Josh Knauer

Co-Founder

Bio

Josh Knauer is the Co-Founder of ReSeed, a platform focused on providing carbon credits for farmers that promote sustainable and regenerative agricultural practices. As a seasoned entrepreneur with a history of successful ventures and a former advisor on science and technology in the Obama administration, Josh brings a wealth of experience in technology and sustainability to ReSeed. His career has been marked by a deep commitment to using data and emerging technologies to drive decisions for a better future.

Josh Knauer is the Co-Founder of ReSeed, a platform focused on providing carbon credits for…

Company:

Reseed

Location:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States

Description:

ReSeed offers a unique carbon credit marketplace that incentivizes smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable practices, helping to reduce carbon emissions and enhance agricultural sustainability. The platform focuses on creating a transparent and efficient system for carbon credits, making it easier for farmers to benefit from global climate finance.

ReSeed offers a unique carbon credit marketplace that incentivizes smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable practices,…

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Conversation
Highlights

From Organic Marketplaces to Carbon Credits: How One Founder’s Mission-Driven Approach Is Reshaping Climate Tech

In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Josh Knauer shared how his unconventional approach to building and scaling companies has led to his latest venture, Reseed, which is transforming how farmers participate in carbon credit markets. What’s particularly striking about Josh’s journey is his consistent focus on mission alignment over traditional startup metrics.

The seeds of this approach were planted in 1996 when Josh launched an e-commerce platform for natural products, well before organic standards even existed in the United States. “We had to build out a set of methodologies that would allow the community to actually define the values and standards that they cared about,” Josh explains. This early experiment in community-driven standards would later influence his approach to carbon credit verification.

Fast forward to today, and Josh is tackling an even bigger challenge with Reseed. The company aims to help stabilize farming communities while addressing climate change through carbon credits. What’s remarkable is that despite agriculture’s massive potential impact on carbon sequestration, “less than 1%, in fact, it’s 0.03% of carbon credits on the market today come from farming or agriculture in any form.”

This massive market inefficiency becomes even more striking when considering the current state of carbon credits. “The majority of carbon credits currently in the marketplace actually come from fossil fuel based activities,” Josh reveals, highlighting a counterintuitive reality where the very industries contributing to climate change are the ones primarily benefiting from carbon credit markets.

Reseed’s approach to this challenge is fundamentally different from many climate tech startups. While others focus on complex mechanical solutions, Josh emphasizes the power of working with existing farming communities. “We have literally billions of hands in farmers that can be put to use to solve this problem. They want to do it as extra income, wildly incentivized to actively participate in this market.”

This focus on practical, community-based solutions extends to how Josh approaches fundraising. Despite having partnerships with companies like Google and sophisticated AI technology that would typically attract venture capital, he chose a different path. “As soon as I started talking to folks in that space, I realized they’re not actually deploying capital, they’re talking about it, but they’re not doing it,” he explains. Instead, he focused on family offices and individual investors who aligned with Reseed’s mission.

His fundraising philosophy is refreshingly straightforward: “If you’re doing what everybody else is doing, you’re not doing it. And you have to find an innovative track or tact and set of tactics and strategy for how you’re going to go about raising money.”

Looking ahead, Josh sees ecosystem services becoming a major asset class. “We are working right now with financing vehicles… that are basically starting to use our carbon credits as the base asset of their funds and are projecting… twelve to 15% to 20% annual returns for their investors.” But more importantly, he emphasizes that “you’re investing in the thing that’s going to save your life. And that’s a pretty strong argument.”

For founders in the climate tech space, Josh’s journey offers valuable lessons about the power of mission alignment, the importance of working with existing communities, and the potential of finding unconventional solutions to massive problems. In a world where climate tech often focuses on complex technological solutions, Reseed’s approach of empowering farming communities while building a profitable business model stands out as a compelling alternative path forward.

Actionable
Takeaways

Leverage Past Innovations to Inform Future Ventures:

Josh's journey from creating an online marketplace for natural products to integrating data across sectors illustrates the value of using insights from past experiences to address current challenges innovatively.

Identify Underleveraged Markets for Impact:

By focusing on agricultural carbon credits, Josh highlights the importance of identifying gaps in existing markets—such as the low percentage of carbon credits from agriculture—and leveraging them for significant environmental and economic impact.

Build Business Models that Support Your Mission:

Reseed’s approach to stabilizing farmers' incomes through carbon credits underlines the effectiveness of creating business models that align closely with broader social and environmental goals, ensuring sustainability and impact.

Focus on Data Transparency and Integrity:

Emphasizing the need for auditable, transparent data in the carbon credit market, Josh points out the necessity for startups to adopt standards that ensure their innovations are both verifiable and impactful, building trust with consumers and investors.

Engage with Investors Who Share Your Vision:

Josh’s fundraising strategy—targeting family offices and individuals aligned with Reseed’s mission rather than traditional VC routes—serves as a model for founders to consider alternative funding sources that better match their company's ethos and objectives.

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