In 2002, GoPro founder and CEO Nick Woodman took a surfing trip to Australia. An avid surfer and outdoor photographer, Nick was frustrated that there was no effective way to capture the experience of life’s most important and exciting moments “in situ”, when you were actually DOING the activity. His personal unmet need set him on the path to building the world’s most versatile camera and one of the world’s most recognized consumer brands.

Upon returning to the states, Nick borrowed his mother’s sewing machine to build the first GoPro Hero prototypes. Launching the company with $300,000 of seed capital from his savings and family members, he aggressively went after sales, often cold calling specialty retail shops across the country and even appearing three times on QVC. GoPro grossed $350,000 in sales its first year with Nick acting as product engineer, R&D head, salesman and packaging model. Profitable from early on by necessity, GoPro produced an historic revenue ramp from $5m in 2008 to $985m in 2013 before going public in 2014.

GoPro’s commitment to high video quality and continuous innovation have made it a go-to product family for professional photographers, cinematographers, action sports enthusiasts, and family photographers around the globe who want to capture life’s most important moments and share them broadly. GoPro’s small form factor, lightweight design has also been a fundamental enabler of the burgeoning age of drone-based aerial photography.