Inspiration Friday

Today is inspiration Friday and we are discussing the story of a gentleman who failed multiple times before achieving success. His name is Nick Woodman and as at November 2016, he had a net worth of about $947 million. He is the founder and CEO of GoPro.  

Brief History:

Nick was a ‘B student’ during college and an avid surfer, a hobby which often times interfered with his studies. He wasn’t born a billionaire. Before creating the now wildly successful brand of wearable cameras – GoPro, he failed in great style with two online startups during the crazed dotcom bubble of 2000.

The Failures

First, he created  an e-commerce site which sold very cheap electronics. The company didn’t make any profit, so it was quickly shut down. That didn’t drive our future billionaire out of the business arena; it drove him to try harder, so in 1999 he set up a new company, an online marketing company. The site gave users the chance to win cash prizes in return for participating in sweepstakes. It was marketing through games. He even managed to raise $3.9 million in funding from different investors. The company was on the rise, but by 2001, Nick had to admit failure once again. He wasn’t able to create a sustainable user base from which to drive profit via the companies he was marketing.

The Lesson

After losing the second company, Nick cleared his head by going on a surf trip, a long one. Once back, he started working on a prototype for a camera which can be used by athletes: GoPro.

‘I was so afraid that GoPro was going to go away like the other companies i have created that I would work my ass off. That’s what the first boom and bust did for me. I was so scared that I would fail again that I was totally committed to succeed.’

Only this time, there was no bust, only the boom. GoPro made him one of the youngest billionaires in the world.

My thoughts

Never Ever give up.  At firs if you don’t succeed, get up and try again. It might just be your second or third try that will hit the Jack pot.  Keep Trying until you succeed.

All the best guys and have a great holiday weekend