Conversations with Paul Davis

Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Davis.

Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, you could tell our readers some of your backstory.
As a boy, I lived and traveled throughout Southern Africa as a missionary kid. From village to village, I was introduced to new people and cultures—often over a cup of tea. Those sacred moments were transformative. I didn’t realize it then, but it’s where Mosi Tea began. Fast forward many years, and I decided to put my idea of an all-in-one brewing infuser on Kickstarter. The infuser would have multiple attachments so anyone could brew anything, anywhere from loose-leaf tea to matcha to cold brew and more! People loved the idea, and we raised almost $500k on Kickstarter (putting us in the top 1% of all campaigns). Our All-in-One Infuser won the top product innovation honor at the 2022 World Tea Awards. At the time, I was working at another company I had cofounded, but I was so excited about Mosi that I exited that company to focus on Mosi Tea full-time. Since then, we’ve also launched a line of garden-picked teas that we source from worldwide. After visiting India, we hand-selected the tea gardens to source our tea. We wanted to ensure we worked with gardens that hand-pick tea so we’re confident in having the highest quality and freshest tea. We started by offering Mosi on our website and Amazon and will soon be much more focused on wholesale now that we have the infrastructure in place and are ready to scale.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Definitely not smooth! Our Kickstarter was funded in 2019, and production was essentially halted when the pandemic hit. It took us 2 years to get through everything, produce the product, and get to the point where we could ship to campaign supporters. Along the way, we had product engineering issues that slowed progress to the point that we wondered if we could accomplish our product goals. Once we got through those, the global shipping crisis was in full effect. We were forced to pay about $50k to get the products to the US. It should have only cost about $8k, but because shipping prices increased, everything else also did. Shipping to over 80 countries for upwards of 5x the amount we planned for almost killed the company. Challenges need to be expected, but I’ve learned to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

Let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I received my MBA in brand management from VCU Brandcenter in 2012. From there, I went into advertising, thinking I would do that for my career. Less than a year in, I was laid off and became a consultant for another local firm. It was not a good fit for me, so I was fortunate to join a small team at an e-commerce company called Diamond Candles, where I was their brand manager. I learned about growth, marketing, supply chain, and just building a company there. In 4 short years, the team and I scaled that company from $1m in year one to over $20m in year 4. The company’s CEO and I eventually moved on to start Boostopia, a software company focused on helping e-commerce companies better understand and improve their customer support teams through our analytics platform. I’m blessed to have been part of excellent companies with amazing people. I’m most proud that my family has been the main priority. I have a wonderful, supportive wife who has been through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship and has been my rock. My 3 beautiful boys bring me so much joy, and I’m happy to have the flexibility to invest in their lives at this age.

What makes you happy?
I have a fantastic family that brings me so much joy. My wife is my best friend and biggest supporter, and I have three fantastic boys who are so much fun. We’re blessed to be their parents and watch them grow and develop. I find happiness in many ways, from a simple cup of tea to our church community and friends to hobbies like golf and watching Georgia football! I love to travel the world when I can; in a month, my son and I are going on a mission trip to Ecuador. I was about his age when I lived in Africa as a missionary kid, so I’m excited for him to experience it.

Pricing:

• All of our pricing can be found on our website (www.mositea.com) or Amazon! We aren’t the cheapest tea company out there, but we have made decisions along the way to command a fantastic product that will be the most flavorful, freshest cup of tea you’ve ever had. We hand-pick our teas from century-old gardens and pack our tea at the source within hours of production. We have spent much time building our infrastructure to offer good tea!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mositea.com
• Instagram: @mosi_tea
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mositea
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mositea1858