motorcycles on the sunny expanses of California. This wasn’t just a fleeting fantasy but a beacon guiding his ambitions. “Growing up, all I could do was sit around and dream about racing,” Ken reminisces. “I had no way of getting to California, no support—just a head full of dreams and a heart full of drive.” In 1986, with nothing but a van and a vision, Ken made the pivotal drive to San Diego. The reality was harsher than he expected. Soon after his arrival, his van was repossessed,
and he lost his job. This could have broken anyone, but for Ken, it was the soil where his entrepreneurial seeds were sown. “Losing everything was my rite of passage,” he explains. “It stripped away all illusions and left me with nothing but the will to succeed.” The Incidental Entrepreneur Ken’s foray into the sunglasses business was a stroke of serendipity. While working in the backrooms of a motorcycle apparel company, he overheard
his boss discussing the potential of expanding into sunglasses. The industry was still in its infancy, making just a million a year. Recognizing the opportunity, Ken decided to plunge into the sunglasses business. Ken’s first venture, Biff Malibu, was a brand that embodied the laid-back, surfer cool of Malibu. However, a chance encounter with an investor friend, a passionate fan of the Florida Gators, led to a significant shift in Ken’s business direction. Inspired by his friend’s
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Legacy Quarterly
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