Journey from surfing hobbies to a big Business Enterprise :
There was a boy, Nick Woodman living in America. In 1997, he earned a bachelor's degree in visual arts and a minor in creative writing from the university of California. After the school he decided and discovered a website called EmpoweAll.com of selling electronic goods. But he failed there in making business. Then he again started running a new startup, Funbug, a gaming and marketing platform that give users a chance to win cash prize. But this one also failed in making a big business.
Later on after 4 years and business failure he decides to take off his savings and go on a five-month surfing trip to Indonesia and Australia. Carving up waves was nothing new for Nick. From childhood surfing and living in this type of world was always a dream of joy for him. In his surf trip he attached his 35mm camera to his palm with rubber band so that he could capture a film of his activities in that camera. So he started using it but the biggest threat he experienced is that the attached camera often fly off in the middle of the actions and hit on the face. So it frustrated him as he couldn't capture a perfect shots as he expected. And this frustration turned into an inspiration for his new business. Nick's solution was to develop a strong belt that would attach the camera to the body.
He decided to follow his idea and for the project he borrowed $200,000 from his father and $35,000 from his mother. He also borrowed a sewing machine from his mother on which he used to sew the camera straps. He successfully started carrying out his idea. However, there was still shortage of funds for the business. So in addition, Nick and his future wife Jill started selling shell necklaces in Bali and funded $10,000 from this. And then he successfully developed a product that could capture a clear and close-up footages of themselves professionally while surfing. And as it was only the product helps surfers to take a professional footages of themselves, Nick named it as GoPro.
In 1971, the first GoPro product was a 35mm film camera developed by a Chinese company named Hotax that incorporated with Nick's wrist strap. Hotax sold that rebranded camera to GoPro for $3.05 and GoPro retailed it at $30. And after implementing various marketing techniques, receiving lots of threats, and making regular innovation, now GoPro generates around $182.87million of net revenue. Now GoPro has total 5 product lines with around 964 employees including mountain accessories, Karma drone and GoPro studios. Other than this, the couple Nick and his wife Jill donated 5.8 million shares of GoPro stock to the Jill + Nicholas Woodman Foundation, a fund they created at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a charitable organization. Also he was honored for his philanthropic work with BUILD at their 5th annual gala in San Francisco.
So, this is how one's surfing hobbies turned them into a big businessman.
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