How Fitbit started

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Fitbit was founded in 2007 by partners James Park and Eric Freedman when they saw the potentiel of using sensors in wearable devices This is a time when wearables wasn't even a category.
With great ideas and no experience in manufacturing, they went to tech Crunch in 2008, and got over 2,000 pre-orders in one day. They were excited but in big trouble. Because they didn't have the infrastructure. For 3 months they spent time in Asia Trying to figure out this manufacturing process and almost 7 times their Company nearly died. Nevertheless they managed to figure it out.
And finally in 2009 Fitbit initially launched with 5,000 orders direct to consumers and 20,000 on the back burner. In a market dominated by clunky pedometers and excessively complicated and manly fitness trackers, Fitbit appealed to a whole new group of people who wanted to track their well-being.
Simple and cheerful the initial Fitbit clip, showed your tracked steps and as you hit your milestones a little flower grew. The audience loved this reward system and soon enough Fitbit was at the penacle of the wearables market. Fitbit grew as they took advantage of unique social components such as users being able to share badges with each other and compete with each other. They also introduced new models and hit the Jackpot with their smart watch!
Nowadays Fitbit is the number 6 app in the apple store under the fitness category. And it is one of the few that you actually need a $100 device in order to use the app. As of 2019, Fitbit can be found in 39,000 stores across 86 different countries. It has become such a prevalent part of our society that even Fitbit records have been brought into court as proof of activity.
With the health market to grow to nearly $300 Billion in 2022, Fitbit still has a lot of room to grow. Although they have been knocked down to 3rd place in the wearables category behind Apple and Xoami and they have about 10% share on the market. And as of 2019, Fitbit is valued at $1.9 Billion and is trending towards becoming a digital healthcare company.
And that's how Fitbit got started!