Founder, Trade Compliance Automation

Forum's Venture Studio is a leading early-stage fund and program for B2B SaaS startups. Starting a company is demanding, complex, and psychologically challenging. As former founders and early-stage operators, we understand firsthand that Founders need support, honest feedback, and someone who truly cares in their corner.

Our mission is to make the journey easier and more successful for Founders, and we've achieved this by making over 350+ seed investments that have raised $600M+ in follow-on funding. Forum founders have gone on to raise from funds like Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Uncork Capital, 8VC, Founders Fund, Menlo Ventures, Canaan, Bowery Capital, Susa Ventures, SV Angel, and more.

What are we exploring?
Drawback Recovery AI: Unlocking $21B+ in Duty Refunds

We're building an AI-powered duty drawback platform that streamlines one of the most underutilized tax recovery tools for importers. Businesses can reclaim up to 99% of duties on exported goods, but most eligible refunds go unclaimed due to the process's complexity, manual effort, and strict compliance requirements. Our platform will automate claim identification, document preparation, and submission using AI-driven trade data analysis, with built-in compliance, real-time tracking, and predictive insights.

This $21B+ market is largely served by consultants using outdated, manual workflows. With regulatory scrutiny and tariff complexity on the rise, there’s a growing demand for faster, more accessible refund solutions.

Forum derisks and accelerates the Founder path by:

• A $250K USD investment, and an end-to-end fundraising playbook and network to raise your seed and Series A

• A validation partner with proven playbooks, networks, and the systems to validate, unlock your ICP, ignite your sales pipeline, and beyond

• The support of our experienced operating team - from business design, product development, growth, recruitment, legal and more

• Executing a winning GTM strategy to get to $50-100K ARR, and the right MVP to ensure early traction

• A community full of mentors, peers, and leaders

• $100K worth of business perks

What you bring:

• Deep understanding of international trade, customs compliance, or tax recovery processes, particularly in duty drawback or import/export operations

• Experience building or leading AI/ML-driven products, especially in regulated, data-heavy environments like fintech, govtech, or tax tech

• Proven ability to navigate regulatory frameworks and turn complex workflows into scalable, user-friendly software

• Track record of launching and growing B2B SaaS or enterprise tools from 0 to 1, ideally in legacy or consultancy-dominated industries

• Comfortable working at the intersection of compliance, automation, and predictive analytics

• Entrepreneurial mindset with a bias toward action, strong storytelling ability, and experience securing early customer traction or partnerships

Please note, this is not an employment opportunity with Forum Ventures.

About Forum Ventures
Forum Ventures® is the leading early-stage fund, program, and community for B2B SaaS startups based in New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and remote. Founded in 2014, we’re on a mission to make the B2B SaaS journey easier, more accessible, and more successful for early-stage founders, through pre-seed and seed-stage funding. We provide high-touch 1:1 support, programming, corporate perks and introductions, and an active SaaS community to support you through every step of your building journey.
Starting a company is demanding, complex, and psychologically challenging. As former founders and early-stage operators, we understand firsthand that Founders need support, honest feedback, and someone who truly cares in their corner. Our mission is to make the journey easier and more successful for Founders, and we've achieved this by making over 350+ investments that have raised $1Bn+ in follow-on funding. Forum founders have gone on to raise from funds like Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Uncork Capital, 8VC, Founders Fund, Menlo Ventures, Canaan, Bowery Capital, Susa Ventures, SV Angel, and more.