The Fall of GoPro: When Tech Bros Run Out of Tricks

Once the darling of American tech, GoPro now stumbles under the weight of its own hype, arrogance, and an overpriced lens.

A GoPro HERO10 Black collects dust on a windowsill — once the flagship of action cameras, now a symbol of stagnation in consumer tech.The End of the Adventure (Matt Pierce Collection)

GoPro goes to shit. It is the picture of the American tech dream, and we all fell for it. The company has been run by a zit-faced tech bro pretending to be somebody important for far too long. But now it seems like time has come to pay the fiddler. It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.

Smoke, Mirrors, and Hero Stories

We’ve all fallen for their gimmicks. A fairly basic camera with slick-ass advertising and a hero story. The problem here is that with every “upgraded” new model, nothing ever really changed. Oh sure, there were little lens modifications and some simplistic tweaks that helped put the damn thing on par with traditional cameras, but GoPro seems to finally have gotten what they deserve.

A Sinking Ship Still Launching Lifeboats

Their stock price has finally tanked and it seems like they are on the verge of bankruptcy. But that hasn’t stopped them from trying to launch yet another model. It’s priced at $479 and offers a wider-angle lens with some yada yada nothing and a “first-person perspective.” Give me a break. What a joke. This is a company—and a kid—who have proven just how immature they really are. But they got a lot of us.

I have a Hero10 Black that I bought a few years ago, and it works just fine. I’m sure they’ll try something slick to make it outdated so I’m forced to buy a new one to stay in their ecosystem. It does everything I need it to do without much of a problem. And that is the problem.

When Rich Kids Play CEO

Nicholas Woodman, the CEO of this shit company, has finally decided to forego his lavish salary in an effort to save this freaking flop. Good for him. I’m so glad he has to join the ranks of almost every other business owner in the world who’s been grinding along the way. But some of us don’t have a rich daddy to give us everything we need. Some of us actually have to put blood, sweat, tears, and sleepless nights into making this happen.

Most of us small business owners have to deal with trying to put food on the table while buying your stupid-ass products and paying your goddamned yearly subscription fees just to stay in your good graces. We tried. We gave you more of a life than you ever gave us. But welcome to the club, asshole.

Lavish Salaries and Lousy Cameras

Woodman is a 49-year-old brat. He said last month he would volunteer to go without his base pay until the beginning of 2026. The little useless agreement also clarified he wouldn’t be paid extra later for ditching his salary now. His base salary in both 2022 and 2023 was a whopping $850,000. Sounds like a regular guy to me, right?

How am I supposed to have pity for this little rotten turd? After all the money I’ve spent on gear, backpacks, and bullshit without getting anything in return, how am I supposed to do anything but laugh? He got one over on me for a bit, but honestly, isn’t it time for me to switch away from GoPro anyway? I should have done it a long time ago. We all should have.