GoPro has done its IPO, and the founder Nicholas Woodman just became a billionaire. It is a story that I have followed for quite some time. But, it is not because of the product’s exceptional ability to capture life’s adventures like they have never been captured before. What really caught my attention was the background story on Nicholas Woodman, and how his previous failed startup really changed his business outlook. And that has some real relevance for anyone struggling to bring something new to the market.
Nick Woodman had an internet-based company, funBug, that flamed out in the 2001 dot.com crash. The fact that the company was venture-backed left a quite an impression. It was about the dependency on someone else to keep the business going. He didn’t like it. So he vowed to bootstrap his next company and not be dependent on someone else to write a check in order to keep the company going. He chose to focus on something small, that he could control and have it be profitable from the start.
So he focused on this wrist-based strap for disposable waterproof cameras. And he slaved away at this design for 2 years. It was only supposed to take 4 months. But it was a constant process of design, material selection and sewing prototypes. And in 2004, the one-man company debuted its wrist-based film camera at an Action Sports Retailer trade show, and received a $2,000 order from a Japanese distributor. What a start. And in 2005 they became a 2 person company. And in 2006 they became a 3 person company. Not exactly stellar sales growth. But they were focused on the problem they were solving.
What is so important to recognize is that Nick Woodman really understood the problem he was solving. (i.e. initially, it was constantly loosing disposable cameras while surfing). He experienced if first hand and had an unquashable desire to create a product that solved it. It was all about the need to mount and control the camera by one individual.
And as it turns out, this is the most important question for every company to have a clear understanding of. What problem are you solving? And of course, there has to be the big qualifying question. Does anyone care that it is being solved? If you can get the right answer to these 2 questions, you have a business. And when Nick Woodman received that first order, he had the correct answers to both questions.
Listening to Nick Woodman’s interview at the IPO, shows that he has not lost his focus on what matters. When asked about how he can prevent his product from being commoditized, or crashing like the once popular Flip camera (that Cisco had acquired for $600m and discontinued), he is still quite glued to the fundamentals. His answer:
“It starts with solving real problems for consumers. People buy solutions. … They don’t buy gadgets.”
And here is how he describes his company:
“We make it easy for passionate people around the world to capture and share incredible life experiences in the form of compelling content.”
Definitely no mention of any technology gadgetry there. Of course, if you have followed the evolution of the HERO models, it is very clear that GoPro pays a huge amount of attention to the underlying technology. But it is just enabling technology. Driving the whole vision is the real needs of the customer base, and making sure that GoPro can satisfy those needs better than anyone else.
So there you have it. One person’s passion to understand and solve a problem not only leads to happy customers; but it also brings a host of insights that allow both the solution and the customer needs to evolve together. GoPro has been driven by a discipline that has created an exceptional brand, and quite a large company. Hat’s off to their success.