First Pitch Night at Forge

The dev collective for doers.

Extraordinary things happen when ambitious people come together to build. Forge was created to bring that energy to the University at Buffalo. Throughout history, the greatest innovations have come from tight-knit, high-intensity teams united by a shared vision. At Forge, developers, designers, scientists, engineers, founders, and future leaders build in public, push boundaries, and find their people.

Meet our team

Our Journey

S25

Where it all began.

First Meeting Space
Early Community
First Build Session

Back in Spring 2025, Amaan Sheikh noticed something missing at UB, a space for students who just wanted to build things outside of class. He started reaching out to founders, engineers, and leaders he admired for advice, and everyone seemed to agree: UB needed a community like this.

That idea became Forge. It started small: just a few messages, some calls, and a bunch of “yeah, this should exist” moments. Soon, a team came together, all excited to help make UB a place where future founders, devs, designers, and creatives could start building together.

We hosted our first info session and our first ever pitch night that semester, it wasn't perfect, but it was packed, and filled with momentum. That summer, Amaan connected with alumni in Silicon Valley, got advice from top schools' campus orgs, built infrastructure with the team and we all worked hard to launch strong in the fall.

From a missing piece to a growing community, that’s how Forge began.