Taya's 195-Day Journey: Behind the Scenes of Wearable AI Development

Last week I gave a talk "𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗫𝗥 – 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺?" at Lech Valley Startup day. Spoiler alert: 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝘁 - but sooner than you think! There are two very different bets being placed on the same future and right now - and path 2 is moving faster!   • Path 1: The headset shrinks. A Meta Quest, an Apple Vision Pro or a Pico Ultra are all impressive at their respective price-points – but still bulky and isolating. Every generation, they get smaller, flatter, lighter. (OK, that’s not true, Vision Pro did not do that…). But this way has one fundamental flaw: To see the world around you, cameras in the device capture it and display it on the device… that's like watching a live concert through your phone camera: technically it works - but you just could look directly to the stage and see more! So, let’s have a look at the second path  • Path 2: Light glasses get smarter. The Meta Ray-Bans are already something millions of people wear all day. Now they come with a display. The challenge with these device glass is “just” a technical one and not an architectural one. And lots of smart people are working on better tech, and the first generations are already hitting the market (in the US and China, not in the EU…)  • Fun fact: I asked the audience (around 80 people) who owned an Apple Vision Pro - with a forward minded startup crowd I was expecting 1 or 2… but you can already guess the answer → 0! 😅  • Fast forward to 2027 - I bet there will be at least 5 people wearing smart glasses within the same crowd! Thanks Fabian Baumann for leading through the event, to Fabian Pfettrisch for inviting me and the whole Lechvalley team for bringing this event series to life!

Sarvam to Launch Made-in-India Smart Glasses ‘Kaze’ by May 2026 At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, sovereign AI startup Sarvam announced plans to launch its India-designed smart eyewear, Sarvam Kaze, by May this year. The company also unveiled strategic partnerships with HMD to bring AI to feature phones, Qualcomm to deploy generative AI across devices, and Bosch to integrate AI into automotive panels. Pratyush Kumar #Sarvam #SovereignAI #MadeInIndia #SmartGlasses #AIInnovation #IndiaAI #GenerativeAI #Qualcomm #Bosch #TechStartups Read more on Entrepreneur News Network - https://lnkd.in/g5VSwUph

Looki just raised a massive Series A. But does their Value Proposition justify the capital? The Looki L1 is the latest entry into the "AI Wearable" category—a market currently flooded with high-potential hardware that often lacks a clear "Why." I spent some time auditing their value prop and website content. I didn't focus on the hardware itself; at 1.1 oz, the gadget seems well-built, but in this category, hardware is merely a means to an end. The Reality: No one pays $200 for a camera and a microphone anymore. We pay for the Transformation of Data. I would gladly pay a premium for a device that curates life-changing insights based on my specific goals. They are leaning heavily into the "Multimodal" tech specs, but they are failing to answer the one question every Series A startup must solve: How does this fundamentally improve the user’s life? #BrandStrategy #StartupGrowth #ValueProposition #DTC #AIWearable #Founders #BusinessLogic #Brand #AI #Looki #LookiL1

Great lesson here in taking designs all the way to the end with a technical design team instead of just going to manufacturers to do your design.

Trying to develop a product by going straight to the factory? It’s a common move, but comes with a fair amount of trade-offs. When you rely on a manufacturer to “figure it out,” you may be giving up control over the design and compromising quality. That’s what happened with the first prototype of the Sling Bottle, an innovative, wearable water bottle. The idea was (and is) great. But the factory’s version of the product felt underdeveloped and didn’t live up to the team’s vision. SPARK helped the Sling Bottle team take back control. Together, we defined exactly how the product should work, re-engineered the internal mechanism, and delivered a full design package the factory could actually build (without compromise). Read the full case study (and check out a really smart new way to stay hydrated) here: https://lnkd.in/eRYpsKRg #productdevelopment #consumerproducts #SPARKPD

Efficiency meets ergonomics. iQOO introduces the iQOO 15R, specifically designed for the modern professional. 📈 By integrating the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 with a 6.59-inch display, the iQOO 15R offers the ideal form factor for one-handed productivity on the move. Supported by 4 years of software updates and advanced AI-powered tools like AI Document Scanning and Screen Translation, it is the ultimate tool for the corporate ecosystem. Now available for pre-booking with professional-grade perks. Know More 👇 https://lnkd.in/gNnaZ3CE iQOO Nipun Marya Shankar Singh Chauhan Tripti Goel Raghav Mehra Parth Gandhi Shafeeque Ahmed Parakram Hazarika Katta Siddhartha Shubham Arya Pratik Chakravarty Arem Mukim #iQOO15R #BusinessTech #Innovation #ProfessionalGrade #iQOO Mobility India SWAPAN ROY Sujit Goswami #mobilityindia #mobilityindiamagazine

Former vivo Star Product Manager Song Ziwei Launches AI Hardware Startup, Raises Over RMB 100 Million As the AI hardware startup wave sweeps across the consumer electronics industry, a growing number of smartphone executives have entered the field. Former Xiaomi China marketing chief Wang Teng and former Xiaomi internet business head Ma Ji, among others, have begun launching AI hardware ventures ranging from AI sleep devices and AI earbuds to AI imaging hardware. In October 2024, Song Ziwei, a star smartphone product manager from vivo, announced on Weibo that she would enter the AI smart hardware startup space....

Sarvam AI, a Bengaluru-based startup, has launched its first consumer hardware product, Sarvam Kaze smart glasses, at the India AI Impact Summit 2026. #SarvamAI #SarvamKaze #AIImpactSummit2026 https://lnkd.in/gbQRn4sh

Why did #Xiaomi go Global, while #Indian Consumer #Brands stayed Domestic? 📱🌏 It’s the question everyone asks: "If India has a massive home market, why don't we have our own Xiaomi or Samsung on the global stage?" Many argue that Xiaomi succeeded because of its big domestic market or cheap manufacturing. But India has both. The real difference isn't just the factory—it’s the Strategy. The "Xiaomi Playbook" that India is still learning: 1. Software-First, Hardware-Second: Xiaomi started as a software company (MIUI). They built a global community of "Fans" before they even sold a single phone. Most Indian brands are Hardware-First, which makes them "commodities." Xiaomi was a "community," which made them a Brand. 2. The Ecosystem Model: Xiaomi didn’t try to build everything. They mentored and branded hundreds of smaller startups (IoT, home, lifestyle). This "incubator" approach allowed them to flood global markets with 50+ products at once. In India, we are still largely "siloed." 3. Global-by-Design: Within just 3-4 years of starting, Xiaomi moved into India and Southeast Asia. They didn't wait to "win" China first. They treated the world as one giant market. Many Indian majors are still "India-First," which often leads to "India-Only." The #Turning Point for India? 🇮🇳 We are finally seeing a shift. Brands like #RoyalEnfield are now "Category Kings" globally. #boAt is disrupting audio. #Titan is making waves in international watch markets. The gap isn't our talent or our market size—it's our R&D mindset. We need to move from "#Frugal Engineering" (making it cheaper) to "#Ecosystem Engineering" (making it essential). Is India’s next global giant currently a #D2C startup we haven't heard of yet? Or will it come from a 100-year-old #legacy house? #BusinessStrategy #Xiaomi #GlobalBrands #MakeInIndia #StartupIndia #ConsumerElectronics #BrandBuilding #IndiaGrowth