Early History
The whole idea of GoPro started in 2001 with Nicholas Woodman. Woodman had a vision to develop wrist straps that could tether existing cameras to the wrists of surfers. Once he had developed a prototype he took it with him on a five-month surf trip to Australian and Indonesia to test it out. On the trip he tests his wrist strap with different cameras, later realizing that he also has to sell the camera and install waterproof housing. In October 2002 after Woodman wrote the patents and legal documents from his 1971 Volkswagen Van, Woodman creates Woodman Labs, the parent company for what we know today as GoPro.
The whole idea of GoPro started in 2001 with Nicholas Woodman. Woodman had a vision to develop wrist straps that could tether existing cameras to the wrists of surfers. Once he had developed a prototype he took it with him on a five-month surf trip to Australian and Indonesia to test it out. On the trip he tests his wrist strap with different cameras, later realizing that he also has to sell the camera and install waterproof housing. In October 2002 after Woodman wrote the patents and legal documents from his 1971 Volkswagen Van, Woodman creates Woodman Labs, the parent company for what we know today as GoPro.
Two years later after Woodman’s surfing trip he came out with his first camera in September 2004. It was called the “GoPro 35mm Hero” Now long before GoPro had HD video capability, the company started by selling Chinese-manufactured 35mm cameras. It was reusable and purchased from manufacture for 3.05 dollars each, and originally the cameras sold for roughly thirty dollars. Woodman sold his first cameras to surfers at the Action Sports Retailer Convention in San Diego.
As time went by in 2005 and 2006 Woodman kept on perfecting his cameras. Woodman went digital with the cameras, when he introduced the Digital Hero. The camera doesn’t have audio recording ability but can shoot VGA video in 10 second bursts. Time continued to fly by as GoPro improved their cameras with video, wide-angle lens, and High-definition. Next thing Woodman knew it was 2010!
At this point they had come out with the “jump to high definition with the Hero HD (1080 P video at 127° wide-angle) opens up new markets for GoPro, which is fast becoming the name-brand camera for unique point-of-view perspective videos”. In (forbes.com) they say that “The company ends 2010 with revenues of $64 million, more than tripling sales from the year before. Says Neil Dana, the company’s first hire looking back: “When we started getting into HD that’s when we realized that this could be absolutely massive.”
In 2011, just a year later the world wanted more so GoPro put out an even more advanced version with an 11 megapixel camera. It had low-light capability and video at 30 frames per second. It was called “Hero2”. Moving forward day by day they were improving their cameras and in 2012 Chinese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, makes a $200 million investment for 8.88% of the San Mateo, Calif. camera firm. At a $2.25 billion valuation that makes Woodman, who sources say still owns about 45% of the company, a billionaire with a net worth of $1.3 billion. (“Forbes.com”)
As time went by in 2005 and 2006 Woodman kept on perfecting his cameras. Woodman went digital with the cameras, when he introduced the Digital Hero. The camera doesn’t have audio recording ability but can shoot VGA video in 10 second bursts. Time continued to fly by as GoPro improved their cameras with video, wide-angle lens, and High-definition. Next thing Woodman knew it was 2010!
At this point they had come out with the “jump to high definition with the Hero HD (1080 P video at 127° wide-angle) opens up new markets for GoPro, which is fast becoming the name-brand camera for unique point-of-view perspective videos”. In (forbes.com) they say that “The company ends 2010 with revenues of $64 million, more than tripling sales from the year before. Says Neil Dana, the company’s first hire looking back: “When we started getting into HD that’s when we realized that this could be absolutely massive.”
In 2011, just a year later the world wanted more so GoPro put out an even more advanced version with an 11 megapixel camera. It had low-light capability and video at 30 frames per second. It was called “Hero2”. Moving forward day by day they were improving their cameras and in 2012 Chinese electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., better known as Foxconn, makes a $200 million investment for 8.88% of the San Mateo, Calif. camera firm. At a $2.25 billion valuation that makes Woodman, who sources say still owns about 45% of the company, a billionaire with a net worth of $1.3 billion. (“Forbes.com”)