Nick Woodman

Nick Woodman

Woodman in 2014
Born Nicholas D. Woodman
(1975-06-24) June 24, 1975
Residence Woodside, California, US
Nationality American
Alma mater University of California, San Diego
Occupation Founder and CEO, GoPro
Net worth US$1.06 billion (September 2016)[1]
Spouse(s) Jill R. Scully
Children 3
Parent(s) Dean Woodman
Concepcion Socarras

Nicholas D. "Nick" Woodman (born June 24, 1975) is an American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of GoPro.[2]

Early life and education

Woodman is the son of Concepcion (née Socarras) and Dean Woodman.[3][4][5][6] His father was born into a Quaker family and co-founded the investment bank Robertson Stephens;[3][7][8] and his mother is of Hispanic descent and re-married Irwin Federman, General Partner of U.S. Venture Partners in 1992.[4] Woodman grew up in Menlo Park, California[9] and Atherton, California,[10] attending the Menlo School, where he graduated in 1993.[11] He developed his interest in surfing during high school and formed the high school's first surfing club. Woodman would sell t-shirts at high school football games to raise money for the surfing club.[12] He earned a bachelor's degree in visual arts and a minor in creative writing from the University of California, San Diego in 1997.[1][10][13] After school, Woodman founded two startups, both of which never fully made it off the ground. The first was a website called EmpowerAll.com, which attempted to sell electronic goods for no more than a $2 markup, and the second was Funbug, a gaming and marketing platform that gave users the chance to win cash prizes. Woodman took the lack of success from both companies personally.[14]

Career

While on hiatus in Australia and Indonesia on a surf trip, he used a 35mm camera attached to the palm of his hand by a rubber band to try and capture his surfing activities on film.[13] Seeing that amateur photographers like him – who wanted to capture quality action photos of their activities – had difficulties because either they could not get close enough to the action or were unable to purchase quality equipment at affordable prices, his trip became his inspiration to found GoPro.[13] His solution was to develop a belt that would attach the camera to the body.[13] Woodman and his future wife Jill financed the business by selling shell necklaces they bought in Bali (for $1.90) from their car along the California coast (for $60).[15] His mother loaned him $35,000 and let him borrow her sewing machine, which he used to sew camera straps while experimenting with early designs. His dad loaned him an additional $200,000, which Woodman immediately paid back out of company sales.[3] His desire for a camera system that could capture close up footage inspired the 'GoPro' name.[16][17] The original cameras he developed were point-and-shoot 35mm film cameras which mounted to the user's wrist. Woodman would go about selling his products while using his 1971 Volkwagen Bus that he named 'The Buscuit' as his mobile home.[12] The product has since evolved into a compact digital camera that supports WiFi, can be remotely controlled, has waterproof housing, records to a micro SD card, and is affordable to the average action sports enthusiast ($200–$400). Woodman would often act as the test engineer for their earlier products completing tasks such as attaching a GoPro to a car and driving at speeds of over 130 MPH. In 2004, he made his first big sale when a Japanese company ordered 100 cameras at a sports show.[13][15] Thereafter, sales doubled every year,[1] and in 2012, GoPro sold 2.3 million cameras.[13] In 2005, Woodman appeared on QVC to sell his GoPro Hero. In 2004, GoPro had about $150,000 in revenue which grew to about $350,000 in 2005. In December 2012, the Taiwanese contract manufacturer Foxconn purchased 8.88% of the company for $200 million which set the market value of the company at $2.25 billion making Woodman, who owned the majority of the stock, a billionaire.[13][15] On June 26, 2014, GoPro went public – closing the day at $31.34 a share. In 2014, Woodman was the highest paid US chief executive.[18][19] In 2015, GoPro developed a partnership with the NHL that would enable the NHL to use GoPro products to improve the viewing experience for fans.[20] Woodman has been invited to speak at various tech conferences and in October 2015, Woodman was a guest on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert and wore a GoPro camera for the entirety of the interview.[21] Woodman is set to appear as a shark investor in the sixth season of the show Shark Tank.[22] Woodman has invested $125,000 as of November 2015 on Shark Tank on two investments.[23]

In December 2015, Woodman commissioned a 180-foot yacht, estimated to cost between $35 million and $40 million. The boat, expected to be delivered in 2017, is four decks high and comes with a Jacuzzi pool, swim platform, sweeping sun decks, and dining areas. Less than one month later, Woodman cut 100 jobs, or 7% of his workforce.[24][25]

Awards

Philanthropy

The couple donated $500 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in 2014. The gift went towards creating the Jill + Nicholas Woodman Foundation and made Woodman one of the biggest donors in the tech industry that year.[27][28]

In March 2014, Woodman was honored for his philanthropic work with BUILD at their 5th annual gala in San Francisco.[29]

Personal life

Woodman is married to Jill R. Scully[30] and they have three children.[1][13] They live in Woodside, California.[31] Woodman is known as the "mad billionaire" due to his unconventional behavior and eccentricities.[13] Woodman is a strong believer in following one's passions as a way to success stating, "I’m a big believer that when you’re pursuing your passions, your best ideas come to you. Your passions are a bit like your fingerprints: Everybody has them; everybody’s are different. One’s passions may just be a guidebook to one’s life.”[22] In 2015, Woodman hosted an AMA on Reddit. Woodman has often cited his fear of failure as a catalyst for his success stating, "When I got out of college, I gave myself till I was 30 to invent a product. If I couldn't do it by then, I would just get a real job. And that fear – the fear of a real job – motivated me to be an entrepreneur."[32]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Forbes; The World's Billionaires – Nicholas Woodman September 2016
  2. ↑ "How GoPro CEO Nick Woodman Let Consumers Lead Him to New Idea". Adage.com. July 9, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 Wall Street Journal: "How Family Ties Helped Nick Woodman Make GoPro Click" By Lizette Chapman June 20, 2013 \" With dad Dean Woodman...and stepdad U.S. Venture Partners General Partner Irwin Federman"
  4. 1 2 ACG Silicon Valley: "Irwin Federman, U.S. Venture Partners" retrieved May 26, 2014 | "He [Federman] has been married to the former Concepcion Socarras since 1992"
  5. ↑ "San Francisco Social Diary". New York Social Diary. January 14, 2008. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Bay Area Billionaires 2014 – Explore San Francisco Blog". Exploresanfrancisco.biz. February 13, 2014. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Alum gives Moses Brown $5 million for performing-arts, community center". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on October 6, 2014. Retrieved September 15, 2014.
  8. ↑ Brett, Gavin (February 28, 2015). "How GoPro cameras have made nothing unfilmable, by the man who invented them". The Telegraph. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  9. ↑ Robehmed, Natalie (September 30, 2014). "The youngest billionaires on the Forbes 400: 11 under 40". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  10. 1 2 "The Best Ride of Our Lives". UC San Diego Triton. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  11. ↑ Lipton, Josh (July 26, 2014). "Meet GoPro's thrill-seeking founder Nick Woodman". CNBC. Retrieved October 1, 2014.
  12. 1 2 ""The Biscuit:" Nick Woodman's 1971 Volkswagen Bus – In Photos: The Early Years of GoPro and Founder Nicholas Woodman". Forbes. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Welcome to the Billionaires' Club" by Orna Taub, Jewish Business News, March 7, 2013
  14. ↑ Mac, Ryan (March 13, 2013). "Five Startup Lessons From GoPro Founder And Billionaire Nick Woodman". Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 Business Insider: "Meet The World's Newest Billionaire, A 36-Year-Old 'Surfer Dude' Named Nicholas Woodman" by Alyson Shontell December 23,
  16. ↑ "GoPro with Founder/Inventor Nick Woodman". Malakye.com. January 5, 2010. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  17. ↑ Burrows, Peter (June 30, 2011). "GoPro's Incredible Small, Durable Camcorder". BusinessWeek. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  18. 1 2 "The awesome life of GoPro's Nick Woodman, America's highest-paid CEO". Business Insider. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  19. ↑ Fiegerman, Seth (June 26, 2014). "Lights, Camera, IPO: GoPro Goes Public". Mashable. Retrieved June 6, 2015.
  20. ↑ "GoPro and NHL: New Partnership Will Change the Way You Watch Hockey". GoPro. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  21. ↑ "From Surfer To Billionaire: GoPro CEO Nick Woodman Chats With Stephen Colbert". Yahoo Finance. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Nick Woodman". Shark Tank Blog. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  23. ↑ "Nick Woodman's Shark Tank track record". Sharkalytics. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Wearable camera maker GoPro cutting about 100 jobs after 4th-qtr sales fall more than expected". US News. January 13, 2016.
  25. ↑ Robert Frank (December 22, 2015). "GoPro CEO's new toy: A 180-foot yacht". CNBC.
  26. ↑ "Nicholas Woodman, Founder and CEO of GoPro, named National EY Entrepreneur...". Prnewswire.com. November 17, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  27. ↑ Garofoli, Joe (February 9, 2015). "WhatsApp founder among young tech tycoons dominating philanthropy". SF Gate. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  28. ↑ Stone, Madeline (April 28, 2015). "The awesome life of GoPro's Nick Woodman, America's highest-paid CEO". Business Insider. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  29. ↑ Bravo, Tony (March 9, 2015). "Events: Tech giants gather to help BUILD a new generation". SF Gate. Retrieved June 16, 2015.
  30. ↑ Tom Foster (January 26, 2012). "The GoPro Army". Inc.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Inventor spends $12.5M for Woodside 5BD | San Francisco". Sf.blockshopper.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Nick Woodman Quotes at BrainyQuote.com". BrainyQuote. Retrieved November 21, 2015.
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