Rosh is the founder of ISSARA – an ethical minimal leather goods brand. ISSARA operates in the affordable luxury space.

ISSARA operates in the affordable luxury space and is an agile eCommerce brand. They make every single piece to order with a zero waste supply chain. w/ Rosh Govindaraj Founder, ISSARA.

In this episode you will learn about:

• Agile eCommerce & making to order – geared to optimising both customer experience and sustainability i.e. a zero waste supply chain
• About Issara’s Kickstarter campaign – its setup, traction and funding completion
• Issara’s founder focused PR strategy that has secured coverage on Forbes, TechCrunch and Herald Sun (Australia)

Parting Advice – The Lightning Round.

Hiring People

Asking a lot of questions and doing trials. Attitude is more important than skills.

Indispensable Tools

• Google Suite
• Zapier (order automation: production, fulfilment, order confirmation)
• Calendar

Best Mistake

Blackmailed in Indonesia – 50% upfront payment with a price increase by 40% .  She called a friend of a friend to help out.  A set back that led her to

Book or Resource

Book: Purple Cow,
She prefers company case studies; her favourite being that of

• Toms shoes,
• Everlane,
• Harry’s

Key Takeaways (with timestamps)

(4:05) What sparked the idea for Issara.
(11:04) Issues with Fast fashion and wastage. On-demand made to order manufacturing
(13:02) Hand-made manufacturing process.
(16:30) Why Issara decided to go down the route of Kickstarter – with the tech range (Tracker)
(18:30) Securing PR media coverage on Techcrunch, Forbes – media kit, story of the brand, image assets (life style images),
(21:20) Kickstarter campaign images with the manufacturing photographs
(26:45) Rules of success on  Kickstarter
(29:00) Getting Guy Kawasaki to give Issara a shout out
(35:40) Brand loyalty of Kickstarter customers
(40:01) Multichannel eCommerce strategy and marketplaces
(46:00) Rosh’s thoughts on funding