BVP Forge

Who We Are

BVP Forge is the unique combination of a private equity firm for growth-oriented, self-sustaining software-enabled businesses paired with access to a renowned venture capital platform. Forge combines BVP’s front-line industry insights, proven growth IP, and legendary executive network with tailored resources for self-sustaining companies and the ForgeEdge™ operational program.

Mission-driven teams gain an ally who values their expertise, respects their legacy, and supports them to build a winning culture and business that withstands the test of time. Forge invests from a $780M fund in partnership with the $20B BVP venture platform that has backed industry defining businesses such as LinkedIn, MindBody, PagerDuty, Procore, ServiceTitan, Shopify, Toast, and Twilio.

Transaction Type: Majority or significant minority, typically for shareholder liquidity

Company Type: Software and tech-enabled services. Double digit growth and self-sustaining (additional funding not required to sustain current growth)

Transaction Size: $50-$300mm enterprise value; $30-$125mm equity investments

Geography: North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand

Why We're Different

Amplify Your Success With Our One-of-a-kind Model

Venture capital’s energizing growth assets combined with a fund devoted to self-sustaining companies–the best combo to win more and get the tailored approach you deserve.

Stay Ahead of What’s Next

Innovate faster and see around corners with front-line insights from the software industry’s recognized thought leader: 40+ industry roadmaps and 60+ annual technology publications.

Unlock Bessemer’s Iconic Network and Renowned Growth IP

Huddle with some of the most admired technology executives of our time at BVP’s 10+ private workshops, and mine BVP’s proprietary resources to outmaneuver your competitors.

Forge Your Edge Operational Program

ForgeEdge™ is a systematic, proactive program to accelerate your journey toward building a lasting, impactful business.

Partnership Philosophy

We’re mission-driven, eager to help you transform your industry, innovate, and deliver customers a better offering than that stodgy competitor. Becoming a self-sustaining company is no small feat – you deserve the ultimate respect. We recognize you’ve been successful without us, but we can be additive.

We are a partner with a business operator’s mentality, but one who recognizes we may not always have all the answers or the best answer. However, we win together when products endure, customers praise, and employees thrive. Our platform is for those who don’t want a one-size fits all approach but value a partner who brings a proactive operational and strategic framework. We’re ideally suited for management teams who want to connect and partner on a noble purpose.

For the first time: a dedicated fund for growth-oriented, self-sustaining businesses paired with the unique advantages of a premier venture capital firm

The Best of Traditional VC

Management advocate
Long term orientation
Industry/technology foresight
Executive network

The Best of Specialist PE

Tailored Expertise
Alignment
Devoted Operational Resources
Responsible Growth

BVP Forge

Management ally with tailored expertise
360-degree alignment
Frontline insights with dedicated resources
Legendary executive network and knowledge transfer

ForgeEdge™

Forge an enduring edge for your business with operational resources that adapt to your culture and capitalize on BVP’s acclaimed programs. The result? Accelerate your journey and amplify your success.

Proprietary Resources Adapted to Your Culture

What you’ve already achieved is no small feat. Everyone states the “what” – but our program goes deeper to help you with the “how”. Feel confident in your path forward.

Proactive and Aligned

Instead of being reactive, we align upfront, and proactively launch a program to seize key opportunities and navigate challenges.

Knowledge Transfer from Wins at Massive Scale

Unlock a knowledge transfer of IP that’s been proven at massive scale, led by someone who has been in your shoes as a CEO – and won.

Responsible Growth

A growth philosophy that empowers employees, creates lasting value through customer centricity, and prioritizes sustainable growth principles

What We Believe

Forge believes exceptional people, product, and customer strategies together form the advantage that feeds profitability and growth.

People

Finding, hiring, and keeping great people are just a start – and treating them fairly is a non-negotiable. Motivating and rewarding great people are the keys to growth, customer management, and product excellence. Continuously building a winning culture requires effectively adding new and different talent – “what got you here won’t get you there.”

Do you have everything needed to create a business that continues to win?

Product

Great products solve important customer problems and deliver measurable value. Product strategy is a primary source for sustained competitive advantage. Investing in non-functional requirements is as important as new features for consistent and reliable performance. Great products are effectively managed throughout the life-cycle – based on their role in the portfolio.

Have you maximized the opportunity with your core product – and how do you balance it with new product development?

Customer

Customers may not always know what they need, but they are the experts at the problem to be solved. Great companies build customer communities to get really good at listening and understanding the problems to be solved. It takes 40 positive customer experiences to make up for one bad review, and every interaction is important. Reference-able customers are gold and need to be continuously maintained.

How do you build customer communities and maximize customer centricity?

Growth

All growth is not created equal. Growth from the target customer type is of the highest quality because it has higher lifetime value. Growth from new logos is more valuable than growth from upsells, but will become more expensive. Volume growth is sustainable, whereas growth from price increases are one time in nature. Customer acquisition cost metrics provide meaningful insight into optimizing growth.

Do you have the people, processes and systems to achieve your goals for growth?

Profitability

The role of profitability is often misunderstood. At a basic level, no business can survive too long unless it becomes profitable. The recipe for value creation is Competitive Advantage, Returns, and Growth – in that order. Without an advantage, returns (i.e. profit) will decrease. And without adequate returns (i.e. profit), growth destroys value. Simply put, profitability – reinforced by growth – is the engine that drives continued reinvestment by attracting more capital.

How do you weigh profitability tradeoffs when evaluating growth and operational initiatives?

Our Experience

Bessemer Venture Partners has partnered with industry-defining companies for more than half a century. Forge pairs companies with access to BVP’s front-line industry insights, proven growth IP, and legendary executive network.

Prior to Forge, our team also partnered with exceptional management teams to build many lasting, impactful businesses.

^* Indicates Forge team experience prior to Forge

Team

We are a mission-driven crew from wide ranging backgrounds, but we share a common passion to partner with companies on a noble purpose to build lasting, impactful businesses.

On our team you’ll find multiple first-generation college graduates, former competitive skiers, enviable hat collections, NCAA D-1 tennis and lacrosse athletes, aspiring poker players, a fly fisherman, multi-lingual speakers and ardent non-profit contributors. The common thread running through us is an underdog mentality, we-before-I mindset, and commitment to clear thinking.