Start with the problem.
Listen to the people closest to it. Understand the need, the existing workaround and what a better outcome would mean.
People. Problems. Possibility.
Good ideas
need a place
to take root.
Bring people with different strengths together around a problem that matters. Give them the support to test an idea—and a reason to build something useful.
Building the first chapter of Forest Capital.
A venture-building ecosystem in developmentRooted in people. Guided by evidence.
01 / The model
A valuable contribution
can begin with a question.
Someone notices a recurring frustration. Someone else has spent a lifetime understanding it. A builder sees another way forward. Forest Capital is being developed to help those people find one another—and turn a useful connection into focused work.
Bring strengths together.
Connect practical wisdom, fresh thinking and hands-on ability. Make room for contributors at different career stages.
Earn the next step.
Set a small, useful test. Learn from the result. Decide whether to build further, change direction or stop.
02 / The ecosystem
Different roles.
Shared direction.
The ambition is to connect useful ideas with people, evidence, operating support and appropriate opportunities.
This is a proposed operating model. Each organization’s legal responsibilities, rights and commitments remain distinct.
01
Forest Capital
In developmentThe convening platform: develop the network, support venture formation and shape a long-term approach to reinvestment.
02
GovThink
Proposed hubA proposed public-benefit home for research, evaluation, team formation and mission-aligned collaboration.
03
FindRequest
Opportunity workflowSource-linked opportunity matches, evidence workflows and a private contributor intake that is saved for Ian’s review only with your consent.
Explore people and opportunities04
EnergyWave
Research stageAn initial venture focus in advanced energy. Scoped experiments, careful measurement and independent scrutiny come before performance claims.
Visit EnergyWave03 / How work moves
Make the next step
small enough to prove.
A shared process helps a promising observation become a reviewable project. People make the decisions at each stage.
An illustrative starting point
Where does the energy go?
A robotics operator needs longer endurance, but first needs a trustworthy account of the system’s energy use.
First useful outputA measured baseline and a test plan, developed by an experienced engineer and a curious builder.
01Notice the need +
Describe the problem in nonconfidential terms: who experiences it, what happens today and what would improve.
02Understand the evidence +
Talk to affected people, review existing alternatives and distinguish what is known from what still needs testing.
03Assemble the right team +
Identify an accountable project owner and willing contributors. Agree the scope, time, rights and participation terms before work begins.
04Run a bounded test +
Choose the smallest experiment or customer trial that can change the decision. Record the result, including what did not work.
05Choose what comes next +
Continue, revise or stop. A supported project may later become a product, license, independent venture or public-benefit output.
04 / The longer view
Let good outcomes
seed the next generation.
Our aim is to put part of successful outcomes back to work: in new people, new ideas, future ventures and selected societal or environmental goals.
That reinvestment approach is still being designed. It will depend on available resources, clear responsibilities and approved decisions.
Build something useful.
Help more good things grow.
05 / Your place in the story
You do not need
to have every answer.
A thoughtful observation, a skill you have practiced or a connection between people can be a useful beginning. Participation starts with contribution—not an expectation to invest.
Start with the need.
What keeps happening—and who does it affect?
A few nonconfidential sentences about the problem and the current workaround are enough to start a conversation.
Open an email draft Find your starting point
Email opens in your mail app; you choose whether to send. FindRequest can save your private intake for Ian’s review after you consent. Opportunity matches come from curated sources; no application is submitted to a funder.