145: Dialogue with Sun Kuan: The Birth of the First "Consumer-Grade Exoskeleton"

1. Key Themes

From Academic Research to Product Reality: The Long Road to Consumer Exoskeletons

Sun Kuan's journey exemplifies the gap between theoretical possibility and market-ready products. After studying exoskeleton biomechanics in graduate school, he discovered through simulation that single-motor configurations could work—a counterintuitive finding that would later define HyperGait's first product. However, the real challenge wasn't proving the concept but making it genuinely useful.

"In 2019, the entire exoskeleton industry was very niche... Products were more like industrial equipment, with hydraulic or pneumatic systems, large boxes on your back, very heavy and hard. But the more brutal reality is that every additional 1000 grams of weight increases metabolic cost by 22%" [00:21:11]

The company spent nearly 18 months from crowdfunding to delivering their first product, primarily wrestling with reliability and user experience issues that only emerged in real-world testing. Sun Kuan personally spent six months in the factory tightening screws to solve reliability problems.

"When we launched the first generation crowdfunding product, the user feedback score didn't exceed 50 points—all around 40 points. But if we shipped that 50-60 point product, this company would definitely be finished" [00:50:34]

The Product Philosophy: "Truly Useful" Before "Good-Looking"

HyperGait's core product philosophy centers on creating something "truly useful" (真有用) rather than just technologically impressive. This meant confronting uncomfortable truths: early exoskeletons often made people MORE tired overall, despite providing mechanical assistance.

Sun Kuan describes the fundamental product equation: positive impact minus negative impact. Only when this ratio becomes sufficiently favorable will mainstream adoption occur.

"A good wearable product—its ultimate product evaluation should be the ratio between its positive impact and negative impact. Try to pull this ratio as high as possible" [00:48:59]

The team made controversial decisions to achieve usability, like insisting on a single power button despite engineers wanting backup controls. "Many engineers early on would complain, 'Can't you leave me a few more buttons?' Because they felt if their AI wasn't good enough, these buttons would give them a fallback. I said no—having just one button forces our engineers to make the AI good enough" [00:42:15]

Breaking Out of the "Niche Trap": Brand Positioning as Strategic Foundation

Sun Kuan articulated a sophisticated understanding of category positioning that challenges conventional thinking. Rather than targeting elderly users first (the obvious large market), HyperGait deliberately chose outdoor enthusiasts and hikers.

"Many people ask me why not first make a product for the seemingly larger elderly market. This is a big mistake. In the past, everyone saw exoskeletons as medical/assistive devices—meaning whoever wears it has a physical problem. Not only can young people not accept this, elderly people can't accept it either" [00:36:38]

He draws parallels to hearing aids—a product many elderly people refuse despite needing them, because wearing one signals decline. Instead, positioning exoskeletons around outdoor adventure creates aspirational associations with freedom, exploration, and enhanced capability.

"Outdoor represents yearning for the real world, human desire to explore, and yearning for freedom—it's a very positive, aspirational brand essence... Only by making people's first impression of exoskeletons something cool and desirable can this category's ceiling truly be opened" [00:36:32]

2. Contrarian Perspectives

The Single-Motor "Mistake" That Became an Advantage

The team's first product used a single motor to assist both legs—a configuration that emerged from simulation but violated conventional wisdom. When product issues emerged, there was intense internal debate about switching to a more conventional dual-motor design.

"We spent nearly a year developing [the dual-motor version]. Some people thought we should do the more unique, more innovative single-motor theoretically feasible solution. Others thought since we'd already crowdfunded and promised users delivery, we should ensure experience" [00:54:40]

Sun Kuan pushed for the dual-motor redesign despite it being "close to finished" with the single-motor version and costing nearly double. This decision delayed delivery by over a year but established the product's viability.

"I had a very strong feeling at the time—if we shipped that first-generation 50-60 point product, this company would definitely be finished. If your first batch of shipped products gets universally criticized, the entire industry might be finished" [00:55:26]

Rejecting Process Early On: A Calculated Risk

Unlike most manufacturing companies that emphasize process and quality control, HyperGait initially operated with minimal formal processes, relying instead on high talent density and shared pursuit of excellence.

"Our company's culture in those early years was always in a loss-making state. What did we buy with those losses? Actually, I think today it feels like tuition—giving everyone tuition to learn how to work more efficiently" [01:22:25]

However, Sun Kuan candidly admits this created problems—like a shipment to Europe being rejected because compliance labels weren't properly attached, resulting in millions in losses. "This led to our first emphasis on digitization systems... Because people will definitely make mistakes" [01:20:18]

The contrarian insight: early-stage hardware companies should perhaps embrace some chaos to learn faster, but must rapidly professionalize specific functions (manufacturing, compliance) once patterns emerge.

The "Competitive Advantage" of Doing It Early in a Small Market

Rather than worrying about the market being too small, Sun Kuan sees HyperGait's early entry as creating compounding advantages in an inevitably growing category.

"Today the entire market added together—looking at globally meaningful volume—maybe 90% is with us. The whole market isn't a zero-sum game... The bigger opportunity is when we make products better and continuously break through circles, bringing future opportunities" [01:52:10]

He shared a telling anecdote: "A user posted in our community that today in America, walking a trail route, out of 10 people he encountered, maybe 7 could recognize this [product]. I think doing it early allows your brand to become deeply rooted in people's hearts—everyone's first encounter with exoskeletons comes from you" [00:51:07]

3. Companies Identified

Tesla

Why mentioned: Model for organizational culture and incentive structures

Sun Kuan studied Tesla's approach to talent management, particularly noting how Tesla employees seem highly engaged despite intense pressure. "When you talk to people from Tesla, you feel their mental state is very full. Many people face huge work challenges but don't consider looking for opportunities outside... It's not just because of good incentive mechanisms" [01:26:21]

The company has adopted Tesla's "high salary, high performance, bottom elimination" model, creating what Sun Kuan calls a "positive reinforcement cycle" where excellent people want to work with other excellent people.

FormLabs (3D Printing)

Why mentioned: Paradigm for category creation and ecosystem building

Sun Kuan analyzed FormLabs' success in making 3D printing accessible, highlighting two critical innovations beyond hardware: making it "iPhone-level user experience" with one-click printing, and creating a MakerWorld platform (like an App Store for 3D models).

"FormLabs made 3D printers usable—everything became automated... Second, the content community was extremely critical. FormLabs very smartly made their MakerWorld into Apple's App Store, creating a profit-sharing mechanism where users upload models" [01:40:45]

He sees parallels for exoskeletons: the flywheel of good product → more users → more content → lower barriers → more users.

DJI

Why mentioned: Reference point for Chinese hardware company building global brand

Sun Kuan hired a co-founder who previously led market and sales at Aukey and worked at Oppo. "Aukey is one of the few small electronics export companies in China that has built relatively differentiated branding... He introduced many of these thinking approaches" [01:15:30]

DJI represents the aspiration—dominating a hardware category globally through product excellence and brand building, not just manufacturing efficiency.

Haier

Why mentioned: Example of large incumbents entering the space

When asked about competition, Sun Kuan noted: "For example, Haier should have released two exoskeleton products this year" [01:52:16]

This signals the category is attracting attention from major players, though Sun Kuan believes HyperGait's consumer-first DNA gives them an advantage over industrial/medical companies pivoting to consumer.

4. People Identified

Qi Bo (奇博) - Early Mentor at Previous Company

Why mentioned: Provided formative business wisdom

Sun Kuan credits Qi Bo with a quote that shaped his competitive philosophy: "How to solve the competition problem? He concluded: once you prove the model works, the entire market will see it, everyone will enter. The only way to win is to run faster than others" [01:52:43]

This mindset explains HyperGait's emphasis on rapid iteration over worrying about competitors.

Multiple Co-founders with Complementary Skills

Sun Kuan assembled a founding team with diverse expertise:

• Algorithm co-founder (first hire, 2022): Previously a DJI algorithm lead, joined after Sun Kuan walked him through a simulation proving the concept [00:32:20]
• Product co-founder (recent): Worked at a US robotics company for 7+ years, described as having a "soulful" product sense focused on user psychology [01:16:01]
• Commercial co-founder (2024): Previously at Oppo and Aukey, handling market and sales [01:15:22]

"I'm relatively well-rounded—I did full-stack development before, did project management... This lets me not be too unfamiliar with each module, knowing roughly how it works" [01:15:44]

Factory Workers Who Became Product Ambassadors

Sun Kuan shared the story of a supermarket cart collector in the US who became their #1 user by step count: "He works collecting shopping carts from various places and pushing them together. His backend shows 70,000 steps daily... He's very willing to share with us in the community, saying it greatly reduced his work burden. He became our product ambassador, recommending it to everyone he meets" [01:06:23]

This user exemplifies how solving real problems creates organic advocacy.

5. Operating Insights

Forcing Constraints as Product Development Tools

Sun Kuan's insistence on a single button, despite engineering resistance, exemplifies using constraints to force better solutions. This applies beyond hardware:

"Making a truly innovative product—if what you ship makes you completely comfortable, you probably sent it too late. But if it makes you extremely uncomfortable, the company is probably done" [00:39:39]

The art is finding the "70-80 point" threshold where the product is good enough to learn from but not so rough it kills the category.

The "User as Co-Creator" Model for Early Products

HyperGait established a 10,000-person Facebook community that became their primary feedback loop. "For a period of time, the first thing I did after waking up every day was open the community to see what feedback users had about the product. We established an emergency response team internally" [01:05:40]

They conducted "battle meetings" every two days to address user issues, often shipping OTA software updates within 48 hours of identifying problems. This rapid response built user trust despite imperfect initial products.

Strategic "White Space" Testing Before Product Finalization

Before committing to outdoor enthusiasts as the target market, the team "brainstormed maybe 100-200 different user profiles, people from different fields... Then we did A/B testing with rendering images on various platforms like Facebook to see which user groups had the highest click-through rates" [00:34:30]

This validated that outdoor enthusiasts, content creators, and professional users (like firefighters) showed strongest interest—informing both product specs and marketing positioning.

Managing the Transition from "Scrappy" to "Systematic"

Sun Kuan describes a crucial organizational evolution: "From my perspective, actually not that much has changed. I just feel that when we encountered many obstacles and difficulties before, I didn't think it was painful—I just thought this is what I need to do... Today people are very willing to support this direction, of course, because they saw some signals" [01:58:37]

The company grew from 40 to 200+ people in a year, forcing Sun Kuan to develop management muscle. His solution: hire people who are "清爽" (straightforward/crisp) with "少年感" (youthful energy) who share the mission, not just seeking a job.

"I'm most interested in asking: how do you view the direction we're working on? The underlying drive. If they're just looking for a job, I generally feel we're probably not their only choice" [01:28:21]

The "Programmable Body" Vision as North Star

Sun Kuan articulates a compelling long-term vision that guides prioritization: "The essence of exoskeletons is making our bodies programmable—it's a layer of interface and medium between humans and the physical world. This interface has input and output, can enhance our capabilities, and can simulate experiences" [02:02:34]

This framing helps the team think beyond immediate product iterations toward a platform play—similar to how smartphones became platforms for apps, exoskeletons could become platforms for downloadable physical capabilities.

6. Overlooked Insights

The Counterintuitive Ergonomics of Load Distribution

Sun Kuan revealed a surprising principle that contradicts common assumptions: "Generally people think: isn't it better to bear weight where there's more flesh? Actually it's the opposite—the best places for long-term load-bearing are bony prominences with less muscle coverage, like the iliac crest on your lower back" [00:59:24]

This insight, borrowed from bicycle seat design, fundamentally shaped their waist belt structure. It represents the kind of cross-domain knowledge transfer that's critical in new categories but easily missed without diverse research.

The Mental Health Dimension of Reduced Mobility

Sun Kuan shared a surprisingly personal connection between existential anxiety and physical capability: "I used to have extremely strong death anxiety... I would often wake up in the middle of the night, and the instant I woke up, I'd suddenly realize that one day you might not be able to wake up again—tomorrow your self might dissipate. But after starting the company, this situation rarely happens. I think this is the feeling of living right" [00:52:56]

This wasn't just personal—during COVID isolation, he observed: "You can only stay in your room today, and people become extremely anxious and empty. My feeling is that human happiness and drive largely come from connection with the real world" [00:25:48]

This suggests exoskeletons address not just physical mobility but psychological well-being through maintaining agency and world-engagement—a deeper value proposition than "walking assistance."

The Hidden Lesson from Crowdfunding Timing

The team's crowdfunding succeeded despite extremely limited runway: "The most difficult time was probably around crowdfunding—at that time we had only 200,000 RMB in the account. There were four of us, and we actually couldn't pay that month's salary" [00:38:30]

Rather than this being merely a survival story, it reveals strategic timing: they launched crowdfunding when they had no choice but to succeed. This created the urgency that made them accept no compromises on shipping quality, even if it meant the co-founder mortgaging his house to fund continued advertising.

"We saw a lot of feedback from users saying this would be life-changing for them... Many people told us they'd dreamed of this since the 1980s after seeing it in sci-fi, and today it could actually walk into reality" [01:47:03]

The insight: sometimes resource constraints at the right moment create the conditions for breakthrough commitment.

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Conclusion

Sun Kuan represents a new archetype of Chinese founder—technically deep, aesthetically sophisticated, and philosophically grounded in human-centered rather than purely commercial goals. His journey from childhood tinkerer to exoskeleton entrepreneur illustrates how personal obsession, technical capability, and timing can converge to create category-defining companies.

HyperGait's story challenges conventional wisdom about hardware startups: they succeeded by moving slowly (18 months to first delivery), targeting a small market (hardcore hikers), and repeatedly choosing product quality over speed-to-market. In Sun Kuan's words: "Today I think the most important competitive opponent is myself. Because today the entire market, added together, seems like a lot of companies, but we know it's not that easy or large. This year the whole market's meaningful volume—90% is with us. The market isn't a zero-sum game" [01:52:07]

The company is now positioned at an inflection point—having established the consumer exoskeleton category, they face the challenge of crossing from early adopters to mainstream. Whether they succeed will depend on continued product iteration, finding key "watershed events" that drive awareness, and maintaining the clarity of purpose that got them here.