Chris Pickett (DigiLens) on Creating Waveguides to enable Eyeglass-thin Smartglasses
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The Guest
Chris Pickett is the CEO of DigiLens, a company on a mission to enable the next generation of waveguide-based AR displays using their proprietary waveguide technology.
Chris laid the foundation for his career by earning degrees in engineering and law. He went on to become the head of technology licensing or the CEO at 4 startups and a couple of other companies that focused on innovating and licensing technology and intellectual property around semiconductors, image sensors, optics.
Most recently, he was the President and CEO of Pelican Imaging, which was acquired by Tessera.
The Conversation
In this conversation, Chris shares his perspective on the importance of waveguides in creating eyeglass-thin smartglasses, and what sets DigiLens technology apart. As Chris explains, most waveguide optics are complicated and expensive to manufacture, but DigiLens has a different approach.
He shares his background in licensing IP for unique materials, designs, and manufacturing approaches, and the strategy they’ll be using at DigiLens.
We talk about the recent $50M they raised from the likes of Niantic, Universal Display, Samsung, Sony, and others, and what those investors mean for the future of the business.
He goes on to comment on what he views as the best type of early customer – one with a clear focus on the end-user experience, not one chasing arbitrary specs.
Links From The Episode
- Article: DigiLens raises $50 million to develop cheap AR display tech by VentureBeat
- Article: Apple buys Denver startup [Akonia Holographics] building waveguide lenses for AR glasses by TechCrunch
- Blog: Karl Guttag on Technology
- Book: 1984 by George Orwell
- Episode Transcript