By Evan Knowles
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December 5, 2022
What happens when you have zero percent interest rates, ESG, stimulus money, COVID, and SPACs colliding all at once? AppHarvest. AppHarvest’s SPAC and rocket ship success now appear to be a malicious cash grab by investment bankers and global elites enabled by the highly controversial ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) movement. Whether the founding team was aware of what would eventually happen, I cannot be sure; however, I do know there has been poor execution from the leadership team and bad actors like Jeffrey Ubben, who infiltrated the company early to use it as a financial vehicle to quickly cash out millions dollars while the state of Kentucky and everyday retail investors were left holding a falling knife. Like everyone, I was initially bought in. The state was bought in. The media was bought in. We all bought into AppHarvest. It's amazing how far saying all the right things will get you. Entrepreneurs and politicians have this gift. They communicate their visions to rally people behind them, and Jonathan Webb is a master of the craft. He masterfully leveraged his experience in DC, free capital, SPACs, the ESG movement, and the narrative of a struggling state (Kentucky) to raise $1.5 Billion dollars in less than 5 years for a dream manifested on a whiteboard years before. Props to him for making his dream a reality… seriously. I want to have empathy for a fellow entrepreneur and don’t want anything to come across as an attack. Give the man props, BUT the problem with dreams is that you have to wake up to face reality. Facts are the facts and reality is setting in… Middle Tech had Jonathan on the podcast in the early days before any construction started and they had a small team that had just finished raising a $100 million Series A. I left that interview having mixed feelings. I was super excited for the state and for Jonathan’s team, and I walked out of the interview saying “He felt extremely scripted like a politician.” I don’t like politicians very much by nature, but I quickly looked past it because I’m not one to judge based on a first encounter and founders tend to develop scripts when they raise capital. I know I have with my own company.