NICK WOODMAN’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
ERIC MILLETTE/FORBES COLLECTION/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES. ALL OTHER IMAGES COURTESY OF GOPRO
In 2013, Woodman made Forbes’ World’s Billionaires list, with a net worth of $1.3 billion
Not long after GoPro released its first product in 2004—a wrist-mounted, waterproof, 35mm still camera called the Hero—company founder and CEO Nick Woodman made a pilgrimage to the headquarters of home-shopping channel QVC in West Chester, Pennsylvania. The network was holding tryouts for new inventors eager to hawk their merchandise on-air, and after waiting in line with hundreds of other hopefuls, Woodman and his as-yet untested creation were selected to appear.
“I was researching online and I saw an ad for QVC’s ‘Inventor Search’ competition, and it linked to an audition form and dates,” he says. “The only remaining date was at QVC’s headquarters in Pennsylvania in a few days. I figured I had a pretty good shot at getting on the show, so I bought a plane
