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The GoPro story

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Stories like this are amazing.

He made his own camera to take videos while surfing, not to make a fortune as GoPro.

A friend asks a programmer to make a website to trade Pez dispensers -- eBay.

An engineering student offers a chip design to his employer, Hewlett Packard.
They reject the microprocessor that becomes the heart of the Apple computer.

Three people working in a living room design a search engine -- Google.

A college student designs a website to meet college chicks -- Facebook.

However, I have to confess that the difference between an idea and success
is determination, genius and hard work as well as luck.

As Thomas Edison famously said, "Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration.
 
Right here in Texas, we had a college student who began building computers
in his dorm room for his classmates -- Dell Computer.

In another life, I sold Todd Pretectograph check writing and signing equipment.
Company lore had it that an inventor had once approached Todd
with a device that could reproduce a document.
Todd turned down the invention.
You may have heard of it -- Xerox -- but you probably never heard of Todd.
 
Link is titled "A Fascinating Look at How Go-Pro Became the Best-Selling Camera in the World"

I am more fascinated that they still are the best selling. With todays technology we could and should have a much better form factor and user friendly device.

I am happy for his success and applaud his entrepreneurship. But his low sales in the years past did not get the big companies attention so they left the market alone. Now that Go-Pro sales numbers are peaking other companies will join in and hopefully we will see the product improve greatly.

Quote from article "The following years were spent selling his clunky GoPros to surf shops out of his van, continuously updating them until they were no longer film cameras, but extremely portable video capture devices."

Well 10 years later and they are still "clunky" IMO.

_
 
SilverBullet said:
Link is titled "A Fascinating Look at How Go-Pro Became the Best-Selling Camera in the World"

I am more fascinated that they still are the best selling. With todays technology we could and should have a much better form factor and user friendly device.

I am happy for his success and applaud his entrepreneurship. But his low sales in the years past did not get the big companies attention so they left the market alone. Now that Go-Pro sales numbers are peaking other companies will join in and hopefully we will see the product improve greatly.

Quote from article "The following years were spent selling his clunky GoPros to surf shops out of his van, continuously updating them until they were no longer film cameras, but extremely portable video capture devices."

Well 10 years later and they are still "clunky" IMO.

_
Click to expand...

Considering the quality video they can capture, i say they're quite tiny. The Hero3 Black can capture IMax quality footage. Traditionally cameras that can do that are the size of a small suitcase and cost many thousands.
I also think they're very user friendly, at least the current crop is. The icons are clear as to what function you're using, and it's only got two buttons.
I love my GoPro and use it for more than just a motorsports camera.
 
SilverBullet said:
...But his low sales in the years past did not get the big companies attention so they left the market alone. Now that Go-Pro sales numbers are peaking other companies will join in and hopefully we will see the product improve greatly...
Click to expand...

GP probably has a patent on wearing a camera on da helmet. I.e. monopoly for the next 20 years.
 
TwoSmokeDS said:
GP probably has a patent on wearing a camera on da helmet. I.e. monopoly for the next 20 years.
Click to expand...

Ah, no. There's no patent on where to place a "wearable camera"

But all other makers will forever be playing catch up because GoPro is blowing away the competition in terms of marketing the cool factor of these little things.

And GoPro's CEO is eccentric, charming, and spends wildly on product placement in every scenario including wing suit flyers to moto travelers

http://youtu.be/DwV-Im0kGqg
 
tricepilot said:
Ah, no. There's no patent on where to place a "wearable camera"
Click to expand...

That's like saying shoei has a patent on where the chin strap of a helmet can be.

tricepilot said:
And GoPro's CEO is eccentric, charming, and spends wildly on product placement in every scenario including wing suit flyers to moto travelers
Click to expand...

Taking a page out of Red Bull's marketing strategy. It seems to be working for both of them. Not t mention a whole lotta fun
 
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