Venture Scout

Venture Scout — ForgeUp Ventures

Internal Role | Part-Time / As-Needed | Remote

About the Role

ForgeUp Ventures is looking for sharp, well-connected individuals to join our Venture Scout network. This is an internal, paid role for people who are plugged into the startup ecosystem and want a front-row seat to early-stage dealmaking.

As a Venture Scout, you’re our eyes and ears on the ground — identifying high-potential founders building in AI, ML, and Advanced Tech, and connecting them with the ForgeUp model before anyone else does.

This isn’t a passive referral program. We’re looking for people who are genuinely curious about start-ups, already showing up at the events, and excited to represent something they believe in.

ForgeUp Scout Compensation

This role does not include guaranteed financial compensation and is not a full-time position. It’s a voluntary, internal opportunity designed to give motivated individuals meaningful exposure to venture scouting, deal sourcing, and early-stage startup evaluation — on your own schedule, alongside whatever else you’ve got going on. Each scout is eligible to earn compensation in a variety of ways:

• $50 per qualified founder or VC intro (no cap)
• $500 gift card to the scout that contributes the most deal per month
• Each scout is eligible to earn carried interest in three ways:

1. For each individual deal you source,
2. ForgeUp retains a pool of carried interest across all deals that you participate in by being an active scout and member of the Deal Flow Ops team,
3. For each VC introduction that you make or influence, you are eligible for carried interest on any resulting deals in perpetuity

What You’ll Do

• Source and identify early-stage founders running promising pre-seed or seed stage startups, who match the ForgeUp investment thesis (Pre-Seed/Seed, real traction/post-revenue, coachable founders, large markets)
• Attend pitch competitions, founder mixers, hackathons, and monitor communities like Product Hunt, LinkedIn, X, and startup-focused Discords
• Conduct initial 30–45 minute founder interviews to assess fit — getting the full download on the business, traction, and where ForgeUp can create leverage
• Connect or introduce ForgeUp leadership to
• Track your pipeline and submit qualified founders through the ForgeUp application portal
• Represent the ForgeUp brand with clarity and transparency: you’re not just pitching capital, you’re pitching a full operational team (Dev, Legal, Sales, GTM) and execution promise in exchange for equity

What You’ll Gain

• Hands-on experience in venture scouting, deal sourcing, and founder evaluation
• Exposure to how an accelerator assesses early-stage companies across AI/ML and deep tech
• Direct credit for deals you source that move forward
• A stronger professional network across the founder and VC ecosystem
• Recognition within ForgeUp for your contributions — scouts who consistently bring strong deals get noticed

Who This Is For

• People who are already networking in startup and tech spaces
• Individuals interested in VC, recruiting, or early-stage company building
• Those who can spot founder/market fit, ask good questions, and communicate value clearly
• Anyone who wants to contribute beyond their day job and build a deal flow track record

Expectations

• Flexible, as-needed involvement — no minimum hour requirement
• You’ll use ForgeUp’s custom resources: pitch scripts, outreach templates, deal tracker, and scheduling tools
• When a founder is a fit, you submit them through our simple Airtable application and flag your sourcing credit!
• Active participation is strongly valued and rewarded, not mandated

ForgeUp Ventures operates on a Shared Success Model — we deploy operational teams (Engineering, Legal, Sales, Marketing) into early-stage startups in exchange for a small equity grant. Our scouts are the first link in that chain.