GoPro boss billionaire grows in mind

On Thursday, Foxconn announced that it had spent US$200 million to acquire a 8.88% stake in Gopro, an American sports camera manufacturer, and valued the company at US$2.25 billion. This transaction made its founder and CEO Nicolas Woodman a billionaire. According to Forbes, the 36-year-old Nicolas holds more than 50% of Gopro's shares and now has a net worth of at least US$1.15 billion, making it the richest person in the global outdoor practitioners.

We often say that "failure is the mother of success" and "No one can succeed at random." And Nicolas's entrepreneurial trajectory is confirming these words. But what is interesting is that his successful inspiration is "played" in surfing. Nicolas was originally an extreme sports enthusiast and had failed to start a business, but in the end he succeeded.

Woodman first started his business in 2000, when he studied at the Department of Visual Arts at the University of California, San Diego. The first company he founded was named funBag and he focused on marketing. At that time, his company had obtained external capital support and had a good momentum of development. However, after the Internet bubble burst, he found his company unsustainable and became unemployed.

But in 2002, he also found inspiration for entrepreneurship. This time he decided to stick to it and create some products that will make money immediately. The inspiration for entrepreneurship came when he enjoyed surfing when he was on a five-month surfing trip in Australia and Indonesia. During this period he has been troubled by a small problem: it is difficult for athletes to record their surfing posture. At the time, surfers tied their cameras to their wrists with tape and recorded video while surfing. However, these cameras are difficult to stably fix on the wrist, so the camera often comes out and hits the athlete's face.

In response to this annoying problem, Nicolas hopes to invent a sturdy, adjustable, flexible camera strap. He and his wife found a band made of shellfish in the Bali bazaar. They bought 600 bands that were originally priced at $1.90, and when they returned to California, they changed hands at $60 each. Together with a $35,000 loan, Woodman developed the first GoPro camera strap. After that, he spent two years doing final optimization. His wife, Jill Woodman, is responsible for the sales of the product. In 2004, the company ushered in a large order - a Japanese company ordered 100 products for a sports goods exhibition.

Finally, Nicolas started producing cameras and mass production. Thanks to his invention, extreme athletes can now videotape themselves at high speed, then upload their own video and GoPro experience to the web and promote them all over the world.

Now, a GoPro camera and all its accessories are priced at $300, and Nicolas's company has also expanded to 150 employees.

At present, GoPro is headquartered in San Mateo, California. After less than 10 years of development, it has occupied 32% of the market for portable camcorders. Currently, GoPro has sales in 30,000 stores in more than 100 countries.