So that's what happened to Gopro

[Henry Olonga]

GoPro- How a Hero is Losing Millions - A Case Study For Entrepreneurs - YouTube

Really sad. Wish they had been brave enough to make some Cineform encoding hardware like the Blackmagic Hyperdeck shuttle. Or even brave enough to make a prosumer camera shooting to Cineform RAW. When we consider how much demand there is for in-camera RAW recording ( plus the genius of Firstlight and realtime grading and luts ) - it is staggering that a 'camera company' never thought it worth the effort and instead focussed on other things etc. ah well... what could have been .......

[Dan Gunn]

Very insighttful and educational! They jumped into markets where they had no following, no experience and a growing EGO.
In years past, I worked in a different field. Most of my market was start ups. Eventually, lots of these new companies shared a BIG problem: EGO! I sat in on board meetings (like a fly on the wall) of Consolidated Foods and even there EGO was present.....until the chairman called you out. He was a very smart guy who drove a very modest car.

Henry, I look forward to your next report!

[John Nantz]

Really liked that video because (1) I’m in to the market for an action cam that can withstand getting wet, and, (2) I’m also into stocks so the strategy and numbers part was interesting.

With regard to IPOs, they can be a problem when someone thinks they can “sell” the company, get the cash, then milk it as it goes downhill. Some, on the other hand, need the cash to grow so one has to be careful when buying into an IPO.

I think that what Dan wrote about a company’s ego is true and I know personally of two cases where it was. In addition to ego, there may be an inattention, or lack of anticipating what the competition might be working on. A larger company has the ability to quickly staff up, especially with specialists, where as with a smaller company it is more difficult so then there is a longer time to market. That may have been a problem with JuicedLink and their LittleDARlng recorder vs Tascam.

While the author talked about VR cams, personally, I think that the Sony action cams put a big dent into GoPro’s sales. I was seriously thinking about getting a GoPro since 2015 but last year but opted instead for the Sony AX53 for a number of reasons: the BOSS steady shot system being a big one. The AX53 provided some of the action cam capabilities as I’ve used while riding the bike and on a sailboat; however, it’s shortfall is that it isn’t as robust as an action cam. Consequently, at this time I’m seriously looking at the YI 4K (mainly due to price), and the Sony X3000 (with the remote) to fill in that gap. And what was said about using one’s iPhone … done that too. It’s all about trade-offs.

Very interesting article and just saw the next one up, “How Amazon Destroyed a $6 Billion retail giant - A case study”, should be interesting.

Edit: In another of Tom Elswroth’s videos, he said that startups should “Grow big, and grow fast!”. That was what neither of the two companies I mentioned above did. They both thought that that they had time to grow because they were so busy and nobody else could mussel in.

One other thing I thought of was an experience I had at the Seattle Boat Show a few years ago. There was a new water maker company who had a display booth and their water maker setup was very unique and interesting. I asked the representative if I could take some pictures and he said that they don’t allow that. He said there have been some Asians that come over to the trade shows who gather information, take pictures, then return home to incorporate new ideas in their items. Something to think about if anyone is coming up with a new idea - may not want to publicize it until ready to hit and flood the market (also with US and foreign patents).