About Futures Forge
Futures Forge is a for-profit educational organization (Futures Forge, Inc.) headquartered in the United States.
Our focus is post-high school education. Our pursuit is to create a global educational movement that efficiently and effectively develops in students the attributes, skills, and technical knowledge that they need for the greatest success in their lives and careers. We run as a for-profit organization because we believe that we should align our incentives with the choices of our customers, and that we will perform best if we can innovate free of excess bureaucratic constraints.
Futures Forge's founders and curriculum leads graduated from MIT and Oxford and founded multiple companies (management consulting, devtools startup, hardware startup). We have published books on political polarization, tertiary education, and technical problem-solving, and have jointly coached and managed over 100 top-talent young adults.
The foundation of our companies’ success has always been the rapid development of talented young people; our employees have gone on to found, lead, and accelerate dozens of great businesses. Today, we are developing talent all over the world using the methods we learned and developed.
Nathaniel Greene
FOUNDER
Nat has accelerated the careers of hundreds of professionals of all ages as a consultant, coach, and business leader.
Futures Forge is inspired by the success Nat had developing recent grads from Ivy+ schools in the firm he founded, Stroud International. Stroud’s success in helping Global 1000 businesses and the rapid learning of early employees, Stroud won “Best Small Consulting Firm” 7 times in 8 years.
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Grew up in Hong Kong with a highly international peer group
Studied at Oxford and Cambridge universities
Founded and led Stroud International, an operations consulting firm
Visited over 70 countries and 7 continents
Bungee-jumped as a paid display artist
Founded the Young Presidents Organization Seacoast chapter
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Wedged, about the roots of US political polarization
Stop Guessing, about the behaviors of great problem solvers
Variable Analysis, a manual to solving valuable technical problems -
Travel and adventure
Reforming our political system
Reforming education across the entire spectrum to better help young people create an incredible life
Helping businesses and entrepreneurs seize opportunity
Amateur woodworking, solving problems from first principles with limited tools -
Developing and coaching young talent
Motivating groups to achieve a common goal
Challenging the status quo
Solving “impossible problems” that unlock business potential
Understanding technical details and translating them into action
Identifying and building opportunities to create value
Managing large business relationships and complex sales -
Survived a terrorist bombing
Skied to the south pole
Earned his Home Depot Deck Building badge
Won the Blackburn Challenge rowing competition in Massachusetts
Earned money through various jobs and side hustles at a young age, and made his first investment buying physical gold at age 12 (Nat no longer trades in commodities)Nat’s four children are between the run-up to, and graduation from, private universities. Nat’s experience working with teachers and administrators through this process has endowed him with a deep passion for giving students all across the world a better path to success.
Erik Fogg
FOUNDER
Erik has coached, managed, and mentored well over 100 young professionals and startup founders as a business leader and as a volunteer mentor and teacher.
Erik (MIT 2009, Bachelors & Masters) is a serial tech entrepreneur and operational front-line and executive leader who has collaborated with Nat on various projects for over a decade. He was an undergrad and grad student at MIT, and a consultant at Nat’s firm. Erik learned three things about top-end postsecondary education:
Many Ivy+ grads (including MIT grads) massively underperform their potential in their careers, including showing up to their career quite unprepared despite their 4 years and $250,000 education
The most valuable part of being at MIT was learning with & from his peers, not his professors; he got the most out of projects, not lectures
Erik learned more relevant skills in his first year at work than he did in 4 years at MIT
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As early as 2013, Erik’s interest in improving the college experience inspired him to write a guide to graduating early called How to Crush College. Erik has always been passionate about repairing our society (Wedged, ReConsider podcast), and has evolved to see education reform as a critical step. As long as primary and secondary education are largely trapped by government, tertiary education will be the vector through which reformers can drive true change.
Erik’s greatest skill and passion as a business leader is in coaching highly talented, motivated people to break through their own constraints and roadblocks to become the best version of themselves. What if we didn’t restrict this coaching to only the lucky few?
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Erik worked together with Nat to write Wedged: How You Became a Tool of the Partisan Political Establishment and How to Start Thinking For Yourself Again.
Erik understands that his subtitles should be shorter.
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Erik has always been a teacher, ever since becoming a prefect for the freshman boys when he was a senior at The Lawrenceville School. He’s loved coaching and mentoring dozens of employees and fellow startup founders.
Beyond teaching, Erik loves:
1. Building costumes for festivals such as Burning Man
2. Writing and podcasting about politics
3. Cooking and throwing dinner parties
4. Playing tactical video games, Dungeons and Dragons, and board games
5. Skiing, bicycling, and weightlifting
6. Traveling and discovering new cultures, languages, and food
About The Futures Forge Scholarship Fund
The Futures Forge Scholarship Fund is an independent nonprofit (501(c)(3) that oversees the raising and disbursement of merit-based scholarships for Futures Forge attendees. An independent board of 5 oversees operations and prevents conflicts of interest.
Board of Directors of the Futures Forge Scholarship Fund
Mark Daniels
Managing Director & CSO at Brookwood Financial Partners ($4.5B historical AUM). Founder/CSO, Yesway, Inc. Princeton AB (Astrophysics), M.Eng (Aerospace Engineering & Computer Science). Strength and experience in corporate finance, investing, raising equity, creating businesses, leading operations, and teaching.
Ben Heywood
General Partner, SkyRiver Ventures. Founded and led $15M+/yr medtech platform, experienced venture capitalist, startup mentor, nonprofit board member. MIT BS, Mechanical Engineering; UCLA MBA.
Ruvi Kitov
Co-founder and former CEO of Tufin, a cybersecurity software company (over $100M/year revenue, went public in 2019 on NYSE, acquired 2022). Experienced entrepreneur, executive leader, software engineer. University of Maryland, BS, Computer Science.
Nithya Ramanathan
Co-Founder, CEO of Nexleaf Analytics, a global tech nonprofit that recently received $12M from the McKenzie Scott Foundation to scale their products and services to the 60 poorest countries across Africa and Asia. 15 years experience leading strategic partnerships & fundraising, operations, executive leadership in the global nonprofit sector; TED fellow. Cal Berkeley BS, Computer Science; UCLA PhD, Computer Science.
Mike Salguero
Founder/CEO, ButcherBox, a $550M/yr D2C sustainable meat business with no VC capital. Expert at brand-building and marketing, executive leadership, business financial management, and experienced board member of for-profits and nonprofits. Boston University BA, Babson MBA.
Our Advisors
Futures Forge keeps its board of advisors private in order to attract and work with professors and other academics who might otherwise not be able to work with us due to our mission being potentially controversial within the university system.
We draw on advisors from our own networks:
Young Presidents’ Organization (largest group of CEOs in the world)
MIT faculty and alumni
Oxford University faculty and alumni
Cambridge University faculty and alumni
Harvard Business School faculty and alumni
Our Student Advisory Board
Alisa Hil - Facilitator
MIT, Computer Science
Alisa Hil is a sophomore at MIT studying computer science with the life mission to revolutionize the educational system. After an inspired first summer with Futures Forge, Alisa continues to collaborate extensively while developing her own education startup.
Sam Goldstone - Facilitator
Tufts, American Studies
Sam uses his extensive educational facilitator experience (Lumos, Futures Forge) to advise us curriculum and delivery. Sam is dedicated making education practical, impactful, and accessible; he passionately leads students through hands-on, real-world challenges to prepare for life.
Abby Qu - Alum
2024 Skills for Success
A junior in high school from British Columbia, Canada, Abby is passionate about behavioral economics and business, eager to explore the intersection of human behavior and market dynamics. In their free time, they enjoy playing badminton and sipping bubble tea while unwinding with friends.
Omar Alaiashy - Alum
2024 Skills for Success
Omar studies the intersection of aerospace engineering, AI, and public policy, and aims to drive innovation there. He runs a nonprofit, codes for Encode Justice, founded an e-commerce startup, and publishes aerospace research. He advises Futures Forge on both marketing and curriculum delivery.
Darsh Zibbu - Alum
2024 Skills for Success
Darsh is a junior in Frisco, Texas. He’s passionate about finance and technology and aspire to enter the FinTech world in the future. Outside of school, he’s involved in nonprofits, internships, and clubs that align with his interests, helping him grow as a leader and develop valuable skills. He advises Futures Forge on marketing and delivery.
Aarnav Kumar - Alum
Media Inquiries
Inquiries from news media, editorials, podcasts, blogs, etc, should be directed to: media@futuresforge.org
Non-Discrimination Policy
Student and Recruitment Nondiscrimination policy: Futures Forge recruits, tests, and admits students solely on their individual merit. Our admissions and learning practices do not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, or national origin. We admit and welcome students of any sex, race, color, national, and ethnic origin to fully participate.
