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Benjamin Stern
Former Founder at Nohbo | Thiel Fellow | Currently Exploring the World🤿
Benjamin Stern is a young entrepreneur and innovator who was selected as a Thiel Fellow in October 2020.14 He is the founder and CEO of Nohbo, a company focused on creating water-soluble technologies to reduce unnecessary plastic waste.12
Professional Background
Nohbo: Benjamin founded Nohbo in July 2014 in Melbourne, Florida.1 The company's mission is to develop environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic packaging, particularly in the consumer products industry. In June 2023, Nohbo secured Series A funding to support its global expansion.3
Thiel Fellowship: As a Thiel Fellow, Benjamin is part of a select group of young entrepreneurs chosen by the Thiel Foundation to pursue innovative projects and business ventures.1 The fellowship provides financial support and mentorship to help fellows develop their ideas outside of traditional educational paths.
Education and Early Career
Benjamin attended Viera High School from 2015 to 2017.1 Prior to founding Nohbo, he gained work experience in various roles, including:
- Cashier at Wegmans Food Markets (August 2014 - June 2015)
- "Everything Man" at Jersey Mike's Subs (December 2013 - July 2014)
Achievements and Recognition
Benjamin has received several honors and awards for his entrepreneurial efforts:
- Featured on ABC's Shark Tank in 2015-2016, where he secured a deal with Mark Cuban1
- State of Florida Governor's Young Entrepreneur Award (August 2016)
- Influencive Top 30 under 30 Entrepreneur (August 2016)
- Fortune 18 Under 18 (September 2016)
- The Paradigm Challenge Grand Prize Recipient (July 2017)
Additional Interests
Beyond his business ventures, Benjamin is also a private pilot, pursuing this as a hobby since July 2014.1
Benjamin Stern's LinkedIn username is benjamin-stern-746812a4, as mentioned in the query.
Highlights
My last day at Nohbo was back in March.
After several months of much needed downtime, I’ve had some time to relax and reflect.
As many of you know, running a startup is bloody hard. There were countless nights awake, taking the punches and battling to keep things alive. We were hanging on by a thread more times than I can count. By sheer relentless will and desire to survive, we made it through the toughest of times.
Spread that across a decade of building Nohbo, it wore me down. I reached a point where I didn’t have the fire to champion us through the next battles.
After some self-reflection and discussions with the team and shareholders, we reached a crossroads and wanted to take Nohbo in different directions. In the end, I felt it was best to hand the reigns over to my colleagues and step down from my role.
I am so grateful for those who surrounded and believed in me, from our loyal investors, teammates, clients and family. This job has afforded me the opportunity to meet the most amazing people and form my closest friendships.
Equally, I’m proud of what we accomplished, from building a manufacturing plant from the ground up, to developing the coolest and most cutting edge personal care technology ever, and even closing 7-figure contracts.
I’ve learned so much and feel fortunate to have gotten this opportunity.
As for what’s next for me, I’m focusssing on rekindling my entrepreneurial fire and finding the next problem to dedicate my full self to solving.
Thanks for following along all these years, and to the community of people who helped me along the way! It’s been a blessing.
I'll be speaking on Sustainable Packaging Design at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Vegas early January. This is my first time at CES, and I'm excited to see what all the hype's about.
If you're there between January 9-12th, drop me a note!
https://lnkd.in/gK9kw_ZR
