GoPro
Nick Woodman, CEO and owners of GoPro
Nick Woodman is a 36-year-old owners and CEO of GoPro, a wearable camera constructed by Woodman Labs that can constraint footage for athletes as they expert down a towering or roller 6-foot waves.
Last week, Foxconn purchased 8.88% of Woodman’s camera association for $200 million. Forbes schooled that Woodman is a infancy owner. Even if he owns smallest of 51% of a company, that means Woodman is now a billionaire, value during slightest $1.15 billion.
Inc interviewed a GoPro founder over a summer. Reporter Tom Foster paints a design of a “total bro” who throws around a word “dude” frequently. He’s a disturb seeker and also a survivor of a unsuccessful dotcom startup.
Here’s his story:
Woodman was a visible humanities vital from UC San Diego who started a offered association called funBag in a early 2000s.
A GoPro camera
He lifted outward collateral for a operation, and things were looking good. Then a tech burble burst, and Woodman found himself unwell to save his association and out of a job.
So in 2002, when he was desirous to try a startup again, he motionless he’d do whatever he could to bootstrap a operation and build something that could be now profitable.
An thought struck him while surfing in Australia and Indonesia for 5 months. Woodman had been undone that he couldn’t take good movement shots of himself or his friends while they were throwing waves. Surfers were regulating disposable cameras strapped to their wrists with a rubber band. It would mostly fly off in a center of a movement and strike them in a face.
Woodman wanted to invent a strong, adjustable, effervescent rope that could secure a camera to a person’s physique as they participated in an impassioned sport.
To account a project, Woodman and his now-wife purchased 600 belts done of sea shells from a Bali market. Each cost them $1.90. When a Woodmans returned to a states, they gathering adult and down California’s seashore offered a belts for as most as $60 a pop.
With that income and a $35,000 loan from his mother, Woodman combined a initial GoPro camera straps. It took him 2 years to ideal a product. Jill, Woodman’s wife, took a position as a straps’ salesperson. The company’s initial mangle came in 2004, when a Japanese association systematic 100 equipment during an movement sports tradeshow.
Eventually, Woodman began formulating his possess cameras and mounts, so impassioned athletes like racecar drivers could indicate a cameras behind on themselves while racing. Enthusiasts began uploading videos of their GoPro practice online, and word spread.
Now, GoPro’s cameras sell for $300 with all sorts of add-ons that can be purchased to constraint extraordinary moments in real-time. The association has grown to 150 people, and Woodman is rolling in cash.
Here’s what footage taken by GoPro looks like:
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