Operators, not advisors.
Forge Operating Partners exists for one kind of business: the founder-led ABA or behavioral health practice that has outgrown the way it was started.
What we do
Build the operational backbone.
We help founder-led practices identify, build, and implement the processes, systems, and standards to scale from startup to $3–5MM in revenue — sustainably and predictably. The work happens alongside the owner, not in place of them: we find what's breaking under growth, build what fixes it, and put it into practice with the team, so the capability stays in the business when we're gone.
Who we serve
Clinicians and first-time owners.
Practices running from $0 to $1MM in revenue and aiming for $3–5MM. Owners who are stretched thin, wearing every hat, and rightly skeptical of outside help that doesn't understand the clinical and operational realities of the work. We work nationwide.
Justin Breeden
Founder, Forge Operating Partners
The founder
I help ABA founders build the business behind the clinical work.
I’ve spent my career in business operations, finance, and leadership, much of it in and around healthcare. Most recently, I served as CEO of an independent ABA therapy practice that I helped build alongside my wife, a BCBA, from the ground up through a successful exit.
When we started, there wasn’t really a business behind the clinical practice. So I built one.
I developed the policies and procedures that gave the team a clear way to operate. I built the hiring, onboarding, and retention processes that allowed us to grow without losing the culture and quality that made the practice different. I managed HR and people operations, researched and negotiated software and vendor relationships, built the workflows that kept the day-to-day running, developed payer relationships, and identified the handful of numbers we needed to watch to know whether the business was actually working.
But the goal was never to build a business at the expense of the clinical work.
Our practice earned a strong reputation in the community because we were intentional about how we cared for families. Many came to us after leaving larger providers, looking for something more personal, more responsive, and more family-focused. Everything I built on the business side was designed to support that clinical mission—not get in its way.
That experience shaped what I do today.
I work alongside BCBA founders who have the clinical expertise and passion to build something meaningful, but want an experienced partner on the business side. Someone who has been through the decisions, problems, growing pains, and unexpected turns that come with building an ABA practice.
I’m not focused on helping established organizations become the next dozen-location provider.
I’m interested in the founder who has a problem they haven’t seen before and wants someone to think it through with them. The founder who wants to know what’s coming before it becomes a crisis. The founder who understands that the business side matters—not because it’s the point of the practice, but because getting it right gives the clinical team and the families they serve room to do what matters most.
Because most of the problems that come with growth aren’t surprises. They’re predictable. And they’re a lot cheaper to plan for than to fix after the fact.
If you’re starting an ABA practice, building momentum, or simply want someone experienced in your corner as the business gets more complicated, let’s talk.
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