Operator-led. Network-backed.
No generalists.
HydroKnowledge is a water industry consulting firm built on two decades of operating experience — founding companies, raising capital, and working alongside the people who run and build this sector.
HydroKnowledge was founded by Adam Tank — entrepreneur, operator, and advisor with two decades at the intersection of water, technology, and business. Our work sits where deals get done, where innovation stalls, and where the right strategy can genuinely change outcomes.
Our principal, Adam, co-founded Transcend, a generative design company that automates engineering for water and energy infrastructure. The firm raised over $30M from top-tier investors including Autodesk Ventures and built tools now used by some of the largest engineering firms and utilities in the world — contributing to systems that serve more than 430 million people with clean water and renewable power.
Before Transcend, Adam founded Industrial Optic, a venture-backed water robotics company that was successfully acquired by a publicly traded firm. That path — from idea to exit — is where much of our practical playbook was written.
Across both companies, our team has sat across the table from hundreds of utilities, navigated complex B2G sales cycles, built investor narratives from scratch, and helped organizations find product-market fit in a sector that doesn't make any of it easy. That accumulated pattern recognition is the foundation of every engagement we take on.
Beyond operating roles, we draw on a curated network of water industry specialists — engineers, operators, policy experts, and technologists — who bring depth across every major segment of the sector. Adam also serves on advisory boards including ImagineH2O, co-hosts the Water We Talking About podcast (10,000+ downloads, five years running), and writes the At Water's Edge newsletter (5,000+ subscribers).
HydroKnowledge exists to offer the kind of senior-level strategic thinking that most organizations — utilities, startups, investors — need but rarely find in traditional consulting engagements. If you're working on something in water, we'd like to hear about it.
Adam Tank at a glance
- LinkedIn Top Voice 19,000+ followers
- VC Funding Raised $35M+ across two startups
- People Served 430M+ with clean water
- Podcast Water We Talking About · 10k+ downloads
- Newsletter At Water's Edge · 5,000+ subscribers
- Advisory Boards ImagineH2O + portfolio companies
There's a version of this letter that starts with a statistic about the global water crisis. You've read that letter before. This isn't it.
I spent years building water technology companies — raising money, selling to utilities, hiring engineers, losing deals I thought we'd won, winning ones I was sure we'd lost. What I kept noticing, somewhere in the middle of all of it, was how little useful outside help existed for people working in this sector. Not for lack of smart people. For lack of people who had actually done it.
Water is a strange market. It moves slowly until it doesn't. Procurement is political. Relationships matter in ways that outsiders consistently underestimate. The technology keeps accelerating while the infrastructure it's meant to improve was designed for a different century. Most consultants who work here arrived from adjacent industries and learned the vocabulary without learning the terrain. The difference shows.
HydroKnowledge exists because I wanted to build something different — a firm where the work is led by people who have sat in the same rooms you're sitting in, fought the same battles, and made enough mistakes to have real opinions. I can't promise we'll always have the right answer. But I can promise we'll give you an honest one.
Thought leadership & media
Five years running. 10,000+ downloads. Conversations with founders, utility leaders, investors, and the researchers shaping the future of water.
Monthly intelligence for water professionals. 5,000+ subscribers including utility managers, investors, and founders across the global water sector.
Industry forecasts, technology analysis, and candid takes on water sector trends — with predictions viewed over 1.2 million times.