The AI opportunity is real, but so is the execution gap. As a Forge portfolio company, you’ll have a dedicated hands-on team embedded in your business and direct access to Bessemer’s full AI ecosystem. That combination turns AI from an unrealized aspiration into your unfair competitive advantage. No other firm brings both.
The AI opportunity Where AI Creates Value
The companies in our portfolio that are making real progress share something in common: they didn’t try to apply AI everywhere. They got specific. We help you do the same, across the four areas where AI creates the most durable competitive advantage for software and services businesses.
Build
- Code generation
- QA acceleration
- AI roadmapping
- Feature prioritization
Attract
- ICP refinement
- Data enrichment
- Lead scoring
- Content at scale
Deliver
- Support automation
- AI onboarding
- Intelligent ticketing
- Self-serve tools
Grow
- Churn prediction
- Expansion revenue
- Usage analytics
- ROI tracking
Areas of Focus From strategy to shipped product, across every part of your business.
Our team of experts and bench of pre-vetted specialists cover the full range of what it takes to move from AI ambition to AI advantage. Depending on where you are and what you need, we go deep on one area or across several.
The Bessemer Advantage Backed by the firm that invested in AI before it was the obvious bet.
Bessemer has invested across the full AI stack, from foundation models through vertical applications. For Forge portfolio companies, that position opens doors that most companies spend months trying to access on their own.
What This Means For You
Portfolio Intelligence
A view informed by the investors who backed those companies
When you’re making a build-vs-buy decision or evaluating a vendor, you get perspective shaped by hundreds of AI company evaluations annually.
Ecosystem Access
Shortcuts that take most companies months to negotiate
API credits, enterprise pricing conversations that bypass procurement, and early roadmap visibility from the teams building the tools you’re evaluating.
Frontier Network
Connected to the people building AI on the frontlines
As a Forge portfolio company, you’re part of an exclusive community that includes the developers, product leaders, and operators working at the cutting edge of AI.
BVP AI Ecosystem
Select BVP AI/ML portfolio companies
The Forge AI Team A growing team with an outsized network.
AI Velocity is part of ForgeEdge, the value creation program Forge brings to every partnership. On AI specifically, we don’t hand you a playbook. We work alongside your team, from initial assessment through implementation.
Ryan Wrenn AI TECHNOLOGY OPERATING ADVISOR, FORGE
Ryan works directly with portfolio company leadership to assess AI readiness, identify high-value opportunities, and execute alongside teams through implementation. He draws on patterns across every Forge company that no individual operator could see from inside their own business.
VIEW PROFILE
Michael MacFadden Strategic Advisor, Forge
Kevin Routhier Strategic Advisor, Forge
Lisa Ames Marketing Operating Advisor, Forge
Ashkan Naderi Sales Operating Advisor, Forge
Lance Co Ting Keh Partner, Applied AI, BVP
Solmaz Shahalizadeh Operating Advisor, BVP
Mike Gozzo Operating Advisor, BVP
Erica Lockheimer Operating Advisor, BVP
Adam FitzGerald Operating Advisor, BVP
Akshat Gupta Operating Advisor, BVP
Matt Palmer Operating Advisor, BVP
James Raybould Operating Advisor, BVP
How We Engage Embedded expertise, not outside consultants.
Start Sharp
We arrive with cross-portfolio patterns and Bessemer’s broader AI intelligence already in hand. We benchmark your situation quickly, align on a focused set of priorities together, and get moving.
Work Alongside Your Team
Your team and ours work together, combining your company context with deep AI expertise and ecosystem intelligence from across the BVP network.
Build Something That Lasts
We measure success by the capability your team walks away with. The knowledge stays inside your company long after the engagement ends.
PORTFOLIO INTELLIGENCE Every Forge portfolio company is using AI. Here's what we're learning.
From working directly with portfolio company leadership, several patterns shape how we think about AI across the portfolio.
AI amplifies what's already working
Teams seeing the biggest gains had strong engineering foundations before they started: healthy code review, automated testing, reliable delivery. Where technical debt exists, AI compounds it. Foundations first.
Data readiness is the universal constraint
Across the portfolio, AI ambitions consistently outpace data infrastructure and governance. The companies making the most progress invested in their data foundation before selecting models or tools.
Narrow and fast beats comprehensive and slow
Companies seeing real results shipped one capability quickly: a single documentation feature, AI tests for one codebase, coding tools to one team. They learned more and moved faster than companies still planning.
AI Insights
BVP ATLAS Mastering Product-Market Fit for AI Founders: A Playbook for FInding and Holding PMF When the Market Moves Weekly
BVP ATLAS The AI Pricing and Monetization Playbook
BVP ATLAS Inside Shopify’s AI-First Engineering Playbook
BVP ATLAS Ada: How Fanatical CX Loops Power AI Agents That Outperform Human Teams
BVP ATLAS Developer Laws in the AI Era: Eight Laws for Building in the Age of Agentic Development
BVP ATLAS State of Health AI 2026: Compressing the Path to $100M ARR
Ready to Start? AI is a force multiplier in the hands of a great operator.
More output from the same team, faster decisions, happier customers, and a business that compounds its competitive advantage over time.