Vita Coco: Michael Kirban

How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Episode: Vita Coco: Michael Kirban
• Website: How I Built This with Guy Raz
• Feed URL: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510313
• Duration: 01:11:58
• Published: 2020-08-03 06:01

So—no joke: two guys really do walk into a bar. While sharing a few drinks on a winter night in New York City, best friends Michael Kirban and Ira Liran met two young women from Brazil. That chance encounter eventually led to a business idea: to sell Brazilian coconut water in the US, as an alternative to Gatorade. In 2004, Michael and Ira launched Vita Coco, only to discover that another startup—Zico—was selling a nearly identical product. The two companies went to war, using the time-honored tools of corporate sabotage, but eventually Vita Coco emerged as the top selling coconut-water in the U.S.