James Park (born 1976/1977) is an American technology entrepreneur. He co-founded Fitbit and has been its CEO and president since September 2007.[2] He was named in 2015 among Fortune magazine's 40 Under 40, an annual ranking of the most influential young people in business.[3] With a net worth of US$660 million estimated by Forbes, he was ranked #29 in the magazine's America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2015.[4] Park announced that Fitbit became part of Google in January 2021.[5]
He attended high school at the all-boys University School in Cleveland, Ohio.[7] His parents, who emigrated from South Korea, owned a wig shop in downtown Cleveland,[8] 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 his own work ethic was influenced by their example.[9]
He studied computer science as an undergraduate at Harvard College but dropped out his junior year to pursue his own business.[8] Before creating the company that would become Fitbit, Park created a startup B2B infrastructure software firm called Epesi Technologies, which is now defunct. Park considers Epesi Technologies his "greatest failure" and described the experience as "particularly painful".[9]
Park met Eric Friedman (a computer science Yale graduate)[10] at Epsei, but after the dot-com bubble burst in 2000[11] and Epesi closed its doors, both Park and Friedman went to work as engineers for a company called Dun & Bradstreet.[12]
Career
After Epesi folded, Park's next venture was an early concept for a photo editing and sharing platform.[12] The company was called Heypix. After Heypix's first ever press release, it caught the attention of CNET, who offered the company $4 million.[12][13]
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".[14] The co-founders started with an initial investment of $400,000 contributed by them and others but realized one year after starting that more funds would be needed for a product launch. They were able to get additional funding from SoftTech VC and True Ventures. 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".[15] In a 2019 interview, Park said, "Going public is good for investors and employees. Ours was the largest consumer electronics IPO in US history."[16]
Google purchased Fitbit in 2019 for $2.1 billion.[12]
Personal life
Forbes estimated that Park and Friedman each made $150 million before taxes when Fitbit was acquired by Google in 2019.[17] Park describes himself as an introvert who is capable of being an extrovert. In his spare time he enjoys art.[18]
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