FITBIT

James Park and Eric Friedman were Harvard dropouts who had previously started another company together. In 2007, they noticed that sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes) had become cheap enough to put in consumer devices.

They imagined a small, wearable device that could track physical activity throughout the day.

They prototyped the first Fitbit tracker, a clip-on device that counted steps and estimated calories burned. They presented it at TechCrunch50 in 2008 and received 2,000 pre-orders before they had even built the final product.

The first Fitbit shipped in 2009.

Fitbit sold hardware (fitness trackers and smartwatches) and earned recurring revenue from Fitbit Premium, a subscription service with advanced health insights, guided workouts, and wellness reports.

The hardware was the hook. The subscription was the long-term revenue.

This hardware-to-subscription model predated Peloton, Apple Fitness+, and Whoop.

The original Fitbit tracker clip-on device launched the wearable fitness revolution. Fitbit Charge became the most popular fitness band, tracking steps, heart rate, and sleep.

Fitbit Versa was the affordable smartwatch alternative. Fitbit Premium offered personalized health insights and guided programs.

Under Google, Fitbit technology is being integrated into Pixel watches.

Fitbit rode the wellness wave of the early 2010s. Corporate wellness programs adopted Fitbit devices at scale, buying thousands of trackers for employees.

This B2B channel was as important as consumer sales.

Step challenges, where friends competed to see who walked the most, created powerful social virality. The gamification of walking was Fitbit's most effective marketing tool.

Celebrity partnerships and retail distribution (Best Buy, Target, Amazon) made Fitbit the most recognized wearable brand in the world by 2015.

The Apple Watch launched in 2015 and gradually ate Fitbit's lunch. Apple offered everything Fitbit did plus phone calls, apps, and deeper integration with iPhone.

Fitbit's devices were cheaper but felt less premium.

Fitbit's attempt to build a smartwatch (Fitbit Versa, Fitbit Sense) came too late. By the time they had a competitive smartwatch, Apple and Samsung had established market dominance.

The company's stock dropped from its IPO peak of $51 to under $3 before Google's acquisition.

Fitbit raised $66 million pre-IPO from investors including SoftBank Capital, Foundry Group, and True Ventures. The company went public on NYSE in June 2015, raising $732 million at a $4.1 billion valuation.

Google acquired Fitbit in January 2021 for $2.1 billion.