Forge
We named it Forge because great builders aren’t discovered. They’re made. Through real work, real ownership, and real companies that depend on the outcome.
A talent program built inside vertical software companies. Two tracks. One destination: leading AI in industries that need it most.
Vertical software companies sit on decades of domain knowledge, specialized workflows, and customer trust. What they need are builders who understand both the technology and the business well enough to ship AI that actually works in context. That’s what Forge is designed to produce.
Forge places builders directly inside Fluent portfolio companies. You don’t shadow engineers. You don’t produce proof-of-concepts. You ship.
The best Forge alumni don’t leave. They become the AI leaders of the companies they helped build.
Two tracks. One mission.
AI Infusion
For builders who want to transform an existing software product from the inside, embedding AI that makes it faster, smarter, and indispensable to the customers who depend on it.
You'll be embedded inside a live Fluent portfolio company with real customers. Your mandate: find where AI creates the most impact and build it. Workflow automation, LLM-powered features, AI-assisted operations, intelligent reporting, all in production.
AI Creation
For builders who want to start from zero, identifying an unmet AI opportunity in a vertical market and building a net-new product that becomes a company. Inspired by how Marea was born.
You'll work at the intersection of market research and engineering, partnering with Fluent's investment and AI teams to define, prototype, and launch a new AI product in a specific vertical. This is how our portfolio company Marea was built.
How Tarek went from Forge participant to AI CEO in 6 months.
When Tarek joined Fluent Forge’s inaugural cohort, he had a CS degree, two years of ML engineering experience, and a conviction that vertical industries were being underserved by the tools available to them.
He chose the AI Creation track and spent his first month embedded with Fluent’s investment team, mapping opportunity in an underserved market. By Month 3, Marea had its first paying customers. By Month 6, Tarek presented to Fluent’s leadership board and walked out as CEO of the company he’d built.
Marea is now a growing member of the Fluent portfolio, a live, revenue-generating AI company that didn’t exist 12 months ago.
Ready to build AI that actually matters?
We’re looking for builders who want more than a credential. We’re looking for the next generation of AI leaders in vertical software.