Southern Adventist University · School of Business

Forge Studio

One place to learn the tools, build your venture, and watch it move from a vague idea to something real. Find a need. Forge a venture. Make it yours.

How Forge works

Four phases, one forge

Every venture climbs the same path — Canvas, Design, Test, Evolve — heating up from a need you've only just spotted to a real, evidence-tested venture. Each phase has one tool and ends at a gate you clear with evidence, not optimism.

Who's here to help

Meet the studio team

The people who keep this studio running — your first calls when you're stuck, and the team behind the workshops, events, and updates across CLIMB.

CS

Lead Mentor

Chase Slikkers

Senior · Cyber Security (Economics minor)

Forge’s lead mentor — your first call when a venture gets stuck, and your sounding board before a gate.

GG

Event Coordinator · CLIMB

Gabriella Goncalves

Sophomore · Human Capital Management

Coordinates CLIMB’s events — workshops, guest sessions, and studio gatherings across both studios.

DN

Communication Coordinator · CLIMB

Denisa Narazet

Sophomore · Business Administration (Marketing minor)

Keeps CLIMB connected — announcements, updates, and the word on what’s happening across both studios.

The guide

Learn the tools, then go build

Each tool is a living document, not a form you fill once. Tap a tool to see what it does and how one founder — Pocket Lunch's Maya — actually used it. The fillable worksheets live in the Word field guide (see Resources).

The path warms as you go: cool steel at Canvas, through gold and ember, to a green finish at Evolve. Move forward only when the gate is cleared — track that under My Progress.

You pass a gate with evidence — not optimism

Gates aren't graded by an instructor. They're checkpoints you walk through with your lead mentor, who pressure-tests your evidence rather than rubber-stamping it. A gate you pass on optimism is a gate that fails you later.

01 · Show

Bring the evidence — conversations, a test result, a number — not a feeling that you're ready.

02 · Defend

Walk your lead mentor through it out loud. If you can't, the gate isn't clear.

03 · Decide

Pass and proceed, or revise and return — with what must be true to pass next time.

Talk to customers first. Test before you build. Show what's real, say it out loud, and clear the gate.

Your lead mentor — your first call

Every founder gets one: a student a few steps ahead who knows these tools. They're your first call when you're stuck, your sounding board before a gate, and your shortcut into the rest of the community.

Show up for these

The community meets all year — none of it required. Founder workshops (one skill at a time), guest entrepreneurs (what actually happened), watch-and-build sessions, and founder check-ins. Drop into whatever serves your venture.

Who it's for — with or without MGNT 250

Every founder in Forge uses this same guide, the same four tools, and the same four gates — whether or not you're also enrolled in MGNT 250. If you're in the course, your gates are reviewed by your lead mentor and instructor on the course schedule. If you're in Forge on its own, your gates are reviewed by your lead mentor alone, at your own pace. Either way, Tool 1 gives you everything you need to begin.

My Progress

Track your own venture

Name your venture, then work down each phase. Check off a gate's criteria as you clear them — your progress saves automatically in this browser. A phase turns green when every box is ticked.

The Studio Board

Every venture on the map

The whole studio at a glance. Add each venture, then drag it forward as it clears each gate — or tap a token to move, edit, or add a photo, logo, and one-line description. Saved in this browser; use Save / Load to share.

Resources

Everything in one place

Everything below is built right into this hub — no separate files to keep track of. The documents download straight from here, and the printable board opens in a new tab.