Design Partner Program

Help us build the world’s lowest-friction invasive species detection network.

1. Context

Existing early-detection platforms — iMapInvasives, EDDMapS, iNaturalist — have built real, valuable databases, thanks to countless volunteers and trained monitors. They work beautifully for dedicated naturalists. They collapse for the commuter who passes the same suspicious patch every morning for a year and never logs a thing. Stopping, opening an app, navigating a form, IDing a species, submitting a record — that's a workflow, and workflows have a friction tax that most people don't pay.

Naughtweed makes a different bet: detection capacity scales when the barrier to logging an observation approaches zero. One button. One press. No form, no app, no photos. The dataset that comes out the other end is initially less precise per record but dramatically denser in space and time — because the network of everyday travelers becomes the detection infrastructure itself.

Scroll to interact . Japanese Knotweed heatmap. Over 10k observations, one person, one button. No planned observations, collected in 86 distinct observation days.

Visual Peer Review is built directly into the workflow. When observations overlap, the group is essentially voting by tagged overlap — and as agreement builds, so does the record's confidence score.

Thresholds are configurable by partner. A state running active knotweed response might require 8 of 10 confirming votes before elevating a record to actionable status. A jurisdiction in early surveillance mode might set the bar lower to cast a wider net. When an observation clears its threshold, it gets flagged for land managers, prioritized for ground-truthing, and surfaced in the reporting dashboard.

It's the logic of distributed consensus, applied to plants: no single observer needs to be an expert. Ten observers agreeing on what they saw is something a land manager can act on.

Phragmites heatmap. 1300+ observations, one person, one button. No planned observation windows, collected in 30 distinct observation days.

2. How we close the precision gap

Here's the part where the founder is honest with you.

We have working prototypes, real heatmaps, and a model we believe in. What we don't have yet is your fingerprints on the product. Design partners get the platform — and the roadmap — shaped around the way they actually work in the field, before anyone else does.

What you get

  • One free button and a free trial of the platform

  • A direct line to the founder — weekly working sessions, not a support queue

  • Real influence over the roadmap. Features get built because partners need them.

  • Founding-partner pricing locked in when the program transitions to paid

What we're asking

  • ~30 minutes, two times monthly, across program duration

  • Honest feedback — including the kind that stings

  • A willingness to actually press the button (we'll know)

Who we're looking for

  • Land managers, conservation districts, watershed groups, and regional invasive species councils

  • Researchers and field staff inside active EDRR programs

  • Property managers, trail stewards, and right-of-way teams with recurring detection needs

  • Citizen scientists with a regular route and a grudge

3. Why we're running a Design Partner Program

Knotweed (yellow) and Phragmites (yellow).

Free button? Say less.

Join our Design Partner Program for a free trial and one free button.

Trial slots are limited - please complete the form below to apply.

Build actionable geospatial intelligence with Naughtweed.

Nughtweed partners with land managers, conservation districts, and citizen scientists who want detection that scales with everyday life. One button, one press, no form on the trail. Visual Peer Review turns overlapping observations into actionable confidence scores your team can act on.

Whether you manage a watershed, run a stewardship program, or just walk the same trail every week, our Design Partner Program puts a physical button in your hand and your fingerprints on the roadmap.

If you'd like to be one of our first 10 partners, tell us about your route or region. We'll follow up within a week to evaluate fit and walk you through next steps.