Nick Woodman a 37 year old entrepreneur loved to surf, but wanted to show his friends who did not surf what it looked like to be on the board. He then went on to strap a camera onto his wrist and 9 years later he is one of the youngest billionaires around.
Woodman released the GoPro in 2004 and since its release sales have doubled on a yearly basis. The Chinese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, made a $200 million investment in GoPro in December of 2013. That valued GoPro at $2.25 billion, which means the 45% owner of GoPro is worth about $1.3 billion putting Woodman on Forbes World Billionaires list.
He was a middle of the road student from Silicon Valley and was surrounded by innovations and booming businesses. He attended University of California, San Diego because of its proximity to salt water. “ I remember my parents not being very supportive of it,” he says. “But if I didn’t follow my passion for surfing … I would have never come up with the concept to make a wrist camera.”
Woodman’s first start-up failed in the 2001 dot-com collapse and sent him on a getaway trip to surf through Australia and Indonesia. He brought with him a Kodak camera, rubber bands, and broken surf leash contraption to take pictures of waves. With this idea in mind he went home to California and told himself he would hold up in his room for 4 years and if it failed he would go into the workforce.
Hitting gold with getting REI’s backing gave the brand validation. Woodman had highs and lows and almost turned over his control of the company in 2007 to low valuation, but when the economy broke in 2008 and GoPro’s sales increased to $8 million Woodman decided to keep control. Finally, in 2010 when BestBuy began carrying GoPro Woodman’s company became mainstream.
I bought a GoPro this summer and have not stopped using it. It is addicting to view everyday life or extreme activities from a new perspective. The story of failure leading to success and desperation leading to a billion dollar idea is one of the more inspiring things you will hear. He had an idea and did not stop until he saw his idea through. It’s a story of perseverance and the unique ability to identify a need no one else could. People will someday look back and be even more amazed than we are today with this innovative product and how it revolutionized the way we literally view life.
I love reading a story like this where someone goes from nothing going right to being a huge success. I think that one of major struggles of entrepreneurs of this generation is that they are afraid to try because they might fail. We need to hear more stories like this, because a failure isn’t really a failure if you learn from it.
This was a great idea. You used to have to bring along a photographer of just try to remember what happened in your head whenever you did something extreme. GoPro has made doing awesome things a lot more popular because it is so easy to take pictures or video without using your hands. I have two GoPros and use them mostly for mountain biking and kayaking but the possibilities are endless. GoPro truly is the world’s most versatile camera.
I think this is a great example of a product that served a need people didn’t even know existed. Everyone knew they wanted to record these kinds of events, but Woodman was able to make the necessary adjustments to existing technology to make it happen. Like Rachel said, it’s also inspiring to see someone work so hard through many of the challenges of a startup.
My friend has a GoPro and it is a blast to use. it makes something normal like driving a car seem very interesting if you attach the GoPro to the bumper. The GoPro is versatile and extremely durable making it ideal for any extreme situation.Woodman saw a problem that hadn’t been solved and fixed it himself.
GoPro is definitely a solid product idea. I find it interesting how Woodman had to pivot on his problem a little; starting with the idea of a wrist camera before changing to a head mounted camera. This product truly capitalizes on how consumers want experiences. This product heavily emphasizes this. It would be interesting to see how much of an impact youtube and video sharing websites have had on GoPro and its sales.