They still haven’t acknowledged how hard it was. “And they are still snarky and arrogant about it. “In hindsight, they bit off way more than they could chew,” said Wedbush Securities’ Michael Pachter. On Wednesday, the company re-launched Karma, though it remains to be seen if it will ever win back the confidence of its customers. Karma’s failure has triggered plenty of uncertainty within the company, said one former employee, who left before the company axed about 200 people, or 15% of its workforce, 22 days after the recall. While Woodman was relatively forthright in Las Vegas about Karma’s power issue, he did not detail his company’s frantic search for the problem in the days after Warholak’s video was posted on YouTube. However, as a $1.5 billion-dollar company that spent months hyping its drone, GoPro has changed its road map, based, in part on Karma's recall. Berkeley, Calif.-based 3D Robotics imploded after raising about $120 million in venture funding French consumer electronics manufacturer Parrot recently laid off 290 people, or 35%, of its drone workforce and Lily Robotics, a well-funded San Francisco startup that sold $34 million worth of pre-orders, is folding amidst a consumer protection lawsuit accusing the company of falsely advertising its flying camera. The battery “would become decoupled from the connector, which would cause a power loss during flight,” he said in the interview with TechCrunch. A GoPro spokesperson did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.Īnalyzed in the context of its competitive environment, GoPro is not alone in its drone missteps. Last month, Woodman, speaking on-stage at Las Vegas' Consumer Electronics Show, said that Karma’s issues were due to a power failure. Meanwhile Chinese drone maker DJI, GoPro's main competitor and former potential partner, holds its position as the industry’s far-and-away leader. Karma did hit shelves in time for the 2016 holiday season, despite multiple delays, but its recall ensured that it missed a crucial period to build market share among consumers. As GoPro’s research and development costs rose steadily with the continued emphasis on the drone program, the company has little to show for its efforts and expense. Instead, Karma became an encapsulation of everything that has gone wrong with the company. 2014, was supposed to reverse its fortunes and make it more than just a camera company.
While its stock price initially shot up and remained above its $24 per share IPO price through most of 2015, slowing sales, failed entertainment ventures and an inability to innovate beyond its core product line hampered growth. GoPro's bumpy ride began with its June 2014 initial public offering, before it got into the drone game. “Karma was their attempt to change direction, but like so many people, they underestimated how difficult it is to build an autonomous vehicle.”
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“I wouldn’t say it’s the beginning of the end," said Craig Elder an autonomous vehicle expert and former director of software engineering at drone startup 3D Robotics. While some asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing jobs or relationships, they revealed why the action-camera maker encountered so many issues with its flagship drone and the history behind its development. The sky was falling for the camera maker’s new product.Īhead of an earnings call on Thursday, when GoPro CEO Nicholas Woodman is expected to discuss his company’s fourth quarter financial results and the issues behind Karma, FORBES talked to multiple industry insiders, including people familiar with GoPro's drone project. Within a few days, more crash films like Warholak’s popped up online and the company issued a recall. It was the first popular public video of a Karma crash, and soon, it would set off alarm bells at GoPro’s San Mateo, Calif. After the incident, he picked up the drone’s pieces, drove home and uploaded the disastrous flight footage to YouTube. In an interview with FORBES, Warholak said he thought the crash was his fault and wondered what he did wrong. “F***, now where is the rest?” Warholak is heard saying on the video. It smacks a few tree branches on the way down for good measure and lands camera upward to capture its owner rushing to the crash.
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Its four propellers cut out and the drone begins a five-second, 170-foot free fall toward earth. Then, two minutes into the voyage, the device bricks. What it captures initially is unremarkable: a nondescript office building and mostly empty car park. In the video of Warholak’s aeronautic excursion, the drone lurches upward, pausing for its master to pan the attached camera.
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