards, legislatures, and LPs increasingly fund revenue, jobs, and deployed capital.
What We Do
- Redesign program architecture around commercialization milestones.
- Install stage gates, evidence standards, and graduation criteria.
- Build the operator bench: mentors, technical assistance, capital access.
- Instrument outcome measurement that funders will underwrite.
Who It's For
- Universities and research institutions with translation mandates
- Founder support platforms and accelerators
- Regional economic development organizations
Expected Outcomes
- Programs defensible under outcome-based funding review
- Cohort companies reaching revenue and follow-on capital
- Renewal and expansion funding grounded in evidence
Investment Platform Design
Structure funds, syndicates, and capital vehicles aligned with real deployment outcomes.
Problem Solved
Vehicles get formed before the thesis, pipeline, and deployment engine exist. The result is committed capital that cannot be put to work.
What We Do
- Pressure-test thesis, geography, stage, and check-size fit against pipeline reality.
- Design vehicle architecture: fund, evergreen, SPV, syndicate, or hybrid.
- Model economics, governance, and LP alignment before formation.
- Stand up sourcing, diligence, and portfolio support operations.
Who It's For
- Emerging managers and first-time funds
- Corporate and strategic investors
- Public and quasi-public capital programs
Expected Outcomes
- A vehicle structure LPs can underwrite in one reading
- Deployment pace matched to real pipeline
- Governance that survives audit and re-up cycles
Federal Capital Strategy & Program Positioning
Forged Catalyst helps companies and institutions understand federal priorities, align opportunities with agency missions, structure capital and pursuit strategies, build credible partnerships, and prepare decision-grade concepts and engagement materials.
Forged Catalyst is not a grant-writing service and does not provide lobbying services. The work begins upstream: program intelligence, mission alignment, capital architecture, partnership strategy, go / no-go decisions, and post-award capitalization.
Problem Solved
Federal capital is abundant and misread. Teams start at the application when the decisive work — program timing, agency mission alignment, partnerships, and evidence — happens well upstream of any submission.
Scope
Included
- Federal opportunity intelligence
- Agency mission and program alignment
- Capital and funding architecture
- Pursuit strategy
- Concept and narrative development
- Agency-engagement preparation
- Partnership and consortium strategy
- Proposal and non-dilutive funding strategy
- Post-award capitalization planning
Not Provided
- Registered lobbying
- Contingency-fee representation
- Legislative influence services
- Improper influence concerning federal awards
Engagement scopes distinguish strategic advisory and pursuit support from lobbying or other restricted activities. Clients remain responsible for determining the appropriate funding source and cost treatment for contracted services.
What We Do
- Program, budget, and priority intelligence across NIH, NSF, DoD, and other agencies.
- Agency mission and program alignment against your actual technical and mission position.
- Partnership and consortium strategy with the institutions that deliver programs.
- Pursuit architecture, evidence strategy mapped to reviewer criteria, and go / no-go discipline.
- Post-award capitalization planning so funding converts to capability.
Who It's For
- Deep tech, healthtech, and dual-use companies
- Research institutions and consortia
- State and regional entities pursuing federal programs
Expected Outcomes
- A ranked federal pursuit map with go / no-go discipline
- Agency and program alignment established before a window opens
- Non-dilutive capital deployed against milestones, not overhead
Engagement Model — not a fifth capability
Fractional Chief Capital Officer
Embedded senior operating support for organizations that need ongoing ownership of capital strategy, federal strategy and program positioning, investor readiness, commercialization infrastructure, and board/funder alignment — without adding a full-time executive.
It is the delivery model that runs all four capabilities above as one system, under a single accountable operator.
Core Responsibilities
- Own and continuously update the integrated capital strategy
- Operate federal, venture, strategic, and program pipelines as one system
- Prepare leadership, boards, and funders for decisions and diligence
- Coordinate internal teams and external partners against milestones
- Build the operating cadence, dashboards, narratives, and accountability needed for conversion
Best Fit
- Organizations with meaningful capital or commercialization complexity but no senior capital owner
- Executive teams caught between strategy and execution capacity
- Innovation platforms, companies, funds, and public-private initiatives navigating multiple capital sources
Expected Result
One accountable senior operator connecting capital decisions to execution, instead of fragmented advisors and disconnected workstreams.
Cost of Inaction
Conversion failure is expensive.
The cost of an unresolved conversion constraint is rarely booked as a loss. It shows up as time, dilution, and mandates that quietly do not renew.
Time
Twelve to twenty-four months spent pursuing capital the organization is not structurally ready to convert.
Terms
Rounds closed from a weaker position than the underlying asset warrants, at avoidable dilution.
Non-dilutive capital left on the table
Federal and program capital that fits the mandate but is never positioned, sequenced, or pursued with discipline.
Renewal risk
Programs that cannot evidence conversion lose re-up, and the next mandate goes to an organization that can.
Deployment drag
Committed capital that sits because the pipeline and governance to deploy it were never built.
Engage
Which system is your binding constraint?
The Capital Strategy Diagnostic takes about three minutes and returns a structured read on where conversion is breaking down.