This article was taken from the January 2015 issue of WIRED
magazine. Be the first to read WIRED's articles in print before
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GoPro founder Nick Woodman is
on a high. In June, 12 years after strapping a disposable camera to
his wrist in Indonesia, his company IPO'ed at a value of almost $3
billion (£1.86bn). "The GoPro you know today is built on $265,000,"
the animated Californian tells WIRED. In 2002, Woodman was surfing
his way round the globe, recovering from the failure of his first
company, gaming and marketing platform funBug. Six months later he
left Indonesia with an idea for a small, robust video camera for
capturing first-person experiences, and 600 beaded shell belts that
he would sell to make up the startup costs (along with a $235,000
loan from his parents). "It is one of the things we are most proud
of. You don't have to raise millions of dollars to be successful,
you just have to work on something you are passionate about," he
says.
GoPros have been strapped to countless extreme-sports
enthusiasts, including Felix Baumgartner during his space jump --
as well as to eagles soaring over remote Mongolian terrains, a
pelican learning to fly, a kid's chest on his first day of school,
frat boys on spring break and plenty of expectant fathers in the
delivery room. It's because of this exponential diversity that
GoPro shows no sign of slowing. Here, Woodman talks to WIRED about
launching a sharing platform for GoPro footage, competing with
newcomers and what he's learned from failure.
WIRED: How do you convince people that GoPro isn't just
for extreme sports?
Nick Woodman: Now I'm the father of three
young boys, I find myself using GoPro to film them more than
anything -- trips to the amusement park, the beach, the pool --
just chasing them around as they grow. That's leading to ideas for
new accessories to help the family capture its lifestyle and go
from the two hours of footage to the two minutes they will actually
want to watch and share.
How will you deliver that?
You could think of GoPro as an iPod-like phenomenon that is yet to
release its iTunes. We are developing the app that makes it easy
for you to offload content. So when you are charging, that content
goes to the cloud and becomes accessible to any connected device
running the app. Upon watching it [on your mobile] it is important
you have easy edit tools to turn that raw footage into something
shareable -- because at that moment, that is when you are going to
be most inclined to do something. You will share ten, 20, 50 times
as much content a year as you do today, because it is so difficult
today.
GoPro is now in some BMWs. Where else would you like it
installed?
The world shows you how it wants to use it. We can try to
influence new markets by positioning our products in a certain way,
but the truth is that humans are smart [and will] use it in any way
they see fit. My doctor replaced my anterior cruciate
ligament three months ago and decided to wear a GoPro while doing
it, because he wanted to document his technique. In France, a hip
replacement was captured using two GoPros in a stereoscopic 3D
arrangement. Students can watch the surgery using a virtual reality
headset. It is phenomenal, and we had nothing to
do with that.
Is there a danger that we're all too concerned with
capturing the moment, rather than just living it?
I experienced just that filming the birth of my sons -- and the
benefit of GoPro. I was able to wear my camera during the birth of
each but I never held the camera. My experience of being with my
wife and watching my three boys being born was never interrupted by
a camera or by an LCD display. I was able to be totally present and
I forgot that the camera was running. So it didn't interrupt my
experience at all. That speaks to our success in developing what we
think of as an invisible camera that is so convenient and easy to
use, that you forget you are even using it.
Do you have any GoPro tips?
Experiment, capture lots of different perspectives of whatever it
is you are doing and be bold. It's a GoPro: go for it. This sucker
is meant to take a beating.
How will you compete with the newcomers to the
market?
We've amassed a customer base of millions of people who are
capturing and sharing their lives with GoPro, and that's really the
secret to our success. If that's what makes GoPro so successful,
then to compete with GoPro by definition you also need millions of
people capturing and sharing their lives and attributing that
content to your brand.
What did you learn from the failure of your previous
startup, funBug?
When I was 22, I realised I wanted to be an inventor. I knew I
would have to work very hard and would probably fail a few times,
so I gave myself until the age of 30 to succeed. It is a good thing
I did that because if I hadn't I might not have tried again -- I
was pretty devastated. I lost $4 million of other people's
money and people believed in me… I wasn't sure if I was cut out for
it. After that, I found myself with four years left on the clock
and figured, hey, I will regret it for the rest of my life if I
don't try again.
What did you do differently the second time
around?
I was going to bootstrap it the next time around because I was
fearful of taking anybody else's money. I promised myself that
whatever I did next, it would be something I was personally
passionate about because there were aspects about funBug where it
was just business. It seems obvious, right? Just focus on what you
are passionate about and you will do the best job, because it is
something you really care about.
Source Article from http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2015/01/start/go-pro-unique-pov http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/g_j/GoPro2_1.jpg
GoPro's unique POV
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