About 9 years ago, a couple of recently graduated friends from California, USA, came to surf in Costa Rica. Once here, they liked the bracelets sold on our country’s beaches. That gave them the idea of founding the company “Pura Vida Bracelets”, which has just been sold in a transaction that would reach US$ 130 million.
Griffin Thall and Paul Goodman, the friends and founders of the company, told “Forbes” journal that they had the pressure to find a “real job” when they visited our country, just after graduating in 2010.
“We met 2 artisans of bracelets on the beach called Jorge and Joaquin. At that moment, when we saw some of their handmade bracelets, a light bulb went on in our heads. We can help them sell more by returning to San Diego and selling them to our friends!”, they commented.
Thall and Goodman ordered 400 bracelets to take to California and began selling them successfully at local stores. Eventually, they started their own page and expanded the company, which now works with 650 artisans in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and India.
“We were profitable since day 1 and we had the objective of taking this company to a valuation of more than US$ 100 million. We just had to learn to manage our cash flow, really understand social media marketing, and order inventory properly”, they concluded.
