Teen camera makers zoom to success

Sonoma Valley High students find focus with Volt Camera startup|

Most Sonoma 15-year-olds are starting their freshman or sophomore year of high school this month - but not one group of entrepreneurial teenagers. Danny Hu, Ethan Ng and Chris Wong are currently in Shenzhen, China, in talks with a manufacturer for their product.

The Sonoma kids are part of a team of young entrepreneurs who are introducing an affordable, high-quality action camera - similar to the GoPro - at a fraction of the cost. They're hoping their more-affordable Volt Camera is the answer to the GoPro, and the low-quality usually associated with off-brand action cameras.

'We started as just a bunch of high school students who had ideas for a startup,' said Hu, the team's appointed marketing director. What started as a simple idea for the trio of friends, turned into a reality when they met other like-minded youth last summer at MIT Launch, a program offered by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to help teen entrepreneurs actually create and build their own successful companies.

'We prepare students for real-world success, building entrepreneurial skills and mindset through students starting real companies,' reads the front page of MIT Launch's website. According to the site, 50 percent of MIT Launch startups continue to grow a year after they launch.

At the program, Hu, Ng and Wong met Kevin Song and William Sun, high school students from Vancouver. Some members of their team owned action cameras – not GoPros – and were disappointed with the performance.

'We were wondering if we can make a camera that can rival the GoPro in quality and also be more affordable,' Hu said.

They launch a Kickstarter campaign on Wednesday, Aug. 31, where they plan to fund and at the same time sell the camera. According to the team, the Volt Camera shoots 4K video at 30 frames per second, can shoot at high speeds of 120 frames per second at 720p, equivalent to the GoPro Hero4 Silver (the more expensive GoPro Hero4 Black shoots 120 fps at 1080p).

The major difference, however, is price. At launch, they plan to sell the camera for $99, a far cry from the $349 price tag of a brand new Silver (while the GoPro Hero4 Black sells brand new for $449 on Amazon).

'We first had to design our product and locate a manufacturer in China,' said Hu.

During the first week of school at Sonoma Valley High School, which they will be attending part time, they were in Shenzhen, a major financial city in southern China, 'buzzing with entrepreneurial spirit,' according to Wong, to finalize plans for production.

'We all agreed upon it as an entrepreneurial journey,' Hu said. To compensate for so much time they'll be missing in school, Hu, Wong and Ng are only taking electives, including an entrepreneur class, at Sonoma Valley High. They've decided to take all of their core classes online to make time for their business venture.

The future looks bright for these students. Already, some online news outlets such as valuewalk.com, an international business news site, have mentioned the Volt.

'Currently, we have an open line with the manufacturer and can already ship now,' Hu said. 'However, our real orders will come in during the Kickstarter campaign and we plan on shipping by Christmas, with mass distribution by March next year.'

Kickstarter backers can get their products by Christmas, as the team has planned on receiving their products in November.

Wong said they already have protoypes for the team to use. 'The products are absolutely fantastic!'

The trio plan to continue attending Sonoma Valley High in the future; however, as with any business venture, the future could hold any number of possibilities.

To learn more about Volt Camera and the Kickstarter campaign, visit voltcamera.com.

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