ABOUT BUILDCLUB
Operator-led AI transformation. Productized into a managed digital workforce.
BuildClub started as a consulting practice helping mid-market and PE portfolio executives deploy AI without disrupting their business. We learned what worked. Then we codified it. Today we run Phase 0 · Assess for readiness, Phase 1 · Amplify for people, and Phase 2 · Workforce for production — plus Fractional CAIO as a separate Executive Advisory on-ramp — all on the same operator-led method.
OUR BACKERS
Backed by capital that knows what we do — and the operators who use it.
BuildClub is backed by institutional venture capital and a syndicate of 50+ mid-market CEOs who invested because they live the problem we solve. They run companies between $25M and $1B in revenue, across the same sectors we serve — Private Equity portfolios, Professional Services, Manufacturing, Healthcare, Logistics, PEOs, and Technology.
Several became investors after we delivered for them. That is the strongest signal we know how to give: the people closest to the work bet on what comes next.
CLOUD & AI PROGRAMS WE PARTICIPATE IN
We build on the cloud and AI providers our customers run on.
OVHcloud
Startup Program
Sovereign cloud infrastructure that powers European deployments and the BuildClub Sovereign deployment mode.
Microsoft
Founders Hub
Azure credits, OpenAI access, and partner tooling that support Workforce and Company Brain builds inside customer Azure tenants.
Google Cloud
for Startups
Cloud and AI credits used for agentic infrastructure and multi-model orchestration on Vertex AI.
Each of these programs is a working relationship, not an endorsement. We participate in them because our customers run on these clouds — and the credits and tooling help us deploy inside their environments without bottlenecking on infrastructure.
Operators who happen to be technically savvy
Most AI consulting firms send technologists. We send operators.
- The hard part isn't model integration. It's understanding what a credentialing coordinator actually does on a Tuesday, how an AP clerk decides which invoice to push back, or what a CFO needs to see before the audit committee signs off.
- That operating context is what makes AI deployments stick. It's what we built on the operating side of real businesses, before we ever ran an engagement here.
- We pair operators with engineers. Operators frame the problem correctly; AI and automation engineers ship the solution that survives contact with the business.
The combination is the point. Pure technologists build elegant systems that get rejected in week three. Pure operators recommend "an AI strategy" without knowing what's buildable. We do both.
FOUNDER
Stephen Forte
Founder & CEO
Stephen is the Founder & CEO of BuildClub. He's one of a small group of executives who has both run global operating businesses end-to-end and built the technology that transforms them. That combination — deep operator instinct paired with hands-on technical fluency — is what BuildClub brings into every engagement.
He started, scaled, and exited multiple technology companies, including Ascendant Systems, whose patented mobile technology was acquired by Research In Motion and became part of the BlackBerry platform. As an executive, he has led international multinationals across the US, Europe, and Asia — running operations, sales, and P&Ls of more than $1B across dozens of countries.
Today he focuses on AI transformation: helping CEOs and operating teams turn AI from experimentation into production-grade systems that generate measurable shareholder value. He holds 15 patents across software, mobile, and workflow technology, teaches MIT's Applied AI for Business program for YPO, and serves on the board of the YPO Technology Network, which he previously chaired.
How we're structured
We deploy small senior teams, not large junior teams.
Every BuildClub engagement is led by someone who has run a function or a company — not a recent graduate with a slide deck. The supporting roster includes AI engineers and automation engineers who build the systems, alongside operators with deep functional experience in the industries we serve.
When you talk to BuildClub, you're talking to people who have been on the inside of the problem you're trying to solve.
Our thesis
The digital workforce shift is structural, not cyclical.
The 2024–2026 wave of layoffs at Meta, Microsoft, Salesforce, Snap, and Booking is not a downturn. It's a workforce architecture shift. The companies leading the cuts are simultaneously investing the most in AI agents. They're not shrinking — they're redesigning.
The mid-market is the highest-leverage place to deploy.
Enterprises will build their own AI capabilities. SMBs will buy off-the-shelf tools. Mid-market companies — too complex for off-the-shelf, too lean to build — are stuck. They are exactly where a Digital Workforce Organization creates the most value, and exactly where most agent companies refuse to focus.
The operating model is the IP — and the operators are the moat.
We don't sell software. We don't sell models. We sell a managed digital workforce delivered by senior operators against a machine-readable model of how your specific company runs. The artifact and the operators together are what makes the work succeed — and they're not portable to a competitor.
We Build With
