Marc Andreessen predicted GoPro’s current problems back when it filed to go public

GoPro shares are tanking more than 20% after the sports video camera maker warned of lower than expected holiday sales and announced plans to slash its headcount by 7%.

It’s a remarkable turn of events for GoPro, a hardware industry success story that had a blockbuster IPO in 2014.

But even back when GoPro was basking in glowing investor sentiment, there were already warning signs that the company could face problems as VC Marc Andreessen pointed out on Twitter at the time GoPro filed to go public.

In February 2014, the day after news broke that GoPro had filed to go public, Andreessen Horowitz partner Chris Dixon tweeted, “GoPro is a company that develops communities of sports enthusiasts and happens monetize by selling electronics.”

Andreessen’s response?

Andreeseen warned that GoPro faces many of the same commoditization threats that hurt Flip, another once highflying video camera hardware company that was ultimately shut down after being acquired by Cisco.

The whole thread is worth reading.

Andreesen closed the argument with:

That was 704 days ago.