This Billionaire CEO Used To Sell Shell Jewelry From A Van

Looking at Nick Woodman today, the CEO of GoPro, some would be surprised to learn that he once sold shell jewelry out of a van with his wife.

The couple sold shell jewelry as well as belts out of a VW van in California as one way to get $30,000 saved to launch the company. They also borrowed from $235,000 from his parents.

It took ten years but GoPro went public and today has more than 1,700 employees. How much does Nick Woodman have today? Around $1.1 billion!

In a Facebook chat from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vega last week, Woodman commented, “We had very humble beginnings.”

“One thing I always tell entrepreneurs is if you can out-passion and out-commit and out-determine your competition. For some reason, most humans give up. They just do.”

“I think the most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who tell themselves, ‘I am going to die before I give up on this effort.'”

“You have got to be focused on something that you are personally passionate about,” he continued.

Disclaimer: We have no position in GoPro Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRO) and have not been compensated for this article.