A 10-week venture accelerator
YOU'VE THOUGHT
ABOUT IT
LONG ENOUGH.
Build it. Launch it. In 10 weeks.
You know the business you keep saying you're going to start?
The consultancy. The agency. The product. The platform. The side business that's supposed to become the main business.
Maybe it's sitting in a notebook. Maybe you've bought the domain. Maybe you've researched it to death. Maybe you've even started building it three times.
But it still isn't live.
FORGE is a small, intensive 10-week programme designed to take you from an idea you've been carrying around to something real, launched and in front of customers.
Apply for the founding cohortFounding Cohort · Maximum 8 places · £1,500
Future cohorts £2,500.
The real problem
YOU PROBABLY DON'T HAVE AN IDEA PROBLEM.
You have a shipping problem.
You know enough to start. In fact, there's a decent chance you know far more than you need to start.
But every time the business gets close to becoming real, something happens. You research another competitor. Change the offer. Question the market. Rebuild the website. Find another tool. Decide the name isn't right. Wait for work to calm down. Start another idea instead.
Six months later, you've done an extraordinary amount of work. And nobody can buy anything from you.
THE RESEARCH LOOP
"I just need to understand the market a little better."
THE PERFECTION LOOP
"It's not quite ready yet."
THE DECISION LOOP
"I'm still deciding which direction to take."
THE TIME LOOP
"I'll properly start when things calm down."
The problem isn't that you aren't capable of building it. The problem is that you haven't shipped it.
Introducing
FORGE
The 10-Week Venture Accelerator
This isn't a course about starting a business.
You're going to start yours.
Over ten weeks, we'll work through your actual business together. Not hypothetical case studies. Not 40 hours of prerecorded videos. Not a certificate.
Every week has a specific commercial objective and something that needs to exist by the end of it.
The objective isn't to make everything perfect. It's to get the smallest credible version of your business into the real world, learn what happens when customers encounter it, and give you the structure to keep moving afterwards.
Apply for the founding cohortThe transformation
From something you're thinking about...
...to something people can actually buy.
TODAY
AN IDEA
- Research
- Notes
- Unanswered questions
- Half-finished website
- Changing direction
- No customers
- No deadline
- "One day..."
10 WEEKS
A BUSINESS IN THE MARKET
- Defined customer
- Validated proposition
- Real offer
- Pricing
- Positioning
- Credible first version
- Go-to-market plan
- Sales activity
- Customer feedback
- 90-day execution plan
THINKING → BUILDING → SELLING
The FORGE process
Ten weeks. Ten commercial objectives.
Every week moves the venture forward. No filler modules. No learning for the sake of learning. We build what the business needs next.
What are we actually building?
Define the customer, problem, opportunity and intended outcome. Kill ambiguity before it kills another six months.
Does anybody actually want this?
Identify the assumptions underneath the idea and start gathering evidence from the market. Get outside your own head.
Give people something they can say yes to.
Turn the idea into a clear proposition with a customer, an outcome and a compelling reason to buy.
Make the mechanics work.
Pricing. Positioning. Delivery. Commercial model. Basic economics.
Build less. Ship sooner.
Define and create the smallest credible version capable of delivering the promised result. The thing we can sell now.
Find the people who should care.
Identify the audience, channels and practical route to your first customers.
Have real conversations.
Move from theoretical demand to actual prospects, objections, questions and buying behaviour. The market starts talking back.
SHIP IT.
Your business goes into the world. No more hiding behind preparation.
The market gets a vote.
What worked? What didn't? What did customers misunderstand? What needs changing? Turn feedback into better decisions.
Turn launch into momentum.
Take everything you've learned and create your next 90-day operating plan.
The objective isn't to finish a course.
It's to have something to show for the last ten weeks.
Apply for the founding cohortYour FORGE build stack
You don't leave with notes.
You leave with assets.
Throughout FORGE you'll create the working assets required to get your venture into the market and keep it moving.
These aren't course exercises. They're the working assets of your new business.
Apply for the founding cohortThe experience
Small group. Real businesses. Real work.
01 · 10 LIVE BUILD SESSIONS
One focused implementation session each week. We review progress, solve problems, make decisions and establish what needs to happen next.
02 · YOUR BUILD BLUEPRINT
A structured roadmap showing what needs to happen between where you are now and getting the venture into the market.
03 · TOOLS & FRAMEWORKS
Practical templates, decision tools, worksheets and frameworks designed to reduce unnecessary work and make execution easier.
04 · THE BUILDERS' ROOM
A small private group of people doing exactly what you're doing: building something real.
05 · ACCOUNTABILITY
Every week ends with decisions and deliverables. The following week, we find out what happened.
06 · ACCESS & FEEDBACK
Get focused input when you're stuck rather than disappearing down another three-week research rabbit hole.
THE ENGINE UNDERNEATH FORGE
KNOWING HOW TO BUILD A BUSINESS ISN'T ENOUGH.
You still have to get yourself to do it.
You can have the perfect startup checklist and still never launch. Because execution isn't merely a knowledge problem.
You get overwhelmed. You avoid uncomfortable decisions. You pursue interesting work instead of important work. You overanalyse. You wait for certainty. You make the project unnecessarily complicated. You lose momentum.
FORGE is powered by the BSD Framework™, a decision and execution methodology designed to help deal with the human problems that sit between knowing and doing.
BE STILL.
Stop reacting. Create enough space to see what's actually happening.
ABSORB.
Understand the information, constraints, opportunities, options and consequences.
DIRECT.
Decide. Act. Review. Move.
FORGE uses the BSD Framework™ throughout the programme to improve clarity, decision-making and execution.
Is this you?
FORGE is for people who are serious about making something real.
You might be building a consultancy, agency, service business, digital product, platform, software product, side business, new commercial venture or something that doesn't fit neatly into any of those boxes.
FORGE IS FOR YOU IF...
- You have an idea you've been carrying around for too long.
- You've started before but lost momentum.
- You're capable of doing the work but struggle to turn ambiguity into action.
- You have too many options and keep changing direction.
- You want structure without being spoon-fed.
- You're willing to speak to actual potential customers.
- You're prepared to build between sessions.
- You're willing to launch something before it feels perfect.
FORGE PROBABLY ISN'T FOR YOU IF...
- You don't yet have a genuine venture idea.
- You're primarily looking for inspiration.
- You want someone else to build the business for you.
- You're unwilling to speak to potential customers.
- You cannot make meaningful time to execute between sessions.
- You expect commercial success to be guaranteed.
- You want another course to watch rather than a business to build.
You don't need to know everything. You do need to be willing to move.
Who we can help
Not every idea belongs in FORGE.
FORGE works best where a credible first version of the venture can be built, tested or launched within the programme.
This can include
- Consultancies
- Advisory businesses
- Agencies
- Professional services
- Digital products
- Courses
- Memberships
- Software concepts
- Platforms
- Apps
- Ecommerce concepts
- Small businesses
- New offers inside existing businesses
FORGE may be less suitable where the venture requires
- Major external investment before anything can be tested
- Long regulatory approval processes
- Major construction or infrastructure
- Complex manufacturing before customer testing is possible
- Years of technical development before anything reaches users
- A large team before meaningful progress can begin
This doesn't automatically mean we cannot work with you. It does mean we need to understand what you're building before offering you a place.
That's why everyone applies before joining.
Your guide
SAIF SIDDIQUI
Strategy is useful. Execution is what makes it real.
I've spent much of my career dealing with businesses, strategy, operations, projects and the uncomfortable space between knowing what should happen and actually making it happen.
My background spans consulting, advisory, business building, strategy and operational execution.
FORGE brings those disciplines together around one very specific objective: getting your venture out of your head and into the real world.
I'm not here to cheer from the sidelines while you fill in worksheets. We'll interrogate the idea. Challenge assumptions. Make decisions. Cut unnecessary work. Work through obstacles. And keep moving towards launch.
The first FORGE
APPLY FOR THE FOUNDING COHORT
The first FORGE cohort will be deliberately small.
Maximum 8 people.
That gives us enough variety and energy in the room while still allowing meaningful attention to every venture.
- Full 10-week FORGE programme
- 10 live Build Sessions
- FORGE Build Blueprint
- Complete programme tools and frameworks
- Private Builders' Room
- Focused implementation feedback
- BSD Framework™ decision and execution tools
- 90-Day post-launch execution plan
Payment options
£1,500 paid in full
Or 3 × £550
Total instalment price £1,650.
Payment is not collected at this stage. Complete the short application so we can understand what you're trying to build, where you are now and whether FORGE is the right environment to help you launch it.
Every application is reviewed personally. If FORGE looks like the right fit, you'll receive a link to secure your place. If it isn't, we'll tell you that too and, where possible, point you towards something more appropriate.
Apply for the founding cohortMaximum 8 places. No countdown timers. No fake scarcity.
The other option
The expensive option might be doing nothing.
Imagine the business you've been thinking about eventually becomes capable of generating £2,000 per month. Every year it remains unlaunched is another year in which that revenue never even had the opportunity to exist.
FORGE cannot promise what your business will earn. Nobody credible can.
An unlaunched business generates £0.
The question isn't simply whether FORGE is worth £1,500. The question is: what is another year of not launching worth?
FAQ
Questions before you apply.
DO I NEED A FULLY FORMED BUSINESS IDEA?
No.
You need a genuine direction and something you're serious about building.
Part of FORGE is helping you sharpen, challenge and validate what the business should actually become.
CAN I JOIN IF I ONLY HAVE A VAGUE IDEA?
Probably not yet.
FORGE works best when you already have a business, service, product or venture that you genuinely intend to build.
It does not need to be fully defined, but you should be able to explain the basic idea and who you think it may help.
CAN YOU HELP ME DECIDE WHAT BUSINESS TO START?
FORGE is not an idea-generation programme.
We will help you sharpen, validate and reshape an existing idea, but you should arrive with something you are seriously considering building.
DO I NEED TO HAVE STARTED ALREADY?
No.
Some participants may have nothing more than a serious idea.
Others may already have a domain, website, prototype, partially built offer or early version.
Both are fine.
WHAT TYPES OF BUSINESSES WORK BEST?
FORGE works best for ventures where a credible first version can be created, tested or launched within 10 weeks.
That can include:
- Consultancies
- Advisory businesses
- Agencies
- Professional services
- Digital products
- Courses
- Memberships
- Software concepts
- Apps
- Platforms
- Ecommerce concepts
- Small businesses
- New offers within existing businesses
ARE THERE BUSINESSES THAT ARE NOT SUITABLE?
Yes.
Ventures may be less suitable where meaningful progress depends on things such as:
- Significant external investment before anything can be tested
- Long regulatory approval processes
- Major physical construction or infrastructure
- Complex manufacturing before customer testing is possible
- Years of technical development before anything can reach users
- A large team being assembled before meaningful progress can begin
That does not automatically exclude you.
Your application helps us determine whether there is a realistic FORGE outcome for your particular venture.
IS FORGE ONLY FOR MUSLIMS?
No.
FORGE is open to anyone.
However, the programme is run in a way that is consistent with Islamic ethical principles, so we will not support ventures built around products or services that are clearly impermissible in Islam.
That means we would not work on businesses centred on things such as alcohol, pork, gambling, pornography, interest-based lending, or other clearly prohibited products and services.
You do not need to be Muslim to join FORGE, but what you are building does need to be compatible with those boundaries.
WHAT IF I'M NOT SURE WHETHER MY BUSINESS FITS THOSE ISLAMIC ETHICAL BOUNDARIES?
Apply anyway.
Explain clearly what the business does in your application.
We review applications manually, so if the position is not obvious we can assess it properly before deciding whether FORGE is appropriate.
DO I NEED TO BE TECHNICAL?
No.
FORGE is about turning an idea into a viable first commercial version.
Where specialist technical work is required, you may need external suppliers, developers or collaborators.
FORGE does not replace specialist technical expertise.
WILL YOU BUILD THE BUSINESS FOR ME?
No.
We work with you, challenge you, help you make decisions and provide frameworks, feedback and accountability.
You remain responsible for doing the work.
HOW MUCH TIME SHOULD I HAVE AVAILABLE?
You should realistically be able to protect meaningful implementation time each week outside the live session.
For most participants, at least 3 to 5 hours per week is a sensible expectation.
Some ventures will require more.
WILL I HAVE TO SPEAK TO CUSTOMERS?
Yes.
FORGE is built around learning from reality rather than assumptions.
That means speaking to potential customers or users, testing ideas and gathering feedback.
WHAT IF I HATE SELLING?
That's fine.
Many people do.
But you must be willing to have commercial conversations.
We can help make those conversations clearer and less awkward.
We cannot validate a business while hiding from the market.
DOES FORGE GUARANTEE MY BUSINESS WILL SUCCEED?
No.
Nobody can credibly guarantee how a market will respond to a new business.
FORGE is designed to help you validate, build and launch a credible first version quickly enough to start learning from reality rather than speculation.
WHAT IF I'M NOT COMPLETELY LAUNCHED BY WEEK TEN?
The programme is structured around getting to launch, but individual outcomes depend on the venture and the work completed.
You will still leave with your Build Blueprint, commercial assets and 90-day execution plan so you know exactly what needs to happen next.
WHAT IF I'M ALREADY RUNNING A BUSINESS?
You may still be a very good fit if you're launching a new offer, product, service or venture.
If your primary need is broader decision-making, execution or leadership development rather than launching something new, another programme powered by the BSD Framework™ may be more appropriate.
WHY DO I NEED TO APPLY?
Because FORGE is deliberately kept small and not every venture is suitable for the 10-week format.
The application helps us understand:
- What you're trying to build
- Where you are now
- What is currently stopping you
- Whether the venture can realistically make meaningful progress during FORGE
- Whether you have the time and willingness to do the work
Every application is reviewed personally.
DOES APPLYING COMMIT ME TO PAYING ANYTHING?
No.
Applying does not commit you to joining FORGE or paying anything.
If we believe FORGE is the right fit, we will send you details for securing a place.
If we do not think FORGE is appropriate, we will tell you that too and, where possible, suggest a better next step.
WHAT IF FORGE ISN'T THE RIGHT PROGRAMME FOR ME?
We will tell you.
Depending on what you need, that might mean:
- Doing some work before applying again
- Using a lower-cost BSD resource
- Joining the newsletter
- Considering another programme
- Or simply taking a different route
The purpose of the application is to make sure FORGE is useful for the person joining, not simply to fill a seat.
WHY IS THE FOUNDING COHORT CHEAPER?
Because this is the first intake of FORGE.
Founding members receive the complete programme at a reduced price while also helping refine the programme through candid feedback.
CAN I PAY IN INSTALMENTS?
Yes.
The Founding Cohort is £1,500 paid in full or three payments of £550.
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL BE IN THE COHORT?
A maximum of eight.
FORGE is deliberately designed as a small working group rather than a large online class.
WHAT IF I'M NOT SURE WHETHER I'M SUITABLE?
Apply.
The application exists specifically so we can understand what you're trying to build.
You are not committing to purchase anything by applying.
We will review your answers and tell you whether we believe FORGE is the right fit.
FORGE · 10 weeks · Maximum 8 people
YOU'VE THOUGHT ABOUT IT LONG ENOUGH.
You've researched enough. You've planned enough. You've questioned it enough.
At some point, the idea has to encounter reality.
BUILD IT.
SELL IT.
LAUNCH IT.
Let's make the bloody thing real.
Apply for the founding cohortFounding Cohort £1,500 · Future cohorts £2,500 · Instalments available
Not ready for FORGE yet?
Join the newsletter for ideas on decision-making, business, execution and getting useful things done.
Sign up to the newsletter