How We Work
Founder-led. Principal-delivered. Built for institutional mandates.
The delivery model is deliberately narrow: one accountable senior operator, a defined engagement architecture, and contracting that institutions can actually execute.
Delivery
One accountable operator.
Principal-led by design
Forged Catalyst Group maintains a deliberately limited engagement portfolio. Strategy, architecture, executive sessions, and principal deliverables are led directly by Heath Naquin rather than delegated to a junior consulting team.
Partner model
Where an engagement requires additional capacity, Forged Catalyst brings in vetted specialist partners under principal direction. The principal remains accountable for the work product in every case.
Independence
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.
Engagement Architecture
Diagnose, architect, install, operate.
Engagements start narrow and escalate only when the work justifies it.
01 — Diagnose
Establish the binding constraint before committing scope. Most engagements begin with a diagnostic or a snapshot rather than a retainer.
02 — Architect
Design the capital, evidence, and commercialization sequence, and the decisions each stage has to clear.
03 — Install
Build the operating cadence, artifacts, and accountability that make the sequence executable inside the organization.
04 — Operate
Where the mandate warrants it, remain embedded as an accountable operator through the conversion window.
Conversion Gap
What the work is measured against.
The Conversion Gap is the distance between the capital an organization can attract and the capital it can actually convert into deployed capability. The diagnostic assesses that gap across seven dimensions.
Capital strategy coherence
Whether the sources being pursued fit the job the capital has to do.
Sequencing discipline
Whether tranches are ordered so each one de-risks the next rather than competing with it.
Evidence readiness
Whether the proof required by the next underwriter exists today, and in usable form.
Federal and non-dilutive positioning
Whether the organization is positioned against the programs and mandates that actually match it.
Commercialization and adoption pathway
Whether there is a credible route from funded work to procurement, adoption, or revenue.
Governance and deployment capacity
Whether the organization can deploy what it raises at the pace it committed to.
Operating cadence and accountability
Whether decisions, milestones, and funder reporting run on a rhythm that survives scrutiny.
Confidentiality
Default is private.
- Client identities, materials, and figures are treated as confidential by default and published only with written approval.
- Public case records draw on publicly available program information; nonconfidential contributions are described separately from program-level outcomes.
- Mutual NDAs are standard and can be executed before scoping conversations.
- Conflicts are screened before engagement, and declined where a capital or mandate conflict exists.
Contracting Readiness
Procurement-ready from day one.
- Registered as an independent entity with W-9, COI, and standard vendor documentation available on request.
- SAM.gov-eligible contracting pathways supported for federally funded institutions, including subaward and consulting arrangements.
- Fixed-fee, phased, and retainer structures. No contingency-fee representation and no registered lobbying.
- Institutional procurement, sole-source justification, and scope-of-work language supported during contracting.
Operating Cadence
A rhythm that survives scrutiny.
Weekly
Working session with the accountable executive; decisions, blockers, and next milestones recorded.
Monthly
Capital and pipeline review against the sequence, with an updated evidence position.
Quarterly
Board- and funder-facing read: what converted, what did not, and what changes in the next quarter.
Engage
If the delivery model fits, start with the diagnostic.
The Capital Strategy Diagnostic takes about three minutes and returns a structured read on where conversion is breaking down.