An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
“Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check-in on your friends. Check-in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.”
As a part of our series about business leaders who are shaking things up in their industry, I had the pleasure of interviewing Josh Bowden.
Josh Bowden is the co-founder of and CEO of noissue, the creative packaging platform that’s making custom, sustainable packaging experiences accessible to businesses of all sizes. In his role as CEO, he is responsible for bringing the company’s long-term vision to life, team building, and holding noissue true to its core values and sustainable business strategy. Prior to founding noissue, Josh started a sustainable eyewear brand, Lewis Fredericks, with his friend and noissue cofounder, Auguste Gruar, while completing his Bachelor of Law at the Victoria University of Wellington. It was during this period that he discovered the struggle and pain points of sustainably sourcing packaging for young startups, and the idea for noissue was born. An entrepreneur at heart, Josh is passionate about building a global brand with a positive impact on people, communities, and the planet. He loves art, reading and is an avid fan of Cricket. Josh currently resides in Auckland, New Zealand, and frequently visits Los Angeles, California.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
While I was at university, I founded a sustainable eyewear brand making frames from waste materials with my friend and noissue co-founder, Augie Gruar. We were able to find an online platform for most of our needs — Shopify for e-commerce, Mailchimp for email marketing — but when it came to sourcing sustainable packaging that was suitable for brands like ours, we couldn’t find anything out there. This was the first sign of an opportunity in the market. Then, when we started pitching our eyewear brand to retailers, they were more interested in the custom, sustainable packaging we’d sourced and created ourselves rather than the eyewear! After this, Augie and I decided to quit our jobs to found noissue. As they say, the rest is history!
Can you tell our readers what it is about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We are making custom, sustainable packaging accessible to businesses of any and every size. Small businesses, micropreneurs, and creators don’t have the same resources as their larger counterparts, so there is a real need for a platform that enables them to design branded packaging with ease using circular materials that don’t negatively impact the environment. All of our packaging materials fall into one of three circular frameworks — they are either compostable, recycled or reusable.
Additionally, smaller businesses need low minimum order quantities to keep costs down and not create excess waste, which is where noissue comes in. Our low minimum order quantities set us apart in the industry and make creative custom packaging made from circular materials affordable, accessible and achievable for businesses of all sizes. As an example, order minimums for noissue’s Recycled Mailer Bags start as low as 50 units.
We are a big believer in supporting the creator economy as much as we can and taking the stress out of packaging, so creators can get on with the important stuff: building their brand and pursuing their passions.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When we first started out, we participated in a Webinar, and had a hard time calculating the time difference; it ended up being a 3–4AM webinar! We took it all in stride and played it off like we were in the same timezone as the rest of the audience. We learned very quickly to brush up on timezones before agreeing to any meetings, and of course, quickly became well-versed in politely explaining where New Zealand is located.
We all need a little help along the journey. Who have been some of your mentors? Can you share a story about how they made an impact?
My first job out of University was at a Fund. They knew I had started a business outside of work and were extremely supportive in encouraging me to give it a go. They taught me the fundamentals of running a business and team, and ultimately shaped my passion for building a great team and investing in people.
Other mentors of mine include some great New Zealand entrepreneurs spanning different industries; Al Brown, a Chef, and Marc Ellis, a Rugby Player and Entrepreneur. They both taught me to enjoy the work, remain passionate about why we started, and continue to love what I do. They are great role models for growing a brand, following your passion, and to top it off, they’re both extremely humble!
We are also fortunate to have some amazing investors like Rod Snodgrass and Felix Capital. They’ve taught me a lot about how quickly things evolve and change, shared their experiences with scaling, and are always there to answer any questions. They’re both really accessible, and that has definitely impacted how I operate at noissue.
Finally, I have amazing parents and a remarkable grandmother. My dad taught me to be thoughtful, especially when it comes to other people, which has really shaped how I’ve built a team and how noissue works together, especially as a global, remote company. My mom taught me resilience, and that though tough times are inevitable, they can be overcome. And, last but not least, my grandmother — she is 94 and such a huge inspiration! She continues to have an incredible zest for life and passion, which is something I always try to emulate as a founder to engage and motivate my team.
In today’s parlance, being disruptive is usually a positive adjective. But is disrupting always good? When do we say the converse, that a system or structure has ‘withstood the test of time’? Can you articulate to our readers when disrupting an industry is positive, and when disrupting an industry is ‘not so positive’? Can you share some examples of what you mean?
Disrupting an industry is fantastic when you can introduce a new mode of working or a new way of doing things that doesn’t negatively impact people or the planet. If a business has a positive impact on one or both of those while also scaling and creating profit, that’s even better!
Disruption is not so great when it’s at the expense of the environment and its inhabitants. Reaching high-growth goals in business can often mean taking a short-term view of your journey, without factoring in the long-term consequences.
This is why at noissue, sustainability means thinking for the long term, having robust systems that stand the test of time, and constantly innovating and rethinking how we do things. We view sustainability as a framework for how we build our company and teams, and also how we make decisions. It’s about more than just environmental impact.
Can you share five of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?
- “Teamwork > individuals”.
- “Don’t get caught up in the hype and stay grounded. My co-founder and COO, Augie, is always a good example of this.
- Micky Drexler once said “people like consistency” in the context of customers — this has always resonated with me and helps guide our approach at noissue.
- “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” — C.S. Lewis
- “Be open to a world where you may not understand or agree with the person next to you but have a drink with them anyways. Eat slowly. Tip your server. Check-in on your friends. Check-in on yourself. Enjoy the ride.” — Anthony Bourdain
We are sure you aren’t done. How are you going to shake things up next?
At noissue, we plan on adding to our range of products — still keeping it curated and within our circular frameworks — but adding more diverse packaging options. We’ll also continue to offer more customer-driven initiatives that tie into our values of creativity, community, and sustainability, and continue to inspire our customers to make small changes in their packaging that, collectively, make a big impact. We have a lot of fun things in the works that we can’t wait to share with the greater noissue community!
Do you have a book, podcast, or talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking? Can you share a story with us? Can you explain why it was so resonant with you?
I really enjoy reading a variety of genres, and one of my all-time favorites is George Orwell’s 1984. It really got me thinking about how limited and constrained people’s thoughts, ideas, and expressions have the potential to become without access to information. Winston’s job of just taking lines out and erasing the past felt really bizarre! At noissue, we make it such a point to produce a lot of written content to help inform our customers about starting and running a business, how to get the most out of their packaging, and how they can continue to stand out and stand by their values via noissue. We encourage them to be creative and dream big, and empower themselves to create the business they dream of.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact. And that is everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it-you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” Steve Jobs
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I’d be honored to inspire a movement that encourages people to confidently put themselves out there and take risks. It’s never easy to take that risk, that first step into the unknown, and to step out of your comfort zone/wheelhouse.
Often there is fear of failure, criticism (true whether you’re successful or not), and lack of support when it comes to being a new entrepreneur, or when you try something ‘unconventional’. I’d really like to foster a culture of acceptance and kindness, one that encourages people to try something new, take a risk, fail or succeed, and still be celebrated for their initiative, not torn down for succeeding or failing. I believe innovation comes from those who feel like they can take the risk, and feel supported throughout the process, regardless of the outcome, and this is how we’ll continue to do better as a society, find creative solutions, and positively impact our lives + the planet!
How can our readers follow you online?
Follow us on social media to keep up with what we’re up to! We’re @noissueco on Instagram and TikTok, noissue on YouTube and noissue.co on Facebook.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for joining us!
Meet The Disruptors: Josh Bowden Of “noissue” On The Five Things You Need To Shake Up Your Industry was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
