James Park (born 1976/1977) is an South Korean-American technology entrepreneur. He co-founded

Fitbit Fitbit (stylized as fitbit) is an American consumer electronics and fitness company. It produces wireless-enabled wearable technology, physical fitness monitors and activity trackers such as smartwatches, pedometers and monitors for heart rate ...

and has been its CEO and

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

since September 2007. He was named in 2015 among ''

Fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...

'' magazine's 40 Under 40, an annual ranking of the most influential young people in business. With a net worth of $660 million estimated by ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'', he was ranked #29 in the magazine's America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40 in 2015. James Park announced that Fitbit became part of Google on January 14, 2021.

Early life

He attended high school at the all-boys

University School University School, commonly referred to as US, is an all-boys, private, Junior Kindergarten–12 school with two campus locations in the Greater Cleveland area of Ohio. The campus located in Shaker Heights serves junior kindergarten through eighth ...

in Cleveland, Ohio. His parents owned a wig shop in downtown Cleveland. He studied computer science as an undergraduate at

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...

but dropped out his junior year to pursue his own business.

Career

Out of college, he co-founded an e-commerce site that managed to raise a few million dollars. The company folded during the

dot com crash The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

. Park co-founded Fitbit with Eric Friedman on March 26, 2007 after according to a ''Forbes'' profile "realizing the potential of sensors on the Wii remote such as accelerometers paired with smaller and smaller devices." 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 Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC) is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco, California, founded by Jeff Clavier. Considered one of the most active established seed funds in Silicon Valley, it has invested in companies such as ...

and

True Ventures True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * Tr ...

. 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."

Personal life

''Forbes'' estimated that Park and Friedman each made $150 million before taxes when Fitbit was acquired by Google in 2019. Park is of Korean descent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Park, James Living people People from San Francisco People from Cleveland American people of Korean descent American technology company founders Year of birth missing (living people) 1970s births University School alumni