GoPro: The Billion Dollar Wipeout

In November 2016, GoPro CEO Nick Woodman sat in a conference room at the company's San Mateo headquarters, about to deliver the worst earnings call of his career. Revenue had come in at $240 million—nearly $75 million below projections. In the past year, GoPro had gone from a $37 million profit to an $85 million loss. When trading resumed after the call, Woodman watched his company's stock price fall and fall. He had built this company from the ground up, and now it was hurtling toward the ground. But he had been skydiving, he told himself. Just because you're falling doesn't mean you're going to die. You just need a parachute.

The Surfer Who Built a Camera Company

The story begins in 2002, when Woodman was a 26-year-old surfer in Bali, frustrated that he couldn't get good photos of himself and his friends catching waves. Professional surfers hired photographers with waterproof cameras, but that was too expensive for amateurs. Woodman strapped a disposable camera to his wrist using an old surfboard leash and rubber bands. It was crude, but it planted a seed.