Some of the most successful businesses in history were born from early failures. With Apple, it was Steve Jobs being fired and coming back years later to lead the company to fortune. For Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, it was a failed business that crunched traffic data into reports for transit engineers. And for GoPro, it took one failed startup attempt and multiple wipeouts face-first into the ocean. Unlike so many great inventions that have happened by mistake, GoPro was born out of necessity. Fresh from Funbug, a failed gaming and marketing startup, GoPro founder Nick Woodman did what any self-respecting entrepreneur would do, and went on a surfing trip halfway across the world. He was enamored with taking pictures, and as a side project, jury-rigged a waterproof camera that could be strapped around his wrist with a surfboard leash.

But those cameras couldn't take a beating when Woodman wiped out, which was often. He eventually came to the realization it might be better to focus on making the cameras himself. With some borrowed money from his parents, and lots of testing, he built the first prototype of the GoPro in 2004. Now a decade — and many models — later, the company is going public with the hopes that it's left the face-plants in the past.

In a filing today, the company said it plans to raise $100 million from its initial public offering, and will list on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol GPRO. That number sets a baseline, and may increase substantially depending on investor interest GoPro encounters during its roadshow leading up to the IPO.

Read the full story at The Verge.