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166:. Park found the initial stages of developing the product to be tough, especially in finding a hardware manufacturer. He recalled the search for the right supplier and organizing the production line in Asia left the company "pretty close to being dead". In a 2019 interview, Park said, "Going public is good for investors and employees. Ours was the largest consumer electronics IPO in US history."
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in
Cleveland, Ohio. His parents, who emigrated from South Korea, owned a wig shop in downtown Cleveland, among other shops, such as an ice cream parlor, a fish market, a dry-cleaning business, and a clothing store. Park spent a lot of time in his parents' shops and even sold products for them, and
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Park co-founded Fitbit with Eric
Friedman on March 26, 2007, after "realizing the potential of sensors on the Wii remote such as accelerometers paired with smaller and smaller devices". The co-founders started with an initial investment of $ 400,000 contributed by them and others but realized one
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After Epesi folded, Park's next venture was an early concept for a photo editing and sharing platform. The company was called Heypix. After Heypix's first ever press release, it caught the attention of CNET, who offered the company $ 4 million.
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estimated that Park and
Friedman each made $ 150 million before taxes when Fitbit was acquired by Google in 2019. Park describes himself as an introvert who is capable of being an extrovert. In his spare time he enjoys art.
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infrastructure software firm called Epesi
Technologies, which is now defunct. Park considers Epesi Technologies his "greatest failure" and described the experience as "particularly painful".
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111:, he was ranked #29 in the magazine's America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2015. James Park announced that Fitbit became part of Google on January 14, 2021.
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magazine's 40 Under 40, an annual ranking of the most influential young people in business. With a net worth of $ 660 million estimated by
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but dropped out his junior year to pursue his own business. Before creating the company that would become Fitbit, Park created a startup
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burst in 2000 and Epesi closed its doors, both Park and
Friedman went to work as engineers for a company called Dun & Bradstreet.
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year after starting that more funds would be needed for a product launch. They were able to get additional funding from
466:"How A Game He Liked Inspired Him To Start A $ 2.1 Million Company. The Success Story Of Fitbit Co-Founder James Park"
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610:"Fitbit CEO and co-founder James Park on his own fitness routine and selling to Google for $ 2.1 billion"
410:"Fitbit founder and upcoming tech summit speaker Eric Friedman is an 'eternally optimistic' entrepreneur"
384:"Fitbit CEO and co-founder James Park on his own fitness routine and selling to Google for $ 2.1 billion"
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91:(born 1976/1977) is a South Korean-American technology entrepreneur. He co-founded
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Park met Eric
Friedman (a computer science Yale graduate) at Epsei, but after the
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585:"Here's How Much Money The Fitbit Founders Will Get From Google's Acquisition"
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Korean
American technology entrepreneur and co-founder of FitBit
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199:"Fitbit co-founder sprints to success after start-up setbacks"
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his own work ethic was influenced by their example.
169:Google purchased Fitbit in 2019 for $ 2.1 billion.
130:He studied computer science as an undergraduate at
308:"Fitbit's launch in Korea a big step for company"
99:since September 2007. He was named in 2015 among
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559:"Interviews with the world's best entrepreneurs"
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434:"The Late 1990s Dot-Com Bubble Implodes in 2000"
225:"James Park: Executive Profile & Biography"
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541:"How Fitbit Survived As A Hardware Startup"
516:"Fitbit, Inc. - IR Overview - Investor FAQ"
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491:"CNET buys photo-sharing Web site HeyPix"
44:1976 or 1977 (age 47–48)
122:He attended high school at the all-boys
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645:Businesspeople from San Francisco
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358:How I Built This with Guy Raz
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408:Weir, William (2016-10-25).
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119:Park is of Korean descent.
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608:Stieg, Cory (2021-08-03).
352:Guy Raz (April 27, 2020).
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95:and has been its CEO and
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670:University School alumni
282:"Fitbit Joins Google"
354:"Fitbit: James Park"
312:Korea JoongAng Daily
269:. November 18, 2015.
79:Co-founder and CEO,
520:investor.fitbit.com
583:Tognini, Giacomo.
205:. 2 September 2016
229:www.bloomberg.com
124:University School
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35:Park in 2015
443:October 11,
209:13 November
203:Irish Times
160:SoftTech VC
71:Businessman
49:Nationality
634:Categories
619:2023-06-29
594:2021-07-21
569:2023-06-29
563:British GQ
525:2018-12-03
501:2023-06-29
476:2023-06-29
419:2023-06-29
335:2021-03-29
330:www.us.edu
251:. Fortune.
234:2018-12-13
185:References
115:Early life
89:James Park
68:Occupation
23:James Park
470:Sybershel
364:April 27,
97:president
414:YaleNews
393:June 15,
388:cnbc.com
291:June 15,
52:American
102:Fortune
589:Forbes
545:Forbes
267:Forbes
178:Forbes
149:Career
108:Forbes
93:Fitbit
81:Fitbit
614:CNBC
495:CIOL
445:2023
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366:2020
293:2023
211:2019
162:and
41:Born
136:B2B
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