Lucyd CEO Harrison Gross just shared the company's origin story, and it really is a David and Goliath tale. A team of about 20 people in Florida set out to build smartglasses that could compete with the multibillion dollar eyewear giants.
It started in 2017 at the Tekcapital incubator, where the founders had licensed AR smartglass patents but could not find a partner to build the hardware. So they did it themselves. The Lucyd brand was actually created while Harrison rode out Hurricane Irma in an Airbnb, writing the founding whitepaper as the storm closed in.
The first crowdfund pulled in more than 2,000 investors and still ranks among the top 100 of all time. That led to Lucyd Loud, the first prescription smartglasses shipped direct to consumer, and later Lucyd Lyte, the first pair truly built for all day wear.
Today Lucyd has filed over 70 patents and notched a string of industry firsts, entering the space before Bose, Amazon, Meta and Luxottica. Harrison's point is simple: for the giants, smartglasses are a side project, but for Lucyd they are the whole mission, and that focus is how a small team keeps punching up.
Read the full essay here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/david-goliath-story-harrison-gross-ad78e/
A David and Goliath Story: How Lucyd Is Taking On the Eyewear Giants
Lucyd CEO Harrison Gross just shared the company's origin story, and it really is a David and Goliath tale. A team of about 20 people in Florida set out to build smartglasses that could compete with the multibillion dollar eyewear giants.
It started in 2017 at the Tekcapital incubator, where the founders had licensed AR smartglass patents but could not find a partner to build the hardware. So they did it themselves. The Lucyd brand was actually created while Harrison rode out Hurricane Irma in an Airbnb, writing the founding whitepaper as the storm closed in.
The first crowdfund pulled in more than 2,000 investors and still ranks among the top 100 of all time. That led to Lucyd Loud, the first prescription smartglasses shipped direct to consumer, and later Lucyd Lyte, the first pair truly built for all day wear.
Today Lucyd has filed over 70 patents and notched a string of industry firsts, entering the space before Bose, Amazon, Meta and Luxottica. Harrison's point is simple: for the giants, smartglasses are a side project, but for Lucyd they are the whole mission, and that focus is how a small team keeps punching up.
Read the full essay here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/david-goliath-story-harrison-gross-ad78e/