Burnedout and Broke, Nick Just Wanted to Surfing. He Accidentally Invented GoPro.

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Nick Woodman was 27 and burned out.

His first startup, a gaming platform called Funbug, had just crashed and burned, taking $3.9 million in investor money with it. Humiliated and out of ideas, he did what a lot of people do after a loss.

He ran away.

Specifically, he took a surf trip to Indonesia with his girlfriend. His goal was to clear his head and maybe get a few good waves.

But like a true entrepreneur, Nick could not stop thinking about a problem. He wanted to shoot footage of himself surfing, but there was no easy way to do it. This was 2002. No smartphones. No selfie sticks.

Necessity Being the Mother of Invention

So Nick hacked together a solution.

He bought a mini-35mm waterproof camera, rigged it to his wrist using rubber bands, and shot what he could. The results were mediocre, but different. The idea stuck.

When he shared the pix with surf pals back home, they asked where they could get a setup like his.

Something clicked.

Selling From the Back of his VW Bus

Nick got to work.

He borrowed $200,000 from his dad and took a $35,000 loan from his mom.

His first real prototype was a camera strapped to a wristband made of neoprene and Velcro. He called it GoPro because he thought surfers would pay money to “go pro” and get better footage of their skills.

At first, he sold cameras out of his VW van at surf expos and action sports events.

Then something big happened.

The Breakthrough Moment

(I hope you notice that all of these Notes stories share a breakthrough moment. It’s actually common, if still always unexpectedly and exciting. YOUR breakthrough moment may not be far away! OK, back to our regularly scheduled content.)

Surfer magazine featured a photo shot on a GoPro. That was the breakthrough moment the idea jumped from scrappy side project to a real business. Suddenly retailers were calling. Then came snowboarders. Mountain bikers. Skydivers. Skateboarders. Weekend warriors.

Go Pro exploded.

In 2014, GoPro went public. Nick Woodman became a billionaire. His invention did not just create a company, it created a whole new category.

And it all started because one surfer wanted a better way to remember the ride.

The Takeaway

GoPro did not begin as a well-funded startup. It began as a lark, a hack. Nick Woodman built something to scratch his own itch, and that turned out to be the most powerful product strategy of all. The best businesses do not always start with a grand vision. Sometimes they start with duct tape and rubber bands.

Steal This Strategy

🛠️ Tool — One‑Person Empire Blueprint (Free Download)
Our quick one-person empire business model blueprint: How to start, monetize, and grow. Free to subscribers of Notes to an Entrepreneur!

📖 Book - Let My People Go Surfing
Tales of the unexpected from the founder of Patagonia

🌐 Longform profile: 10 Years of Bootstrapping an Overnight Success – INC‑Magazine. Inc.com

🌐 Video: The Legend Behind GoPro

About Steve

Steve Strauss is the best-selling author of The Small Business Bible (and 17 other books), Inc.’s small business columnist, a lawyer (non-practicing), and an entrepreneur. He sold his last venture, TheSelfEmployed.com to Mark Cuban & Zen Business. Need a ghostwriter or a newsletter for your business? Contact Steve!