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Feb 26, 2016 · 18m · top-founders

How GoPro Went from $300k to $600M In Sales in Weird Way with Ron Lynch Ep 8

Ron Lynch · 10m spoken Nathan Latka · 6m spoken
0:00 / 0:00

gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions

Host Nathan Latka interviews veteran marketing strategist Ron Lynch, exploring the remnant television advertising and contest funnel strategies that scaled GoPro from $600,000 to over $600 million in annual revenue.

How this conversation actually went

Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 38.6% of the talking time here. How this is scored →

Nathan as informed peer 3.8 Guest teaching 3.8 Guest disagreement 1.0 Nathan pushing back 1.3
05100:0010:000:46–6:02 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Introducing Marketing Strategist Ron Lynch Latka prompts Lynch on his marketing background and client list before digging into the origin story of GoPro. Lynch details Nick Woodman's trade show beginnings and explains why they abandoned a 30-minute infomercial format in favor of short direct-response spots.6:03–11:10 · Nathan as informed peer 4/10 Remnant Media Buying and Daily Contest Funnel Lynch provides a masterclass on remnant TV media buying, contest-driven email capture funnels, and Media Efficiency Ratio (MER). Latka presses on unit economics and conversion metrics while Lynch clarifies how TV campaigns feed retail sales.11:11–13:34 · Nathan as informed peer 5/10 Testing Contests and GoPro's Exponential Scaling Latka immediately puts Lynch's contest strategy to work by running an impromptu GoPro giveaway for his listeners via SMS. Lynch reinforces the importance of niche marketing across hunting and boating before summarizing GoPro's tenfold annual revenue trajectory.13:40–17:18 · Nathan as informed peer 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Lynch gives candid answers, praising Larry Page's relentless hunger and championing a yellow legal pad and pen over digital software tools.0:46–6:02 · Guest teaching 4/10 Introducing Marketing Strategist Ron Lynch Latka prompts Lynch on his marketing background and client list before digging into the origin story of GoPro. Lynch details Nick Woodman's trade show beginnings and explains why they abandoned a 30-minute infomercial format in favor of short direct-response spots.6:03–11:10 · Guest teaching 6/10 Remnant Media Buying and Daily Contest Funnel Lynch provides a masterclass on remnant TV media buying, contest-driven email capture funnels, and Media Efficiency Ratio (MER). Latka presses on unit economics and conversion metrics while Lynch clarifies how TV campaigns feed retail sales.11:11–13:34 · Guest teaching 3/10 Testing Contests and GoPro's Exponential Scaling Latka immediately puts Lynch's contest strategy to work by running an impromptu GoPro giveaway for his listeners via SMS. Lynch reinforces the importance of niche marketing across hunting and boating before summarizing GoPro's tenfold annual revenue trajectory.13:40–17:18 · Guest teaching 2/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Lynch gives candid answers, praising Larry Page's relentless hunger and championing a yellow legal pad and pen over digital software tools.0:46–6:02 · Guest disagreement 1/10 Introducing Marketing Strategist Ron Lynch Latka prompts Lynch on his marketing background and client list before digging into the origin story of GoPro. Lynch details Nick Woodman's trade show beginnings and explains why they abandoned a 30-minute infomercial format in favor of short direct-response spots.6:03–11:10 · Guest disagreement 2/10 Remnant Media Buying and Daily Contest Funnel Lynch provides a masterclass on remnant TV media buying, contest-driven email capture funnels, and Media Efficiency Ratio (MER). Latka presses on unit economics and conversion metrics while Lynch clarifies how TV campaigns feed retail sales.11:11–13:34 · Guest disagreement 0/10 Testing Contests and GoPro's Exponential Scaling Latka immediately puts Lynch's contest strategy to work by running an impromptu GoPro giveaway for his listeners via SMS. Lynch reinforces the importance of niche marketing across hunting and boating before summarizing GoPro's tenfold annual revenue trajectory.13:40–17:18 · Guest disagreement 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Lynch gives candid answers, praising Larry Page's relentless hunger and championing a yellow legal pad and pen over digital software tools.0:46–6:02 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Introducing Marketing Strategist Ron Lynch Latka prompts Lynch on his marketing background and client list before digging into the origin story of GoPro. Lynch details Nick Woodman's trade show beginnings and explains why they abandoned a 30-minute infomercial format in favor of short direct-response spots.6:03–11:10 · Nathan pushing back 2/10 Remnant Media Buying and Daily Contest Funnel Lynch provides a masterclass on remnant TV media buying, contest-driven email capture funnels, and Media Efficiency Ratio (MER). Latka presses on unit economics and conversion metrics while Lynch clarifies how TV campaigns feed retail sales.11:11–13:34 · Nathan pushing back 0/10 Testing Contests and GoPro's Exponential Scaling Latka immediately puts Lynch's contest strategy to work by running an impromptu GoPro giveaway for his listeners via SMS. Lynch reinforces the importance of niche marketing across hunting and boating before summarizing GoPro's tenfold annual revenue trajectory.13:40–17:18 · Nathan pushing back 1/10 The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions Latka runs through the Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Lynch gives candid answers, praising Larry Page's relentless hunger and championing a yellow legal pad and pen over digital software tools.

speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)

0:00 · Nathan 63.7% · guest 36.3%0:00 · Nathan 63.7% · guest 36.3%3:00 · Nathan 7.8% · guest 92.2%3:00 · Nathan 7.8% · guest 92.2%6:00 · Nathan 26.7% · guest 73.3%6:00 · Nathan 26.7% · guest 73.3%9:00 · Nathan 46.4% · guest 53.6%9:00 · Nathan 46.4% · guest 53.6%12:00 · Nathan 39.7% · guest 60.3%12:00 · Nathan 39.7% · guest 60.3%15:00 · Nathan 37.2% · guest 62.8%15:00 · Nathan 37.2% · guest 62.8%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%18:00 · Nathan 100% · guest 0%
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 15:48 Defending low-tech pen and paper

Lynch rejects Latka's prompt looking for modern digital software by asserting that an old-fashioned legal pad and pen is his most effective tool.

 Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 5:28 Latka interrupts to pinpoint media placement

Latka cuts in to demand specifics on where media ran, forcing Lynch to clarify that this was still in the pre-launch conceptual stage.

 Biggest teaching moment ▶ 6:39 The mechanics of remnant TV media

Lynch explains the direct-response mechanisms required to purchase cheap remnant broadcast inventory and how running daily contests solved the $400 camera direct-sale barrier.

 Nathan holds their own ▶ 11:11 Latka implements contest marketing live

Latka demonstrates his own direct-response marketing chops by immediately crafting and broadcasting an SMS lead-capture funnel live on the show.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
ChapterTopicNathan as informed peerGuest teachingGuest disagreementNathan pushing backWhy
Introducing Marketing Strategist Ron Lynch 4412 Latka prompts Lynch on his marketing background and client list before digging into the origin story of GoPro. Lynch details Nick Woodman's trade show beginnings and explains why they abandoned a 30-minute infomercial format in favor of short direct-response spots.
Remnant Media Buying and Daily Contest Funnel 4622 Lynch provides a masterclass on remnant TV media buying, contest-driven email capture funnels, and Media Efficiency Ratio (MER). Latka presses on unit economics and conversion metrics while Lynch clarifies how TV campaigns feed retail sales.
Testing Contests and GoPro's Exponential Scaling 5300 Latka immediately puts Lynch's contest strategy to work by running an impromptu GoPro giveaway for his listeners via SMS. Lynch reinforces the importance of niche marketing across hunting and boating before summarizing GoPro's tenfold annual revenue trajectory.
The Famous Five Rapid-Fire Questions 2211 Latka runs through the Famous Five rapid-fire questions. Lynch gives candid answers, praising Larry Page's relentless hunger and championing a yellow legal pad and pen over digital software tools.

Statements from this episode (6)

Opinion
Early GoPro was a mediocre pinhole camera saved by great mounts
“When we found GoPro, it was what I'm going to call a mediocre camera with great attachments. It was almost a pinhole camera, and the camera that you're, that we all buy today with GoPro is super advanced compared to where they started, but they always had grea…”
Ron Lynch Feb 26, 2016 ▶ 2:39
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lynch: GoPro raised $6M to $8M early on and rarely spent it
“So they raised I think about six, eight million dollars, and they rarely tapped into that money.”
Ron Lynch Feb 26, 2016 ▶ 3:59
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lynch: 60% to 70% of TV Viewers Filled Out GoPro's Contest Funnel
“I would say probably 60 to 70% of folks filled out that data.”
Ron Lynch Feb 26, 2016 ▶ 8:04
Assertion Not checkable as stated
GoPro drove $250K weekly revenue on $100K remnant TV ad spend
“We, if we spent a 100,000 dollars a week, we could anticipate selling 200 to 250,000 dollars of cameras.”
Ron Lynch Feb 26, 2016 ▶ 10:03
Insight
Lynch: Direct TV Sales Drive 6x to 7x Product Sales at Retail
“And for every one you sell on TV, you sell six or seven at retail once you open the retail doors.”
Ron Lynch Feb 26, 2016 ▶ 10:40
Assertion Partly supported
Lynch: GoPro grew revenue from $600k to $600M in five years
“It probably went tenfold. Yeah, I guess it's probably about tenfold a year. There's about a five-year process, and they started it 600,000. So the next year would be six million, and the year after that would be about 50, sixty million. Then it jumped up to ma…”
Ron Lynch Feb 26, 2016 ▶ 13:04
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