Small-cap stocks haven’t recovered the same way mega-caps have this year, but there are still plentiful success stories in the most volatile area of the market.
By Hank Tucker, Forbes Staff
The story of the dominant coconut water brand in the U.S. today began at a bar in the Lower East Side in February 2003, where best friends Michael Kirban and Ira Loran struck up a conversation with two women from Brazil who told them the refreshment was what they missed most about their home.
That night was the beginning of a whirlwind love story for Loran, a Columbia graduate who sold everything he had and moved to Brazil to marry one of them. When Kirban flew down to visit later that year, he was surprised at how ubiquitous coconut water was. Servers at restaurants would ask if they wanted still, sparkling or “coco.” Kirban, a software entrepreneur, was ready for a change and convinced there would be a market for the product in the U.S.
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