The pair had not anticipated arriving at this juncture.
Like all good startups, they were in a different business, then ended up founding a company to provide a service they needed but could not find.
They met while both studying law and accounting at Victoria University, then co-founded a company that made eyewear from sustainable materials. To keep with their theme, they wanted to market their product in sustainable packaging.
"We spun up our site with Shopify, and our marketing with Mailchimp," Bowden says. But when they searched for a global platform that offered on-demand, customisable sustainable packaging, they found nothing.
Noissue was born in 2017. The idea is that you upload a design, then Noissue gets it printed by one of 50 partners worldwide in locations including the US, China and Vietnam, then ships it to you. If you don't have a design, they'll organise for that to be contracted out too.
Gruar and Bowden won't comment on financials, but say the firm quickly became "modestly profitable" to the point where they've been able to fund most of their growth organically over the past three and a half years.
The pair say Covid was a tipping point, with their business growing 200 per cent in North America - where they do most of their business. Today they have some 60,000 commercial customers as the pandemic drove more business online, and the broader shift in consumer preferences toward eco-friendly materials.
Marquee customers around include Mon Coeur, Oak + Fort, Kuyichi, Coalatree, Aesop, and McCormick & Company. Local clients include Maggie Marilyn, Kowtow, Superette, The Book Playbox, Chia Sisters, and Hello Cup.
Noissue says 100 per cent of the materials used in its built-to-order packaging are reusable, recycled or compostable.
And through its Eco-Packaging Alliance programme – where customers can contribute to a climate-action project of their choice within the four categories of Reforestation and Biodiversity, Clean Water, Renewable Energy, and Waste to Energy – the firm has planted more than 40,000 trees in 22 locations worldwide to date.
Noissue's Instagram account features pictures of boxes, packaging and tape. It sounds as dull as dishwater, but it's eyecatching and hipster and has delivered them 430,000 followers on the Facebook-owned platform - perhaps a record for a business-to-business company.
Where the money's going?
Today, Noissue has 100 staff, with a quarter in New Zealand and the rest scattered around the world.
Gruar and Bowden plan to boost numbers to between 150 and 200 over the next 12 months, and are on the hunt for people with experience building a global platform.
MIQ? No issue
The Herald spoke to the pair as they prepared to board a plane from San Francisco to Auckland.
And for Noissue, securing MIQ slots was well, no issue.
On their return, Gruar and Bowden will become one of the pilot group of 150 business travellers in the self-isolation trial.
Their partners will move in together so the Noissue founders can share the same home as they self-isolate without putting their loved-ones at risk. For Gruar and Bowden, it's just another little innovative touch.
