Nicholas Woodman was born on 24 June, 1975 in California, US. Nicholas was born to Dean Woodman and Concepcion Woodman. His father, Dean, was the co-founder of the investment banking firm, Robertson Stephens. Woodman grew up in Atherton and Menlo Park in California. He attended the Menlo School and graduated from there in 1993. He was active in surfing in high school and also formed the school’s first surfing club.
Woodman went on to attend the University of California and earned his BA degree in visual arts with a minor in creative writing, in 1997.
He initially started two companies, but was unsuccessful in his ventures.
While on a surfing trip to Australia and Indonesia, Woodman realized the need for a convenient video and still camera that could be attached to the person’s body and capture every motion in high definition, which became the inspiration for him to found GoPro Inc. He raised the finances required for the camera company by selling shell and bead belts and camera straps as well as from a loan from his parents. His aim was to create a camera system that would capture close-up footage, hence inspiring the name, ‘GoPro’.n 2012, GoPro sold over 2.3 million cameras with sales doubling every year since his first bulk sale to a Japanese company of 100 cameras.
In 2012, Taiwanese contract manufacturer acquired 8.88% stakes in GoPro for around $200 million which made the value of the company to rise to around $2.25 billion and made Woodman a billionaire.