October 13, 2025 • 50 mins
A simple question changed everything: what if balance were measured like blood pressure? We sit down with founder Vincent Vu—who went from a refugee camp to launching minimalist shoes to building a clinical platform—to unpack how AI and movement data can predict fall risk, empower clinicians, and make prevention practical for everyone.
We dig into the origin story: an injury that led to Kennis Barefoot, a science-first approach to foot mechanics, and the customer signals that pointed to balance as the overlooked lever of healthy aging. Vincent explains the pivot to Kennis AI’s movement intelligence stack—BalancePro (computer vision balance assessment on an iPad) and Kennis Step (ankle-worn gait analysis)—and how a hybrid care model bridges clinic and home with actionable scores, exercises, and longitudinal insights. We explore the sobering stats around falls, why detection is too late, and how routine balance screening could shift care upstream and save billions.
The conversation stretches beyond the clinic. Vincent shares lessons from pilots in Vietnam and the U.S., the role of mentors and grants in sharpening protocols, and the discipline of letting science lead engineering. Then we widen the lens: lower-body data for sports performance, smart boots and sensor fusion for military readiness, and the promise of a human digital twin that can simulate training, forecast decline, and personalize interventions across years. Through it all runs a simple truth: mobility is the first mile of longevity, and every step is a data point we can learn from.
If you care about preventive care, healthy aging, sports performance, or the future of AI in healthcare, this story delivers both heart and hard details. Subscribe, share with a friend who trains or cares for an older adult, and leave a review with your take—should balance be the next vital sign?
Want to join a community of AI learners and enthusiasts? AI Ready RVA is leading the conversation and is rapidly rising as a hub for AI in the Richmond Region. Become a member and support our AI literacy initiatives.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome back to Inspire AI, the podcast where we
explore how innovators,entrepreneurs, and leaders are
shaping the future withartificial intelligence.
I'm your host, Jason McGenthy.
Today's episode is aboutbalanced, literally and
figuratively.
My guest, Vincent Fu, is thefounder of Kenneth AI, an
(00:22):
AI-powered platform redefiningwhat he calls balanced health.
Vincent's journey started backin 2018 with Guinness Barefoot,
a minimalist footware.
But in 2023, after years ofresearch, mentorship, he made a
bold pivot into clinicaltechnology, developing Kenneth
(00:42):
Step, a platform that can assessbalance, predict fall risk, and
help people live longer,healthier, and safer lives.
Vincent's vision doesn't stopthere.
It's working toward a futurewhere balance is considered the
next vital sign, on par withheart rate and blood pressure,
(01:04):
and even imagining a humandigital twin that could
transform health care, sportsperformance, and military
readiness.
It's a story of grit,reinvention, and purpose.
And I think you'll find it justas inspiring as I do.
So let's dive in.
Vincent, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Well, thank you, Jason.
Thank you so much for having meon the call.
I'm really excited, and it's anhonor for me to share my story
and kinda's journey with thecommunity.
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Fantastic.
Let's get started.
So can you tell us um start bybeginning, start by telling our
audience about yourself and theinspiration of bringing you here
today?
SPEAKER_01 (01:48):
Yeah, so uh thank you again.
Uh my name is Vincent Vu.
I um originally from Vietnam.
Uh I um before immigrate to theU.S., um uh, you know, I spent
six years in a refugee camp uhfrom 1990 to 1996.
Um, after the war, of course, ummy family escaped uh in the
little fishing boat, 165 of us,after days at sea, and we
(02:09):
arrived at a refugee camp.
Uh spending six years most ofthe time in a refugee camp, um,
as you can imagine, I'm I'm I'muh in around Barefoot, playing a
lot of soccer Barefoot.
In 1998, uh we immigrated to theU.S.
Uh I first moved to a small towncalled Sioux City, Iowa.
Uh, I went to high school there.
My first job, I worked for thefarm.
(02:29):
And then in 1999, we immigratedto uh we moved to Richmond.
So Richmond had been my hometownfor my entire life.
Uh went to high school, went toTucker, and went away for
college a little bit.
I studied architecture uh andthen came back to Richmond in
2008.
Uh, worked for a small localarchitecture firm here.
And um since then, yeah, thisRichmond had been my hometown.
(02:50):
And um I I I I um that's where Istart my my professional career
and also where I started the uhthe minimal issue company.
SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
Well, that's that's a beautiful start to the episode
today, sharing your yourbackstory, how you made it to
the United States and and whatyou're offering as a as an
entrepreneur to to the communityaround you.
So you you mentioned somethingthere, Barefoot, which I I think
resonates with your story.
Uh in 2018 you launched KennisBarefoot.
(03:20):
What exactly inspired you to dothat originally?
SPEAKER_01 (03:23):
Yeah, uh absolutely.
It was a um from the personalfoot injury.
So I was uh I left architecture,went and worked for a a
manufacturing company as adirector of engineering.
I travel a lot.
And most of my job is prettypromised in meeting travel and
my health was declining.
So I got into running as a wayto just kind of you know minim I
(03:45):
manage my stress.
And when I got into running, ina couple of weeks into running,
I hurt myself, I injured myself.
And then I keep going by shoeafter shoe, try different
running shoe, nothing worked.
And one day, one of my mentorsuh told me the book called Born
to Run.
So I read the book, Born to Run,which is um the author, Chris
McDougall talked about thisgroup of people in in a remote
(04:06):
region of Mexico, uh in the uhCopper Canyon, where they can
run for anywhere a longdistance, 50 plus mile with a
very thin sandal.
I read that book, really itbrought me back a lot of my
early childhood in the refugeecamp where I'm barefoot.
Here I am uh after you know morethan 10 years in the US, my feet
just crumbling, falling apart.
(04:26):
And um, and then you know, I gotto the point that I just got so
frustrated, and I that's where Idiving deep into uh
understanding human evolution.
So I went back two million yearsago when we become uh bipedo and
how we change and uhhunter-gatherer and read a lot
of books, and then next thing Iknow, I started to learn about
foot anatomies and humanbiomechanics.
(04:48):
It's just uh I went down thisrabbit hole, and and the more I
look into that and all theresearch I look at, it really
what I have learned, the factthat from my personal
experience, it really the shoethat constricts my natural foot
movement, uh, the way we look atmodern shoes.
So uh I even went and read thebook uh Shoe Dog by uh Phil
Knight, uh the founder Nike andtheir story as well, which is
(05:11):
very inspiring for me.
So, uh, long story short, I getto the point that I decided
that, you know what, I'm goingto find a solution because I
just refute the fact that I'm inmy early 30s.
I didn't want to go to seepodiatrists away, I thought I
can buy all these things.
And uh all the signs I look atand the story that I read about
these group of people in Mexico,and it's really hit home for me
(05:34):
that there's a way that we can,you know, we can readact, regain
the strength naturally againwithout going to all these uh
what you call medical devices orsolution.
So what happened during thattime?
I was um I went back to schoolto get my MBA, and I remember
during that time, one of myfirst class with design thinking
class, and I said, Well, there'san opportunity to apply this
(05:57):
concept.
I just learned how to solve thisproblem in a logical way.
And that really, um the nextthing I know, I end up starting
a shoe company, and I didn'thave any background in shoe
design, manufacturing.
Um, so I started to buy a lot ofbooks, talk to a lot of folks,
and watch a lot of YouTubevideo.
Um, and and and to be honest, itis our frustration.
(06:18):
Uh, that's how I start uh aminimalist shoe company.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
Incredible, yeah.
Frustration.
Physical and yeah, and the lackof options.
I I hear you.
Um personal anecdote here.
I I recently discovered howuseful it was to get sized for
the proper shoe before you knowthinking, hey, this this shoe
looks good on my feet.
I'm gonna use it to run like thenext 20 miles.
(06:45):
There's so much to be uh gainedfrom properly fitting the right
shoes and and getting to knowyour your your steps and and I
think your your company isoffering all of that and much,
much more.
So tell us about uh around 2023,you pivoted to Kenneth AI with
uh Kenneth's death uh focused onbalance health and fall risk
(07:09):
prediction.
So what was the turning pointthat convinced you to uh
reinvent the company around thatmission?
SPEAKER_01 (07:15):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So going back to the when westart the the shoe company, the
minimal shoe company, theKenneth's uh barefoot.
Well, we we when we start thatcompany, I really look at shoe
from through a sign lens.
So I say, hey, it's really notabout the fashion.
We I were for me at that moment,I always care less about
fashion.
I want to design a shoe thatreally promotes that natural
(07:36):
movement.
So long short, we have threeproducts on the market.
Two of our products get medicalapproval from the American
Podiatrix Association.
And one of our products calledthe Lucy, which is an everyday
walking shoe, one of ourbest-selling product ever.
We we sell that globally.
And what happened, I've keepgetting um a lot of requests
from my customers, especiallyfolks a little bit older, um,
(07:58):
say, hey, do you have any shoethat helped with my balance?
And you know, so forth and soon.
Because the the idea of balancegoing back to the idea of how
can we design shoes thatoptimize the foot natural
movement, not to get in the way,not to provide support, but
optimize.
So let the foot move naturally.
So one day at lunch, I justhappened to say, Oh, you know
what?
Let me let me spend the next 30minutes, let me dive deep into
(08:21):
this whole balance thing and seewhat's going on.
And when when I did that, whatreally eye-opening for me when I
looked at some statistics fromour CDC, which he um fought the
leading cost of death among thefolks over 65 in the U.S.
We're spending$480 billion ayear now, uh 40,000 death, um,
not chronic disease, like wethink, but you know, and and and
(08:43):
that just really uh took me bysurprise.
And then when I look at asolution in the market, this
hasn't been very um, I'll saysustainable solution.
You know, we treat fall as anafterthought, but we don't talk
about balance until somebodyexplains the fall and you go to
surgery, and then if you are, ifyou're alive, you know, some
some some people die within sixmonths.
(09:04):
And what we did was we went backand we looked at it an
opportunity, all the solutionson the market at that point,
just very reactive.
You know, it's fall detection,but detection that that means
somebody already uh hurting, youknow, injured right now on the
floor, detection not consoled.
So uh at that moment, we and youknow, at the beginning of that
moment, I'm starting to get tolearn.
Or I read a few books aboutartificial intelligence, and I
(09:26):
see there's an opportunity thatwe can use artificial
intelligence if we can captureenough data.
Is there an opportunity for thatpoint that we can predict far
risk from the happening inplace?
And when we look at all thesolutions in the market and we
look at all the technology,whether sensor technology,
whether the the software side,and that's where we decide to
pivot that we, hey, there's anopportunity that we can address
(09:48):
this problem.
I I like to call the silentproblem that no one discusses
about, but we all relate to it.
You know, I I spend a lot oftime.
So that's where we make thestrategic decision, pivot from a
minimal footwear companyleveraging, but still leveraging
all the knowledge that we gainedfor the last couple of years and
carry it on over, but do itlearn technology and do it at
(10:10):
scale.
SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
Yeah.
I'm starting to pick up on apattern in in your life and your
approach to problem solving, iswhere you identify a problem,
whether it's impacting you orloved ones, and you dive real
deep into it, try to reallyunderstand the root cause of
that, and then you you go andmake it a mission of your own to
try to figure out what what canyou do to help make a difference
(10:34):
in this area?
I I I definitely sense that.
Um it's I think one of yoursuperpowers, if I could you
know, offer that to you.
What I'd like to do now is liketalk about your pivot, because I
know pivots can be difficult forfounders.
So how do you personallynavigate the emotional and
strategic challenges of changingcourse so drastically?
SPEAKER_01 (10:56):
That's a great question.
It it was difficult by no means.
It's it's difficult for mepersonally because you know I
invest so much into the regionalcompany and to get into the
revenue stage, and then at thatpoint, um making that so there's
an economic impact to mepersonally, you know, the point.
So, but when I look at theproblem, I see that and I weigh
(11:18):
the risk.
At that point, you you you youyou're that's where you become
very pragmatic.
Say, okay, I can be comfortablewith what I have right now, but
know the fact that by doing so,I start to um I disregard the
opportunity to address somethingat scale, something bigger that
no one talks about.
What we addressing in that pointwas a very to me is a very um a
(11:40):
temporary solution.
And and that market can be quitesmall, but if we expand, uh we
can help people uh with thetechnology.
We help people where they needhelp the most.
Because they because right now,it you know, I spent a lot of
time, that's where I gotinvolved with some folks at VCU.
We did the capstone and we didthe whole customer discovery,
(12:02):
long story short, but we spent alot of time at assisted living
facility.
And every time we talk to thesefolks and we hear these stories
over and over again, and and andand the more I listen to these
stories, the more I think of mymy my own father, the more I
think of my own family, the moreI think about myself.
You know, I'm 40 right now.
Hey, by the way, I'll get 80,70, hopefully I leave it long.
(12:24):
But but it it impacts all of us.
So that is really when I look atthat and step back, to me, it's
an e no-brainer to make thatdecision, to make that point.
It was difficult, but when Ianalyze everything, it was the
right decision for us as acompany.
It was risky, but hey, we startout, we start out from nothing
in the first place anyway.
So it's a natural progressionfor us.
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
Yeah, it's spoken like a true entrepreneur,
someone who wants to make adifference in the lives of
others.
That's great.
And and I I I heard a little bitabout your story there and how
you leverage the relationshipsand especially with
organizations like VCU.
So you've had you know severalmentorships from experts like
(13:08):
Dr.
Stephen Morrison andpartnerships with universities,
like you said, VCU, GMU.
Uh so how did thoserelationships shape the
trajectory of Kenneth's AI?
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
Yeah, I think a lot of that I want to bring Startup
Virginia ecosystem into playbecause throughout Startup
Virginia, we've been a membersince 2018, Lai Hau Lab.
So these would be because theserelationships, when I start to
talk to these folks, that hey, Iwant to I want we want to pivot
the business to become atechnology, uh digital health
company.
And that's where uh with anICAP, I got reached out to um to
(13:43):
uh um uh I forgot his name, butone of the the leading AI um
professor at GMU.
At that point, I was, you know,we have this idea, but we have
we still haven't figured out thethe mechanic behind that.
So that's where I reach out anduh and and same thing with Dr.
Stephen Morrison that ODU.
Unfortunately, he passed away.
But he's really the one thatthat, you know, he's an expert,
(14:04):
fall prevention expert.
He was very um very grateful toto to meet with me and share
with me.
And we both believe in this ideathat, hey, this we can do this,
um, we can predict this thing,we can build these tools.
So um, same thing with um uhwhat the you know, we also apply
for the grant to the VirginiaInnovation Partnership that
(14:25):
believe in our our our you knowreally our our concept one to
put together.
So um at the end of the day, youknow, we wouldn't be able to do
what we do right now without theecosystem that put in play to
support us, whether that startVirginia, uh Lighthouse Lab,
Virginia, and of course thegrant, the$75,000 grant we
receive received from uh the umfrom the uh the Venice Virginia
(14:47):
Innovation Partnership.
So, and of course the mentoringfrom from Dr.
Steven and of course um uh someprofessor at at Joe Mason as
well.
SPEAKER_00 (14:56):
Yes, and it absolutely takes a village to
make great things happen.
Sounds like you're leveragingyour your network and uh and the
network of others to help youand build this this great vision
out.
So it's really inspiring.
Thank you for sharing.
So for other entrepreneurslistening, what what advice
would you give on how toleverage academic partnerships
(15:18):
and grants like BIPC,Commonwealth Commercialization
Fund, or NIH, SBIR or real worldinnovation?
SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
Yeah, I think I think the only thing that I only
ask um entrepreneur or someonewho wants to um to uh get into
display, uh all you have to dois, you know, of course, I
always start with identify theproblem, you know, come up with
the you know, spend your time,do your homework, do your market
research, do your customerdiscovery, because what what you
want to do, you want to come tothe table, at least you have a
(15:49):
one thing you need to get down,you need to solidify your
problem.
Your solution is only as good.
And when I teach, you know, Iteach as well, when I always
talk to my student that yoursolution is only as good as the
problem.
Okay, so so for me, is that'swhy I spent a lot a lot of time
understanding the problembecause to be sure to be honest
with you, before Kenneth'sBarefoot, I had three other
(16:10):
startups and they all fail.
And when I look back at these,the reason why I fail, because
again, there's zero productmarket fit.
I jump into the solution.
When I jumped into the solution,I didn't spend enough time
understanding the pain point,the problem.
So I learned from that threemistakes because I made not one,
but three same mistakes over andover again.
So that's why I'm very adamantabout understanding a problem
(16:33):
better.
You gotta know your problem.
You need to know your customer,you gotta know your your market,
you gotta know your uh yourcompetition and and understand
that.
So for me, uh my advisorentrepreneur, it's okay.
You don't know what you don'tknow, but you have to come to
the table, present.
At least you gotta present yoursolution.
Might not have all the the uhthe the resolution or the the
(16:55):
detail they got.
That's okay, but at least youcome with a solid problem
statement.
Say, this is what the problem,and this is the current
solution, this is what the thepain point, this is what the
market's saying, and and it hasan opportunity for us to look at
this and and come up withsomething, uh a better solution
to offer a better value.
So um reach out.
(17:15):
People, like I say, people frommy personal experience, I have
been very grateful for all thefolks that who helped me over
the year.
Um, the only thing you're notgonna get help unless you reach
out.
It's okay.
You don't have to knoweverything.
That's why these experts willguide you.
You help you to refine aproblem.
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
Yeah.
Yeah, you mentioned designthinking and uh problem
refinement, which goes reallywell with one of the podcast
episodes I recently published onproblem finding and
communicating uh the issues athand.
And it's it's really, you know,just a side note, it's about
like AI helping us to buildcontent and be creators and
(17:58):
essentially like you can do allof that, but it it really would
benefit like the use case todefine the problem really well
first, like you're saying, andcreate a proper mission around
that problem so that you're notjust endlessly creating new
content for no reason and uhsolving problems that don't
really exist in people's lives.
(18:20):
Um sounds to me like you have areally good foundation of
identifying problems and uh andresearching and and getting uh
getting to the you know the thedetails that matter.
And I think that's uh that'sprobably one of the best
foundational starting pointsbefore you go and dig into
trying to solve for thesethings.
That's great.
(18:40):
Thank you for sharing.
Um so you've described yourmission as making balance health
the next vital sign.
Can you break down what thatmeans and why balance is such an
overlooked aspect of the humanhealth?
SPEAKER_01 (18:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, uh as goal going back tothe statistic I shared earlier,
you know, falling.
Yeah, well well, when you lookat fall, there are multiple
reasons why.
And when I talk to Dr.
Steve Borson, we identify uhbalance deficiency is is one of
the the key factor.
And of course, we can look atgait.
When we look at balance, we lookat gait.
But for the most part, um we allknow someone, whether with one
(19:19):
family or intimate in a orsomeone that or whether have an
uh an older person that fallsand and whether that injure or
pass away.
Well, a lot of that, what we'resaying that, well, we don't
treat balance as something thatwe we the lonely time, the
problem what I'm seeing rightnow, the way the our system
works at the moment, we treatbalance an afterthought.
(19:40):
We only treat balance, let's saysomebody older have some balance
mobility problem for whether ahip fracture or whatever that
may be.
You go to surgery and then yougo to to back your PT, and
that's where your PT evaluesbalance.
Well, to me, that's a littlebackward the way we'd look at
it.
So what we're saying is that ifwe are checking your blood
(20:00):
pressure, your glucose level atthe vital sign, but well, guess
what?
Balance deficiency willultimately will lead to the
fall, will kill you as just likeany other thing.
So, so, but we don't talk aboutthat because the way we look at
it is a very fragmented approachsolution.
And what we want to do is wewant to take, hey, what if, what
(20:22):
if we we position balance as thenext vital sign by by taking it
as a pre-screening tool?
That's what we want to positionis like, hey, now the next time
you go to a primary care doctor,well, you don't have to wait
until you fall and go to PT gothe traditional round up.
Now we want to make to abalance, access balance, um,
checking your balance is easy asthe next vital sign because it
(20:43):
is important for us to do so.
And um because right now no onetalks about it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:50):
Yeah, yeah, it does sound fragmented.
So tell tell us a little bitabout how your platform, Kenneth
Step and Balance Pro, turneveryday movement into
measurable, actionable insightsfor clinicians and patients.
SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
So what we are saying that, hey,Kenneth at Kenneth said heart of
us, we are not an AI company.
We we are a movement intelligentcompany.
And how what do I mean by that?
So so there are two differentways we look at it.
AI is a tool, it's part of partof part of our toolbox.
Yeah.
So for us, we believe in thiswhole idea of the hybrid care
model.
So where we bring the we bridgethe clinician, the patient,
(21:26):
where we provide the data, weempower the clinician, in this
case, it could be the doctor, itcould be the PT, it could be the
LT, with the right datainformation.
And that information alsoprovides the patient the 10th
time.
So the clinician right now haveto make the decision with the
right information, most updateinformation, to develop a
comprehensive solution for thepatient.
(21:47):
So the way the platform worksthat we have, we build uh
software and hardware stack.
So the first product, what we wetalked, when you mentioned the
balance pro.
A Balant Pro is a um a computervision technology that we deploy
to the iPad.
That's all we need.
Anywhere you have an access tocamera, there's another iPad,
you can use an iPhone as well.
So we deploy to the clinicwithin five minutes.
(22:09):
We give you a comprehensivebalance assessment.
We broke the body out to 17different key points.
That next time you go to aprimary care doctor, which we're
currently in pilot right now,three live pilots happening, one
in Vietnam and two in the US,two here locally.
Primary care doctor, theclinician will deploy our
technologies.
Within that, we give you abalance assessment, we give you
(22:32):
a comprehensive score, and thenwe can tell you what the unique
about our platform that we havethis whole library exercise that
we can prescribe to you.
And then when you go home, youcan lock on your patient portal.
So, really, we we really what wewant to do, we bridge the band
the clinic and home.
That is the balance pro.
The balance step, the balancepro give you a balance score.
(22:53):
And then, of course, thebalance, the kidney step is
another piece of technicalhardware that again we can buy
software hardware.
As a piece of hardware you wearat your angle, you walk for a
hundred steps.
We can we collect enough datathat we can give you a gate
analysis.
So we can measure so you have agate score.
We give we know exactly how youwalk, we look for the
abnormality, we compare your agroup.
So that's really we build reallycomprehensive in terms of you
(23:17):
know, um, your uh we like tocall movement score.
We combine bound score and gatescore, give you move score, a
very comprehensive understandingof your biomechanics.
SPEAKER_00 (23:27):
Yeah, so a hardware and a software stack that
empowers people to make betterdecisions about their their
health, right?
In general.
That makes a lot of sense.
Um you mentioned pilotingKenneth's AI in both the US and
in Vietnam.
Um just curious, can you can youtell us some differences that
you've noticed about adoptionand uh what what do those pilots
(23:50):
teach you about scalingglobally?
SPEAKER_01 (23:52):
Yeah, so let's talk about that.
So we start out with Vietnammarket first, and to be honest,
we do have a team based inVietnam there, all our signed
team.
So we have a signed team, wehave an engineer team, a product
team.
Our signed team is we have aright now a four-doctor US base
here in the US, and we do have aproduct and an engineer team
based in Vietnam.
So Pilot Vietnam, why Vietnam?
Because that's where uh, ofcourse, our engineer team there,
(24:14):
we built the products.
Um, and we found a clinic, whichis one of the most innovative
clinic in the country.
The reason at the beginning wewas we what we were using that
clinic to kind of as a quick wayfor us to test the products.
And then when we found theclinic, we have learned that,
hey, Vietnam market, uh physicaltheory market is fairly new.
The Vietnam uh, and for the mostpart, and we when we look at the
(24:37):
population, there's 100 millionpeople in Vietnam right now,
there are 15 million right nowthat need uh access to this kind
of service, which they don'thave access to.
Because in Vietnam, uh rightnow, the current, we look at the
current solution, you haveprivate clinic, which is very
expensive, you have to go, andthen you have the hospital,
which is state-owned hospital,which is under um developed in
the moment.
So we have the big gap in themiddle, uh, the middle market
(24:59):
not being served.
And we say, hey, there's anopportunity for us to bring this
U.S.
you know, great quality umscience with the technology to
serve the middle market.
So we deploy that.
Uh that's why we decided to goahead and pilot in Vietnam
first.
And based on uh the feedback,the adoption rate, uh, we have
been very, very successful.
And the one beautiful thing whenit comes to you build these
(25:22):
products, which is what we'retrying to do right now is
something kind of differentbecause you when you look at our
competition, it's people doinglike more like fragmented when
we do more comprehensive.
So by working clinics that havea closed feedback loop that
allows to speed up thedevelopment.
So we build a product, we test aclinic, we get feedback from the
clinician, we get feedback fromthe patient.
(25:44):
So that's that's that's goingwell.
So overall, the adoption rate,the big challenge for us since
Vietnam is a developed country,low income now, it's trying to
get into the middle incomeeconomy.
The the the the patient or thecustomer, the big challenge for
us is to education.
We have to educate why thephysical therapy, because that
for them, most of them, uhphysical therapy is like
(26:06):
traditional um Asian masay orsome sort of medicine,
something.
So that's a big adoption, thebig hurdle that we have to spend
a lot of time educate the publicfrom that perspective.
Now, you ship back to the US, wepartner.
So what we learn in Vietnam, uh,we back basically uh allow us to
speed up the development uh ofthe software and the hardware,
(26:28):
and then by the time we get tothe US, um which we are
officially kick up one uh twopilot right now, uh make the
process a lot easier because umit takes a lot of work um to do
to have an official clinicalpilot here in the US.
So um think about Vietnam islike a pre-market, pre-pilot.
We like where we fine-tune theproduct product, and then when
(26:49):
we get to the US, we are in amuch better shape in terms of
you know, make sure we areclinically um uh we have all the
steps, the protocol in play,make sure that we are built
according to AWF, HIPAAcompliance, so forth and so on.
SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
Yeah, yeah, I was thinking the regulatory
advantages of learning from yourapproach in Vietnam and bringing
those lessons back to the USmakes a lot of sense.
Um and and you sound extremelyfocused, and your roadmap is
super ambitious.
You've got clinicalapplications, sports
performance, and even militaryreadiness.
(27:24):
So, how do you decide where tofocus without losing momentum?
SPEAKER_01 (27:29):
Yeah, that that's that's that's something I I I'm
I batter with every day.
But at the end of the day, forus, what we have designed app,
you know, I think um we didn'twant to be just another platform
uh uh wellness app that givesgeneric information.
There's a lot of that on themarket already.
What we position now sell thatwe want to be clinical, giving
(27:49):
clinical uh data.
So for us, um in order to, youknow, you let talk about
roadmap, you know, uh gettingsupport and performance,
getting, you know, of course,the human digital twin and the
military application, we cannotachieve any of that if we are
not successful on the clinicalphase one first.
Because to us, we still validatethe technology.
(28:10):
That's why we do these pilotprograms, so we can show up do
case studies so we can showeffectiveness.
And along the way, there's a lotwe still have to figure out, and
we can't figure out everythingon our own.
So that means we have toleverage the doctor, the
clinician, every, and thepatient.
So that is what we have to say.
We in order, yes, it's good tobe ambitious.
It's good that that's why Ispend 10% of my time thinking
(28:32):
about the future application,whether in the in the military
application, how we're gonnaempower the soldier on the
ground to make sure that he weoptimize his movement, uh, how
we're gonna empower the nextathlete to um reduce the his
injury, optimize theperformance.
But those are great things, butwe can't get there unless we are
we are successful on theclinical phase.
(28:54):
That's why as I think about thestep-by-step process, I I want
to be very focused on do onething well before we can try to
do too many other things.
SPEAKER_00 (29:04):
Yeah, yeah.
I think about my lack ofknowledge here is obvious, but
military boots, right?
How they how soldiers have tomarch in these boots and how
uncomfortable that must feel uhto be marching for miles and
miles on end.
And because I've been running mywhole life and I know how
important it is to find theright pair of shoes, I really
(29:26):
hope that you know, if if themilitary um grade boots haven't
come a long way that you offerthem something um that they can
really leverage and and I justimagine how uncomfortable those
things are and how I would beimpacted if I had to march
around in those things, that'sfor sure.
SPEAKER_01 (29:43):
So yeah, may I share a little bit on like this?
I want to spend about 30seconds, expand on that a little
bit, the military application.
Yeah, you're right.
A lot of these, they boot aheavy, a lot of soldiers, but I
think for us, uh there are morethat we envision, imagine that
you go into in a battlefield.
Environment that we can havesensor, that we can sense the
environment, we can sense yourheart rate, we can have live
(30:06):
veto haptic to your that wideand that can measure your heart
rate, how you perform, and wecan guide you if you should
think the left to the right.
We can have lighter.
Think of imagine we have LIDAbuilt into the boot.
So think about these smartshoes.
So there's a lot moreapplication than beyond just you
know making the boot lessheavier.
And we can measure your stress,we can measure heart rate, we
(30:27):
can tell you how you perform inthat environment.
Imagine we have a command centerthat these feedback go back to
these command centers, so we cansee tactical how the soldier
operates in certainenvironments.
So there are more applicationsthat we can bring to that
because there's so much, becauseat the end of it, you and the
you're facing the enemy, you'rein an environment that you're
not sure you navigate.
(30:48):
So there's a lot ofdecision-making process
happening.
Every single step counts.
So there's a lot moreinformation that we can collect
and feed to the command center,and we can evaluate how you
perform in that environment.
So think about so there's a lotmore obligation that we, you
know, that's something to exciteme.
If I if we something that wecan, if for us as a company,
(31:09):
eventually we we we want to workwith the DOD, that we can
develop a technology, whetherhardware or software, that we
can empower the soldier at thatenvironment, if we can that kind
of whether that safe life or inany kind of rescue mission as
well.
So there's a lot more that wewant to expand into.
SPEAKER_00 (31:27):
That's beautiful.
Uh tell me a little bit aboutyour sports performance uh
vision there, because you knowit's a it's very inspiring to
hear how you can help withsoldiers and and their missions,
but um, I feel like there'sthere's a lot of optimization
around sports performance thatwould be just absolute gold to
the industry.
(31:47):
I'm just curious what what yourvision is there.
SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
Yeah, I mean, for for me and an athlete, so I
compete in Spartan Race and anathlete, there's two things you
always have to, you always haveto make the decision.
Um, optimizing, because as anathlete, you're always
optimizing.
Okay.
And at the same time, you riskinjure yourself.
So you only have to make thedecision.
So for us, is how can't wecollect enough data that we can
(32:10):
help you optimize to achievewhat XYZ, because we know that
performance perspective.
But at the same time, it'sequally important.
How can we, as you optimize thething, we have to balance out
the risk factor.
So think about you, your now weknow your your running gate,
your distance, your heart rate.
We take everything inconsideration.
So what we envision is that ifyou have an ambo watch, a
(32:33):
fitbit, you have a lot of upperbody analytical rate.
We can tie that into our lowerbody of biomechanic data.
And now what we can do, we canlook the whole body of
biometrics.
Because right now, we know a lotabout the upper, a lot of
athlete injury actually lowerbody injury.
A lot of injury is lower body.
So, but lower body, if you lookat on the market, you look at
(32:54):
all the wearable devices, theonly thing you get for the most
part, your step, your distance,your calorie.
But other than that, a lot ofit's still black box.
SPEAKER_00 (33:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:03):
And we want to be able, what what with our
technology when it comes to thebalance pro, kidney step, we
eventually for the we willlaunch a sport and performance
division, the kidney's pro.
Uh, because and that's where wecan start to really give you a
uh a very comprehensiveunderstanding about your low
body bomb mechanic.
By giving you that, we can knowwhat sport you play, we know
(33:25):
what type, you know, is itbalanced.
I'll give you an example, golf.
If you play golf, balance isextremely important when to
golf.
And we can tell you that.
We can tell exactly what foot,what angle you need to focus on.
How are you gonna optimize that?
So yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
Yeah, any any breakthroughs in the near future
on how to optimize for uh shinsplint prevention?
SPEAKER_01 (33:49):
Sorry.
Um, a lot of that you don't needthat, it's just running
mechanics.
SPEAKER_00 (33:53):
Yeah, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
Running mechanics.
I mean, we can help, but I thinka lot of that, let's say the
human body is an incrediblemachine.
I look at it as an incrediblemachine piece of engineering
that took two million years ofevolution.
So it's sometimes what we whatwhat I find, including myself,
that a lot of, you know, we wewe have a lot of product in the
markets, a lot of that throughclever marketing.
(34:16):
But if you literally break downthe science, human, we have been
running for mile and mile.
We are persistent hunter, wedidn't have shoe, we didn't have
all that stuff that we we callnowadays that you can buy off on
the market, but it'sunderstanding, using the body
naturally, understand yourbiomechanics.
SPEAKER_00 (34:34):
Got it.
Well, speaking of understanding,you mentioned this before, the
human digital twin sounds prettyfascinating.
So, what possibilities does thatunlock for predicting,
preventing, and optimizing ourperformance?
SPEAKER_01 (34:48):
Well, thank you for talking about, you know, you
know, for me, um, as I, youknow, try to focus on everything
we do and on a daily basis, on aweekly or monthly basis, um,
these are the moonshot projects.
You know, I'm gonna call itmoonshot project, but I think,
but I believe that the futurewe're heading to.
Because what we we we envision,especially in the healthcare
space, um, the way we do rightnow, we we diagnose, we then the
(35:12):
doctor um will have will look atdifferent options, different
treatment to figure out theright treatment for you.
I'll give you an example.
You have a, let's say, for me,if I have cancer and the doctor
do a biopsy and all that stuffand say, they will test
different drug to see how mybody will react to that.
So, and and whenever you dothat, that puts a lot of stress
on the body for the patient.
And it's also costly.
(35:32):
So we there's a still, so whatwe hope to do, we say, what if?
Because the human bodies, and Italked a little bit about
biointelligent.
We should human body, the humanbody give out signal.
But what we need to do is figureout how to capture these data,
turn them to data so we can turninto something that can be
useful for us.
(35:53):
So the whole idea of the humandigital project that let's say
you already have a lot ofanalytical data from your
wearable devices, whether fromyour wrist, from your ring, from
your band, and then you have ourtechnology at the bottom.
Now, if we can collect all ofdata over this period of time,
then what we what I would allowus to do, and of course, you
(36:14):
have we collect your nutrition,your daily activity, your
health, you know, yourbackground about your overall
health, and what we should beable to do, build a digital
version of Jason.
So now Jason says, hey, Vincent,you know, I want to do this 20,
you know, Richmond marathon andsay, Jason, what we have all
your heart rate data, we haveall your biomechanics data over
(36:35):
the last how many months or orweeks, we will build, let's, and
we know the terrain that you'regonna run, we know the
environment, we know everything,that given data, and we're gonna
let your digital version run tosee and what what happened is we
want to be able to pinpointwhere the deficiency at that
point.
And when when that allows us toidentify, say, so Jason,
(36:57):
instead, for you kind of focuson general idea training, we can
pinpoint exactly where you canfork your training.
Law for speaking, what we loveto do is if we can take, let's
say, if somebody over 50, and ifand we will build a digital
version of this person, we canproject out five years, 10
years, 20 years from now, theprogression.
(37:18):
Whether the body is just humannature, it's just sign that the
body degray over time.
So, but we can project that outbased and based on what we know
about you, based on your currentactivity, based on your
nutrition, based on yourmovement pattern, we can predict
that.
So that is really the at thispoint, a broader view of what we
believe the human digital twinwould allow it to do.
SPEAKER_00 (37:41):
Yeah.
Wow, that's that's incredible.
If I had a goal of one dayrunning in a half or a full
marathon, I could leverage mydigital twin to help me optimize
my performance and my workoutprogram and based on all of the
data that it has on me.
That would be really incredible.
And then just being able to kindof map out what the future of
(38:04):
my, I want to say my balanceprogram, if you will, like
everything that that wouldmatter to me in the next 20
years based on the data whereI'm projected to be, and make
informed decisions about how Iwant to continue doing what I'm
doing today or changing what I'mdoing today so that I can have a
better outcome in the next 20years, that would be incredible.
(38:26):
That would be absolutelyincredible.
And t tell us a little bit aboutyour work with the Balance
Health Academy, where you'reembedding your work into
science.
How do you how do you balancethe need for rigorous clinical
validation and with the speedexpected from a startup?
SPEAKER_01 (38:43):
Yeah, that is actually really critical to us
as a company.
Um, what we want to do if we'regonna tell somebody about their
balance, their movement, andthen and how we can help them to
optimize their movement soprevious to prevent some of the
um the outcome which you falland and enjoy later on.
Um so we want to, every layer ofour technology stack, we embed
(39:06):
sign to that.
So we have that's why we have asign team.
So the way we did you makedecisions as a company, um,
because to me that's that'simportant that that you know
it's going back to the the theoriginal the you know, since we
start uh kennis barefoot as acompany is look at we look at
you from the sign perspective.
So so that has been rooted deepinto uh our DNA.
(39:28):
One we identify the problem,okay, and then and then we
always start with the sign teamand the first team evaluate
that.
And then uh, is it a problem?
Is it scientifically?
Have we looked at it from theside?
Are there any research back thatup?
And then the next thing we startto look at uh you know solution,
and the scientist will be theteam that decides on the
(39:48):
solution because we want to makesure that when we put out the
product, it's going through thisrigorous step-by-step process.
So somebody, when when we tell apatient, whether a patient,
whether a clinician that we havethe tool, we want to make sure
that we have do everythinghumanly possible from our end,
whether from the technologystandpoint, uh from the data
privacy perspective, whetherfrom the scientific perspective,
(40:11):
we have done everything that wecan to ensure that we deliver
the best product that we candeliver to our customers.
So it is critical.
Um, our science team once we'llgo back to the workflow for us.
The science team wants with theprotocol, we've developed the
solution, and that's where theengineer will come back on the
back end.
So the sign team have the a lotof uh the veto uh veto right.
(40:33):
And of course, there's alwayscohesiveness between sign and
engineer.
We all get in the room togetherbefore we actually co a single
line.
SPEAKER_00 (40:42):
Awesome.
And I know that the Richmondstartup ecosystem has really
fueled your journey there.
So what has the local communitygiven you exactly?
And and how do you see yourselfgiving back as a founder?
SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
A lot.
Well, the local community givingme a lot.
So I mentioned uh Start Virginiais a great ecosystem.
We've been a member since 2018.
Um, and then you have LighthouseLap, again, a lot of mentors.
Um, we got here today, you know.
I say the reason I were able tokind of connect with my mentor,
to my mentor, unfortunately,pass away, which he does make
the project even more personalfor me.
(41:18):
Um, you know, Steve and theother one, uh Cox is one of my
long-term uh mentors who passedaway as well.
So we, for me personally, that Iwant to dedicate this project to
their legacy.
Well, they believe in me.
Um, so um, so Virginia LihauLaugh, Virginia Innovation
Partners Partnership, uh, theICAP program.
So, yeah, these are um these aregreat organizations.
(41:40):
That's that's why, you know, I Ialways thank for their support,
um, the grant, of course, uh,and of course, access to all the
mentors.
So for me to get in back is andI share with everybody, you
know, um I'm open, you know, youreach out to me on LinkedIn, I'm
happy to share with you anytime.
Um, but all I ask you that, youknow, you are you want to make
(42:01):
sure that you do your homeworkuh before you come and spend
time with me because I want tomake sure that whether I'm
spending you 30 minutes or anhour, uh, we walk away something
that inspires you to take thenext action.
So um uh I will I will continuemy mental legacy by sharing what
I have learned over the years.
SPEAKER_00 (42:18):
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Always try to pay it forward.
That's that's that's a greatthing.
So for innovators in inchallenging tech industries and
health tech specifically, wherethere are many risks high and
and timelines are long.
So what's the what's the mindsetrequired to stay resilient?
SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
Well, you at the end of the day, you you have to have
a purpose.
You know, your why.
You know, we start with a why.
Your why have to be bigger thanyour problem, because problem
will come every single day.
You have I have more setbackthan you can imagine.
But at the end of the day, ifyour why, you have a strong
purpose while you're doing it,and and I I learned this over
the year.
Don't do it because you youthink uh startup is something
(43:03):
that's glamorous, that youyou've been portraying me that
it's a long journey.
I have been in Barkney's yearsfor the last eight years.
I have committed myself, and tome, um that's something that I'm
passionate about because I thinkabout the the impact that we'll
deliver to the people we'rehelping.
To me, that's that's keep thatkeep me get up every day.
And um, it's a journey.
You have to enjoy that.
(43:24):
You have to live it.
You have to live to the themoment that you feel like, why
am I doing it?
You pull your hair out, you stayup one or two o'clock in the
morning, you have to be willingto give up a lot of things.
You have to be willing tohumility.
People misunderstood, noteverybody will get you, but
that's okay.
But that's why you need to findyourself as some great mentor.
(43:44):
You have to have your you'llhave um, you have to be able to
really truly love what you dobecause it's gonna be very
difficult.
And lastly, um, you know, Istart shoe business not knowing
anything about shoe.
I start a digital healthcompany, not knowing anything
about health or health tech ortechnology or sensor, but I can
learn.
Stay curious, learning.
(44:05):
Stop, you know, I read so manybooks about uh sensor hardware.
Uh, I went and talked to a lotof people.
You don't need to be an expert.
Sometimes to me, inexperience isthe best thing that can happen
to you.
Not knowing is the best thingcan happen to you, but you have
to uh know uh at the end of theday that um you have to
persevere, uh persistent,patient, uh, and purpose.
(44:28):
Those are the things that that Ihighly recommend you should
consider before you think aboutenter any kind of uh industry if
you want to make somethinginnovative.
SPEAKER_00 (44:38):
Yeah, yeah.
I love uh knowing your why, andthat's gonna be what gets you
out of bed in the morning andkeeps you moving.
And not knowing everything andjust being able to bring the
bring the experts in the roomwith you to answer the
questions.
I think that's that's reallypowerful stuff.
And you all you often speakabout mobility and wellness
across the human lifespan.
(45:00):
How does that perspective uhinfluence the way that you lead
your company and your personalvision of longevity?
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Yeah, mobility has always been important to me.
Um going back to, you know, Ithink after I enjoy myself, and
the next thing I know, I starteda shoe company.
In 2022, I end up running a uh abarefoot marathon.
Not because I wanted to.
Uh for me, there's two thingsthat happened there.
I ran a barefoot marathon, tookme six and a half hours.
I ran a marathon because I wastrying to raise money for the
(45:29):
Afghan refugee, being a refugeemyself.
Um, it resonated.
It it to me, it it there's twothings I want to raise money,
and the other thing I want toprove that the human body is an
amazing machine.
I couldn't run two milesindoors, and after I make the
transition, here I am uh at age39.
Um, who knows then then I am endup running uh the the barefoot
(45:51):
marathon.
So mobility is important.
We talk about, you know, I wasout in in uh San Francisco
pitching uh to a group of VC ona longevity market.
You know, longevity is a bigthing nowadays, longevity,
wellness, health span.
But when you look at longevityover in in and we need to define
how do we define that?
Well, you can't have longevityor wellness or health span if
(46:14):
you don't have mobility.
Think about it.
We we take our mobility forgranted, but until you don't
have it, that changed your lifedrastically.
So mobility to to me, that'sthat's to me the first of the
thing, and and something that weneed to um we need to take time
and then take care of ourability to move, which is
starting to balance your gait.
So so we can enjoy, we can doactivity.
(46:34):
You can go out, play soccer withyour kid, um, you can go for a
long hike.
That's that to me that'simportant.
SPEAKER_00 (46:41):
All of that makes so much sense.
Uh so let's let's fast forward10 years from now.
What does success for Kennis AIlook like?
Not just for you, but yourpatients, communities, and the
society at large.
SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Absolutely.
Um, what we envision the futurewhere um you know I talk about a
lot, you know, mobility is thebeginning, but what we're
looking about is preventivecare.
What we want to do, preventivecare should be accessible, uh
uh, should be accessible from uhto me, it's it should be um a
human right to do that becauseright now um preventive care in
in general uh is still a very uhit's only a very selective group
(47:19):
of people.
There's over 8 billion people onthis planet that we're sharing,
we call home.
But preventive care doesn'tapply, it's only applied to a
small group of us.
So what we envision successmeans that we will leverage
technologies and and um andbuild an ecosystem where we
want, you know, think about uh,you know, the this new idea, a
digital hospital that focuses onpreventive health.
(47:42):
That's what success means to us.
That means we have a globaldigital hospital that we want to
make prevent and get access toeveryone and anyone.
And that means we can buildtechnology with hardware and
software.
Um, the idea of going to atraditional hospital model, I
think there's an opportunitythat we there's a lot of
deficiency for that and alsocreates a lot of limited access
(48:02):
to a lot of folks.
Imagine that we have a digitalhospital, for the first digital
hospital that we can makeaccess, that we can have
technology and it's gonna beboth software and hardware.
We make preventive careaccessible for everyone who
wants to have that.
SPEAKER_00 (48:16):
And that is the future.
SPEAKER_01 (48:18):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (48:18):
Yes.
I see it.
I'm with you.
And I wish you the best of luckmaking that that future uh
happen for everyone.
But Vincent, I want to thankyou.
Your story is a reminder thatinnovation often comes from
reimagining the overlook andturning it into something
transformative.
(48:40):
So what what stood out to for metoday was that's the kind of
ambitious vision the world needsmore of.
So thank you.
And for our listeners, I hopetoday's conversation sparks a
new perspective on what healthmovement and innovation can mean
in the age of AI.
So until next time, I'm JasonMcGenthy reminding you to stay
(49:03):
curious, keep innovating, andalways look for ways of the
future proof of your knowledge.
SPEAKER_01 (49:10):
Yeah, I I just want to say thank you.
I and and always say I I reallyresonate when you say stay
curious.
Curiosity, that's what makes ithuman.
Yes, stay curious.
And just you gotta start fromsomewhere.
Now now is the time.
SPEAKER_00 (49:25):
Start start from what is your why and tracking
the right problem.
Yeah, that's correct.
Well, I learned a lot from youtoday, so thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01 (49:34):
Thank you, James.
SPEAKER_00 (49:35):
I know our audience is gonna really enjoy this one.
SPEAKER_01 (49:38):
Thank you so much for for giving me the
opportunity to share um, youknow, my personal story and and
also kinda story and how we'regonna uh inspire uh the next
generation of entrepreneurs andalso the the people that uh the
lives that we're gonna impactwith our technologies.
Welcome back to Inspire AI, the podcast where we
explore how innovators,entrepreneurs, and leaders are
shaping the future withartificial intelligence.
I'm your host, Jason McGenthy.
Today's episode is aboutbalanced, literally and
figuratively.
My guest, Vincent Fu, is thefounder of Kenneth AI, an
(00:22):
AI-powered platform redefiningwhat he calls balanced health.
Vincent's journey started backin 2018 with Guinness Barefoot,
a minimalist footware.
But in 2023, after years ofresearch, mentorship, he made a
bold pivot into clinicaltechnology, developing Kenneth
(00:42):
Step, a platform that can assessbalance, predict fall risk, and
help people live longer,healthier, and safer lives.
Vincent's vision doesn't stopthere.
It's working toward a futurewhere balance is considered the
next vital sign, on par withheart rate and blood pressure,
(01:04):
and even imagining a humandigital twin that could
transform health care, sportsperformance, and military
readiness.
It's a story of grit,reinvention, and purpose.
And I think you'll find it justas inspiring as I do.
So let's dive in.
Vincent, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
Well, thank you, Jason.
Thank you so much for having meon the call.
I'm really excited, and it's anhonor for me to share my story
and kinda's journey with thecommunity.
SPEAKER_00 (01:36):
Fantastic.
Let's get started.
So can you tell us um start bybeginning, start by telling our
audience about yourself and theinspiration of bringing you here
today?
SPEAKER_01 (01:48):
Yeah, so uh thank you again.
Uh my name is Vincent Vu.
I um originally from Vietnam.
Uh I um before immigrate to theU.S., um uh, you know, I spent
six years in a refugee camp uhfrom 1990 to 1996.
Um, after the war, of course, ummy family escaped uh in the
little fishing boat, 165 of us,after days at sea, and we
(02:09):
arrived at a refugee camp.
Uh spending six years most ofthe time in a refugee camp, um,
as you can imagine, I'm I'm I'muh in around Barefoot, playing a
lot of soccer Barefoot.
In 1998, uh we immigrated to theU.S.
Uh I first moved to a small towncalled Sioux City, Iowa.
Uh, I went to high school there.
My first job, I worked for thefarm.
(02:29):
And then in 1999, we immigratedto uh we moved to Richmond.
So Richmond had been my hometownfor my entire life.
Uh went to high school, went toTucker, and went away for
college a little bit.
I studied architecture uh andthen came back to Richmond in
2008.
Uh, worked for a small localarchitecture firm here.
And um since then, yeah, thisRichmond had been my hometown.
(02:50):
And um I I I I um that's where Istart my my professional career
and also where I started the uhthe minimal issue company.
SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
Well, that's that's a beautiful start to the episode
today, sharing your yourbackstory, how you made it to
the United States and and whatyou're offering as a as an
entrepreneur to to the communityaround you.
So you you mentioned somethingthere, Barefoot, which I I think
resonates with your story.
Uh in 2018 you launched KennisBarefoot.
(03:20):
What exactly inspired you to dothat originally?
SPEAKER_01 (03:23):
Yeah, uh absolutely.
It was a um from the personalfoot injury.
So I was uh I left architecture,went and worked for a a
manufacturing company as adirector of engineering.
I travel a lot.
And most of my job is prettypromised in meeting travel and
my health was declining.
So I got into running as a wayto just kind of you know minim I
(03:45):
manage my stress.
And when I got into running, ina couple of weeks into running,
I hurt myself, I injured myself.
And then I keep going by shoeafter shoe, try different
running shoe, nothing worked.
And one day, one of my mentorsuh told me the book called Born
to Run.
So I read the book, Born to Run,which is um the author, Chris
McDougall talked about thisgroup of people in in a remote
(04:06):
region of Mexico, uh in the uhCopper Canyon, where they can
run for anywhere a longdistance, 50 plus mile with a
very thin sandal.
I read that book, really itbrought me back a lot of my
early childhood in the refugeecamp where I'm barefoot.
Here I am uh after you know morethan 10 years in the US, my feet
just crumbling, falling apart.
(04:26):
And um, and then you know, I gotto the point that I just got so
frustrated, and I that's where Idiving deep into uh
understanding human evolution.
So I went back two million yearsago when we become uh bipedo and
how we change and uhhunter-gatherer and read a lot
of books, and then next thing Iknow, I started to learn about
foot anatomies and humanbiomechanics.
(04:48):
It's just uh I went down thisrabbit hole, and and the more I
look into that and all theresearch I look at, it really
what I have learned, the factthat from my personal
experience, it really the shoethat constricts my natural foot
movement, uh, the way we look atmodern shoes.
So uh I even went and read thebook uh Shoe Dog by uh Phil
Knight, uh the founder Nike andtheir story as well, which is
(05:11):
very inspiring for me.
So, uh, long story short, I getto the point that I decided
that, you know what, I'm goingto find a solution because I
just refute the fact that I'm inmy early 30s.
I didn't want to go to seepodiatrists away, I thought I
can buy all these things.
And uh all the signs I look atand the story that I read about
these group of people in Mexico,and it's really hit home for me
(05:34):
that there's a way that we can,you know, we can readact, regain
the strength naturally againwithout going to all these uh
what you call medical devices orsolution.
So what happened during thattime?
I was um I went back to schoolto get my MBA, and I remember
during that time, one of myfirst class with design thinking
class, and I said, Well, there'san opportunity to apply this
(05:57):
concept.
I just learned how to solve thisproblem in a logical way.
And that really, um the nextthing I know, I end up starting
a shoe company, and I didn'thave any background in shoe
design, manufacturing.
Um, so I started to buy a lot ofbooks, talk to a lot of folks,
and watch a lot of YouTubevideo.
Um, and and and to be honest, itis our frustration.
(06:18):
Uh, that's how I start uh aminimalist shoe company.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
Incredible, yeah.
Frustration.
Physical and yeah, and the lackof options.
I I hear you.
Um personal anecdote here.
I I recently discovered howuseful it was to get sized for
the proper shoe before you knowthinking, hey, this this shoe
looks good on my feet.
I'm gonna use it to run like thenext 20 miles.
(06:45):
There's so much to be uh gainedfrom properly fitting the right
shoes and and getting to knowyour your your steps and and I
think your your company isoffering all of that and much,
much more.
So tell us about uh around 2023,you pivoted to Kenneth AI with
uh Kenneth's death uh focused onbalance health and fall risk
(07:09):
prediction.
So what was the turning pointthat convinced you to uh
reinvent the company around thatmission?
SPEAKER_01 (07:15):
Yeah, that's a great question.
So going back to the when westart the the shoe company, the
minimal shoe company, theKenneth's uh barefoot.
Well, we we when we start thatcompany, I really look at shoe
from through a sign lens.
So I say, hey, it's really notabout the fashion.
We I were for me at that moment,I always care less about
fashion.
I want to design a shoe thatreally promotes that natural
(07:36):
movement.
So long short, we have threeproducts on the market.
Two of our products get medicalapproval from the American
Podiatrix Association.
And one of our products calledthe Lucy, which is an everyday
walking shoe, one of ourbest-selling product ever.
We we sell that globally.
And what happened, I've keepgetting um a lot of requests
from my customers, especiallyfolks a little bit older, um,
(07:58):
say, hey, do you have any shoethat helped with my balance?
And you know, so forth and soon.
Because the the idea of balancegoing back to the idea of how
can we design shoes thatoptimize the foot natural
movement, not to get in the way,not to provide support, but
optimize.
So let the foot move naturally.
So one day at lunch, I justhappened to say, Oh, you know
what?
Let me let me spend the next 30minutes, let me dive deep into
(08:21):
this whole balance thing and seewhat's going on.
And when when I did that, whatreally eye-opening for me when I
looked at some statistics fromour CDC, which he um fought the
leading cost of death among thefolks over 65 in the U.S.
We're spending$480 billion ayear now, uh 40,000 death, um,
not chronic disease, like wethink, but you know, and and and
(08:43):
that just really uh took me bysurprise.
And then when I look at asolution in the market, this
hasn't been very um, I'll saysustainable solution.
You know, we treat fall as anafterthought, but we don't talk
about balance until somebodyexplains the fall and you go to
surgery, and then if you are, ifyou're alive, you know, some
some some people die within sixmonths.
(09:04):
And what we did was we went backand we looked at it an
opportunity, all the solutionson the market at that point,
just very reactive.
You know, it's fall detection,but detection that that means
somebody already uh hurting, youknow, injured right now on the
floor, detection not consoled.
So uh at that moment, we and youknow, at the beginning of that
moment, I'm starting to get tolearn.
Or I read a few books aboutartificial intelligence, and I
(09:26):
see there's an opportunity thatwe can use artificial
intelligence if we can captureenough data.
Is there an opportunity for thatpoint that we can predict far
risk from the happening inplace?
And when we look at all thesolutions in the market and we
look at all the technology,whether sensor technology,
whether the the software side,and that's where we decide to
pivot that we, hey, there's anopportunity that we can address
(09:48):
this problem.
I I like to call the silentproblem that no one discusses
about, but we all relate to it.
You know, I I spend a lot oftime.
So that's where we make thestrategic decision, pivot from a
minimal footwear companyleveraging, but still leveraging
all the knowledge that we gainedfor the last couple of years and
carry it on over, but do itlearn technology and do it at
(10:10):
scale.
SPEAKER_00 (10:12):
Yeah.
I'm starting to pick up on apattern in in your life and your
approach to problem solving, iswhere you identify a problem,
whether it's impacting you orloved ones, and you dive real
deep into it, try to reallyunderstand the root cause of
that, and then you you go andmake it a mission of your own to
try to figure out what what canyou do to help make a difference
(10:34):
in this area?
I I I definitely sense that.
Um it's I think one of yoursuperpowers, if I could you
know, offer that to you.
What I'd like to do now is liketalk about your pivot, because I
know pivots can be difficult forfounders.
So how do you personallynavigate the emotional and
strategic challenges of changingcourse so drastically?
SPEAKER_01 (10:56):
That's a great question.
It it was difficult by no means.
It's it's difficult for mepersonally because you know I
invest so much into the regionalcompany and to get into the
revenue stage, and then at thatpoint, um making that so there's
an economic impact to mepersonally, you know, the point.
So, but when I look at theproblem, I see that and I weigh
(11:18):
the risk.
At that point, you you you youyou're that's where you become
very pragmatic.
Say, okay, I can be comfortablewith what I have right now, but
know the fact that by doing so,I start to um I disregard the
opportunity to address somethingat scale, something bigger that
no one talks about.
What we addressing in that pointwas a very to me is a very um a
(11:40):
temporary solution.
And and that market can be quitesmall, but if we expand, uh we
can help people uh with thetechnology.
We help people where they needhelp the most.
Because they because right now,it you know, I spent a lot of
time, that's where I gotinvolved with some folks at VCU.
We did the capstone and we didthe whole customer discovery,
(12:02):
long story short, but we spent alot of time at assisted living
facility.
And every time we talk to thesefolks and we hear these stories
over and over again, and and andand the more I listen to these
stories, the more I think of mymy my own father, the more I
think of my own family, the moreI think about myself.
You know, I'm 40 right now.
Hey, by the way, I'll get 80,70, hopefully I leave it long.
(12:24):
But but it it impacts all of us.
So that is really when I look atthat and step back, to me, it's
an e no-brainer to make thatdecision, to make that point.
It was difficult, but when Ianalyze everything, it was the
right decision for us as acompany.
It was risky, but hey, we startout, we start out from nothing
in the first place anyway.
So it's a natural progressionfor us.
SPEAKER_00 (12:47):
Yeah, it's spoken like a true entrepreneur,
someone who wants to make adifference in the lives of
others.
That's great.
And and I I I heard a little bitabout your story there and how
you leverage the relationshipsand especially with
organizations like VCU.
So you've had you know severalmentorships from experts like
(13:08):
Dr.
Stephen Morrison andpartnerships with universities,
like you said, VCU, GMU.
Uh so how did thoserelationships shape the
trajectory of Kenneth's AI?
SPEAKER_01 (13:20):
Yeah, I think a lot of that I want to bring Startup
Virginia ecosystem into playbecause throughout Startup
Virginia, we've been a membersince 2018, Lai Hau Lab.
So these would be because theserelationships, when I start to
talk to these folks, that hey, Iwant to I want we want to pivot
the business to become atechnology, uh digital health
company.
And that's where uh with anICAP, I got reached out to um to
(13:43):
uh um uh I forgot his name, butone of the the leading AI um
professor at GMU.
At that point, I was, you know,we have this idea, but we have
we still haven't figured out thethe mechanic behind that.
So that's where I reach out anduh and and same thing with Dr.
Stephen Morrison that ODU.
Unfortunately, he passed away.
But he's really the one thatthat, you know, he's an expert,
(14:04):
fall prevention expert.
He was very um very grateful toto to meet with me and share
with me.
And we both believe in this ideathat, hey, this we can do this,
um, we can predict this thing,we can build these tools.
So um, same thing with um uhwhat the you know, we also apply
for the grant to the VirginiaInnovation Partnership that
(14:25):
believe in our our our you knowreally our our concept one to
put together.
So um at the end of the day, youknow, we wouldn't be able to do
what we do right now without theecosystem that put in play to
support us, whether that startVirginia, uh Lighthouse Lab,
Virginia, and of course thegrant, the$75,000 grant we
receive received from uh the umfrom the uh the Venice Virginia
(14:47):
Innovation Partnership.
So, and of course the mentoringfrom from Dr.
Steven and of course um uh someprofessor at at Joe Mason as
well.
SPEAKER_00 (14:56):
Yes, and it absolutely takes a village to
make great things happen.
Sounds like you're leveragingyour your network and uh and the
network of others to help youand build this this great vision
out.
So it's really inspiring.
Thank you for sharing.
So for other entrepreneurslistening, what what advice
would you give on how toleverage academic partnerships
(15:18):
and grants like BIPC,Commonwealth Commercialization
Fund, or NIH, SBIR or real worldinnovation?
SPEAKER_01 (15:27):
Yeah, I think I think the only thing that I only
ask um entrepreneur or someonewho wants to um to uh get into
display, uh all you have to dois, you know, of course, I
always start with identify theproblem, you know, come up with
the you know, spend your time,do your homework, do your market
research, do your customerdiscovery, because what what you
want to do, you want to come tothe table, at least you have a
(15:49):
one thing you need to get down,you need to solidify your
problem.
Your solution is only as good.
And when I teach, you know, Iteach as well, when I always
talk to my student that yoursolution is only as good as the
problem.
Okay, so so for me, is that'swhy I spent a lot a lot of time
understanding the problembecause to be sure to be honest
with you, before Kenneth'sBarefoot, I had three other
(16:10):
startups and they all fail.
And when I look back at these,the reason why I fail, because
again, there's zero productmarket fit.
I jump into the solution.
When I jumped into the solution,I didn't spend enough time
understanding the pain point,the problem.
So I learned from that threemistakes because I made not one,
but three same mistakes over andover again.
So that's why I'm very adamantabout understanding a problem
(16:33):
better.
You gotta know your problem.
You need to know your customer,you gotta know your your market,
you gotta know your uh yourcompetition and and understand
that.
So for me, uh my advisorentrepreneur, it's okay.
You don't know what you don'tknow, but you have to come to
the table, present.
At least you gotta present yoursolution.
Might not have all the the uhthe the resolution or the the
(16:55):
detail they got.
That's okay, but at least youcome with a solid problem
statement.
Say, this is what the problem,and this is the current
solution, this is what the thepain point, this is what the
market's saying, and and it hasan opportunity for us to look at
this and and come up withsomething, uh a better solution
to offer a better value.
So um reach out.
(17:15):
People, like I say, people frommy personal experience, I have
been very grateful for all thefolks that who helped me over
the year.
Um, the only thing you're notgonna get help unless you reach
out.
It's okay.
You don't have to knoweverything.
That's why these experts willguide you.
You help you to refine aproblem.
SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
Yeah.
Yeah, you mentioned designthinking and uh problem
refinement, which goes reallywell with one of the podcast
episodes I recently published onproblem finding and
communicating uh the issues athand.
And it's it's really, you know,just a side note, it's about
like AI helping us to buildcontent and be creators and
(17:58):
essentially like you can do allof that, but it it really would
benefit like the use case todefine the problem really well
first, like you're saying, andcreate a proper mission around
that problem so that you're notjust endlessly creating new
content for no reason and uhsolving problems that don't
really exist in people's lives.
(18:20):
Um sounds to me like you have areally good foundation of
identifying problems and uh andresearching and and getting uh
getting to the you know the thedetails that matter.
And I think that's uh that'sprobably one of the best
foundational starting pointsbefore you go and dig into
trying to solve for thesethings.
That's great.
(18:40):
Thank you for sharing.
Um so you've described yourmission as making balance health
the next vital sign.
Can you break down what thatmeans and why balance is such an
overlooked aspect of the humanhealth?
SPEAKER_01 (18:55):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, uh as goal going back tothe statistic I shared earlier,
you know, falling.
Yeah, well well, when you lookat fall, there are multiple
reasons why.
And when I talk to Dr.
Steve Borson, we identify uhbalance deficiency is is one of
the the key factor.
And of course, we can look atgait.
When we look at balance, we lookat gait.
But for the most part, um we allknow someone, whether with one
(19:19):
family or intimate in a orsomeone that or whether have an
uh an older person that fallsand and whether that injure or
pass away.
Well, a lot of that, what we'resaying that, well, we don't
treat balance as something thatwe we the lonely time, the
problem what I'm seeing rightnow, the way the our system
works at the moment, we treatbalance an afterthought.
(19:40):
We only treat balance, let's saysomebody older have some balance
mobility problem for whether ahip fracture or whatever that
may be.
You go to surgery and then yougo to to back your PT, and
that's where your PT evaluesbalance.
Well, to me, that's a littlebackward the way we'd look at
it.
So what we're saying is that ifwe are checking your blood
(20:00):
pressure, your glucose level atthe vital sign, but well, guess
what?
Balance deficiency willultimately will lead to the
fall, will kill you as just likeany other thing.
So, so, but we don't talk aboutthat because the way we look at
it is a very fragmented approachsolution.
And what we want to do is wewant to take, hey, what if, what
(20:22):
if we we position balance as thenext vital sign by by taking it
as a pre-screening tool?
That's what we want to positionis like, hey, now the next time
you go to a primary care doctor,well, you don't have to wait
until you fall and go to PT gothe traditional round up.
Now we want to make to abalance, access balance, um,
checking your balance is easy asthe next vital sign because it
(20:43):
is important for us to do so.
And um because right now no onetalks about it.
SPEAKER_00 (20:50):
Yeah, yeah, it does sound fragmented.
So tell tell us a little bitabout how your platform, Kenneth
Step and Balance Pro, turneveryday movement into
measurable, actionable insightsfor clinicians and patients.
SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
So what we are saying that, hey,Kenneth at Kenneth said heart of
us, we are not an AI company.
We we are a movement intelligentcompany.
And how what do I mean by that?
So so there are two differentways we look at it.
AI is a tool, it's part of partof part of our toolbox.
Yeah.
So for us, we believe in thiswhole idea of the hybrid care
model.
So where we bring the we bridgethe clinician, the patient,
(21:26):
where we provide the data, weempower the clinician, in this
case, it could be the doctor, itcould be the PT, it could be the
LT, with the right datainformation.
And that information alsoprovides the patient the 10th
time.
So the clinician right now haveto make the decision with the
right information, most updateinformation, to develop a
comprehensive solution for thepatient.
(21:47):
So the way the platform worksthat we have, we build uh
software and hardware stack.
So the first product, what we wetalked, when you mentioned the
balance pro.
A Balant Pro is a um a computervision technology that we deploy
to the iPad.
That's all we need.
Anywhere you have an access tocamera, there's another iPad,
you can use an iPhone as well.
So we deploy to the clinicwithin five minutes.
(22:09):
We give you a comprehensivebalance assessment.
We broke the body out to 17different key points.
That next time you go to aprimary care doctor, which we're
currently in pilot right now,three live pilots happening, one
in Vietnam and two in the US,two here locally.
Primary care doctor, theclinician will deploy our
technologies.
Within that, we give you abalance assessment, we give you
(22:32):
a comprehensive score, and thenwe can tell you what the unique
about our platform that we havethis whole library exercise that
we can prescribe to you.
And then when you go home, youcan lock on your patient portal.
So, really, we we really what wewant to do, we bridge the band
the clinic and home.
That is the balance pro.
The balance step, the balancepro give you a balance score.
(22:53):
And then, of course, thebalance, the kidney step is
another piece of technicalhardware that again we can buy
software hardware.
As a piece of hardware you wearat your angle, you walk for a
hundred steps.
We can we collect enough datathat we can give you a gate
analysis.
So we can measure so you have agate score.
We give we know exactly how youwalk, we look for the
abnormality, we compare your agroup.
So that's really we build reallycomprehensive in terms of you
(23:17):
know, um, your uh we like tocall movement score.
We combine bound score and gatescore, give you move score, a
very comprehensive understandingof your biomechanics.
SPEAKER_00 (23:27):
Yeah, so a hardware and a software stack that
empowers people to make betterdecisions about their their
health, right?
In general.
That makes a lot of sense.
Um you mentioned pilotingKenneth's AI in both the US and
in Vietnam.
Um just curious, can you can youtell us some differences that
you've noticed about adoptionand uh what what do those pilots
(23:50):
teach you about scalingglobally?
SPEAKER_01 (23:52):
Yeah, so let's talk about that.
So we start out with Vietnammarket first, and to be honest,
we do have a team based inVietnam there, all our signed
team.
So we have a signed team, wehave an engineer team, a product
team.
Our signed team is we have aright now a four-doctor US base
here in the US, and we do have aproduct and an engineer team
based in Vietnam.
So Pilot Vietnam, why Vietnam?
Because that's where uh, ofcourse, our engineer team there,
(24:14):
we built the products.
Um, and we found a clinic, whichis one of the most innovative
clinic in the country.
The reason at the beginning wewas we what we were using that
clinic to kind of as a quick wayfor us to test the products.
And then when we found theclinic, we have learned that,
hey, Vietnam market, uh physicaltheory market is fairly new.
The Vietnam uh, and for the mostpart, and we when we look at the
(24:37):
population, there's 100 millionpeople in Vietnam right now,
there are 15 million right nowthat need uh access to this kind
of service, which they don'thave access to.
Because in Vietnam, uh rightnow, the current, we look at the
current solution, you haveprivate clinic, which is very
expensive, you have to go, andthen you have the hospital,
which is state-owned hospital,which is under um developed in
the moment.
So we have the big gap in themiddle, uh, the middle market
(24:59):
not being served.
And we say, hey, there's anopportunity for us to bring this
U.S.
you know, great quality umscience with the technology to
serve the middle market.
So we deploy that.
Uh that's why we decided to goahead and pilot in Vietnam
first.
And based on uh the feedback,the adoption rate, uh, we have
been very, very successful.
And the one beautiful thing whenit comes to you build these
(25:22):
products, which is what we'retrying to do right now is
something kind of differentbecause you when you look at our
competition, it's people doinglike more like fragmented when
we do more comprehensive.
So by working clinics that havea closed feedback loop that
allows to speed up thedevelopment.
So we build a product, we test aclinic, we get feedback from the
clinician, we get feedback fromthe patient.
(25:44):
So that's that's that's goingwell.
So overall, the adoption rate,the big challenge for us since
Vietnam is a developed country,low income now, it's trying to
get into the middle incomeeconomy.
The the the the patient or thecustomer, the big challenge for
us is to education.
We have to educate why thephysical therapy, because that
for them, most of them, uhphysical therapy is like
(26:06):
traditional um Asian masay orsome sort of medicine,
something.
So that's a big adoption, thebig hurdle that we have to spend
a lot of time educate the publicfrom that perspective.
Now, you ship back to the US, wepartner.
So what we learn in Vietnam, uh,we back basically uh allow us to
speed up the development uh ofthe software and the hardware,
(26:28):
and then by the time we get tothe US, um which we are
officially kick up one uh twopilot right now, uh make the
process a lot easier because umit takes a lot of work um to do
to have an official clinicalpilot here in the US.
So um think about Vietnam islike a pre-market, pre-pilot.
We like where we fine-tune theproduct product, and then when
(26:49):
we get to the US, we are in amuch better shape in terms of
you know, make sure we areclinically um uh we have all the
steps, the protocol in play,make sure that we are built
according to AWF, HIPAAcompliance, so forth and so on.
SPEAKER_00 (27:03):
Yeah, yeah, I was thinking the regulatory
advantages of learning from yourapproach in Vietnam and bringing
those lessons back to the USmakes a lot of sense.
Um and and you sound extremelyfocused, and your roadmap is
super ambitious.
You've got clinicalapplications, sports
performance, and even militaryreadiness.
(27:24):
So, how do you decide where tofocus without losing momentum?
SPEAKER_01 (27:29):
Yeah, that that's that's that's something I I I'm
I batter with every day.
But at the end of the day, forus, what we have designed app,
you know, I think um we didn'twant to be just another platform
uh uh wellness app that givesgeneric information.
There's a lot of that on themarket already.
What we position now sell thatwe want to be clinical, giving
(27:49):
clinical uh data.
So for us, um in order to, youknow, you let talk about
roadmap, you know, uh gettingsupport and performance,
getting, you know, of course,the human digital twin and the
military application, we cannotachieve any of that if we are
not successful on the clinicalphase one first.
Because to us, we still validatethe technology.
(28:10):
That's why we do these pilotprograms, so we can show up do
case studies so we can showeffectiveness.
And along the way, there's a lotwe still have to figure out, and
we can't figure out everythingon our own.
So that means we have toleverage the doctor, the
clinician, every, and thepatient.
So that is what we have to say.
We in order, yes, it's good tobe ambitious.
It's good that that's why Ispend 10% of my time thinking
(28:32):
about the future application,whether in the in the military
application, how we're gonnaempower the soldier on the
ground to make sure that he weoptimize his movement, uh, how
we're gonna empower the nextathlete to um reduce the his
injury, optimize theperformance.
But those are great things, butwe can't get there unless we are
we are successful on theclinical phase.
(28:54):
That's why as I think about thestep-by-step process, I I want
to be very focused on do onething well before we can try to
do too many other things.
SPEAKER_00 (29:04):
Yeah, yeah.
I think about my lack ofknowledge here is obvious, but
military boots, right?
How they how soldiers have tomarch in these boots and how
uncomfortable that must feel uhto be marching for miles and
miles on end.
And because I've been running mywhole life and I know how
important it is to find theright pair of shoes, I really
(29:26):
hope that you know, if if themilitary um grade boots haven't
come a long way that you offerthem something um that they can
really leverage and and I justimagine how uncomfortable those
things are and how I would beimpacted if I had to march
around in those things, that'sfor sure.
SPEAKER_01 (29:43):
So yeah, may I share a little bit on like this?
I want to spend about 30seconds, expand on that a little
bit, the military application.
Yeah, you're right.
A lot of these, they boot aheavy, a lot of soldiers, but I
think for us, uh there are morethat we envision, imagine that
you go into in a battlefield.
Environment that we can havesensor, that we can sense the
environment, we can sense yourheart rate, we can have live
(30:06):
veto haptic to your that wideand that can measure your heart
rate, how you perform, and wecan guide you if you should
think the left to the right.
We can have lighter.
Think of imagine we have LIDAbuilt into the boot.
So think about these smartshoes.
So there's a lot moreapplication than beyond just you
know making the boot lessheavier.
And we can measure your stress,we can measure heart rate, we
(30:27):
can tell you how you perform inthat environment.
Imagine we have a command centerthat these feedback go back to
these command centers, so we cansee tactical how the soldier
operates in certainenvironments.
So there are more applicationsthat we can bring to that
because there's so much, becauseat the end of it, you and the
you're facing the enemy, you'rein an environment that you're
not sure you navigate.
(30:48):
So there's a lot ofdecision-making process
happening.
Every single step counts.
So there's a lot moreinformation that we can collect
and feed to the command center,and we can evaluate how you
perform in that environment.
So think about so there's a lotmore obligation that we, you
know, that's something to exciteme.
If I if we something that wecan, if for us as a company,
(31:09):
eventually we we we want to workwith the DOD, that we can
develop a technology, whetherhardware or software, that we
can empower the soldier at thatenvironment, if we can that kind
of whether that safe life or inany kind of rescue mission as
well.
So there's a lot more that wewant to expand into.
SPEAKER_00 (31:27):
That's beautiful.
Uh tell me a little bit aboutyour sports performance uh
vision there, because you knowit's a it's very inspiring to
hear how you can help withsoldiers and and their missions,
but um, I feel like there'sthere's a lot of optimization
around sports performance thatwould be just absolute gold to
the industry.
(31:47):
I'm just curious what what yourvision is there.
SPEAKER_01 (31:49):
Yeah, I mean, for for me and an athlete, so I
compete in Spartan Race and anathlete, there's two things you
always have to, you always haveto make the decision.
Um, optimizing, because as anathlete, you're always
optimizing.
Okay.
And at the same time, you riskinjure yourself.
So you only have to make thedecision.
So for us, is how can't wecollect enough data that we can
(32:10):
help you optimize to achievewhat XYZ, because we know that
performance perspective.
But at the same time, it'sequally important.
How can we, as you optimize thething, we have to balance out
the risk factor.
So think about you, your now weknow your your running gate,
your distance, your heart rate.
We take everything inconsideration.
So what we envision is that ifyou have an ambo watch, a
(32:33):
fitbit, you have a lot of upperbody analytical rate.
We can tie that into our lowerbody of biomechanic data.
And now what we can do, we canlook the whole body of
biometrics.
Because right now, we know a lotabout the upper, a lot of
athlete injury actually lowerbody injury.
A lot of injury is lower body.
So, but lower body, if you lookat on the market, you look at
(32:54):
all the wearable devices, theonly thing you get for the most
part, your step, your distance,your calorie.
But other than that, a lot ofit's still black box.
SPEAKER_00 (33:02):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (33:03):
And we want to be able, what what with our
technology when it comes to thebalance pro, kidney step, we
eventually for the we willlaunch a sport and performance
division, the kidney's pro.
Uh, because and that's where wecan start to really give you a
uh a very comprehensiveunderstanding about your low
body bomb mechanic.
By giving you that, we can knowwhat sport you play, we know
(33:25):
what type, you know, is itbalanced.
I'll give you an example, golf.
If you play golf, balance isextremely important when to
golf.
And we can tell you that.
We can tell exactly what foot,what angle you need to focus on.
How are you gonna optimize that?
So yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (33:40):
Yeah, any any breakthroughs in the near future
on how to optimize for uh shinsplint prevention?
SPEAKER_01 (33:49):
Sorry.
Um, a lot of that you don't needthat, it's just running
mechanics.
SPEAKER_00 (33:53):
Yeah, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01 (33:54):
Running mechanics.
I mean, we can help, but I thinka lot of that, let's say the
human body is an incrediblemachine.
I look at it as an incrediblemachine piece of engineering
that took two million years ofevolution.
So it's sometimes what we whatwhat I find, including myself,
that a lot of, you know, we wewe have a lot of product in the
markets, a lot of that throughclever marketing.
(34:16):
But if you literally break downthe science, human, we have been
running for mile and mile.
We are persistent hunter, wedidn't have shoe, we didn't have
all that stuff that we we callnowadays that you can buy off on
the market, but it'sunderstanding, using the body
naturally, understand yourbiomechanics.
SPEAKER_00 (34:34):
Got it.
Well, speaking of understanding,you mentioned this before, the
human digital twin sounds prettyfascinating.
So, what possibilities does thatunlock for predicting,
preventing, and optimizing ourperformance?
SPEAKER_01 (34:48):
Well, thank you for talking about, you know, you
know, for me, um, as I, youknow, try to focus on everything
we do and on a daily basis, on aweekly or monthly basis, um,
these are the moonshot projects.
You know, I'm gonna call itmoonshot project, but I think,
but I believe that the futurewe're heading to.
Because what we we we envision,especially in the healthcare
space, um, the way we do rightnow, we we diagnose, we then the
(35:12):
doctor um will have will look atdifferent options, different
treatment to figure out theright treatment for you.
I'll give you an example.
You have a, let's say, for me,if I have cancer and the doctor
do a biopsy and all that stuffand say, they will test
different drug to see how mybody will react to that.
So, and and whenever you dothat, that puts a lot of stress
on the body for the patient.
And it's also costly.
(35:32):
So we there's a still, so whatwe hope to do, we say, what if?
Because the human bodies, and Italked a little bit about
biointelligent.
We should human body, the humanbody give out signal.
But what we need to do is figureout how to capture these data,
turn them to data so we can turninto something that can be
useful for us.
(35:53):
So the whole idea of the humandigital project that let's say
you already have a lot ofanalytical data from your
wearable devices, whether fromyour wrist, from your ring, from
your band, and then you have ourtechnology at the bottom.
Now, if we can collect all ofdata over this period of time,
then what we what I would allowus to do, and of course, you
(36:14):
have we collect your nutrition,your daily activity, your
health, you know, yourbackground about your overall
health, and what we should beable to do, build a digital
version of Jason.
So now Jason says, hey, Vincent,you know, I want to do this 20,
you know, Richmond marathon andsay, Jason, what we have all
your heart rate data, we haveall your biomechanics data over
(36:35):
the last how many months or orweeks, we will build, let's, and
we know the terrain that you'regonna run, we know the
environment, we know everything,that given data, and we're gonna
let your digital version run tosee and what what happened is we
want to be able to pinpointwhere the deficiency at that
point.
And when when that allows us toidentify, say, so Jason,
(36:57):
instead, for you kind of focuson general idea training, we can
pinpoint exactly where you canfork your training.
Law for speaking, what we loveto do is if we can take, let's
say, if somebody over 50, and ifand we will build a digital
version of this person, we canproject out five years, 10
years, 20 years from now, theprogression.
(37:18):
Whether the body is just humannature, it's just sign that the
body degray over time.
So, but we can project that outbased and based on what we know
about you, based on your currentactivity, based on your
nutrition, based on yourmovement pattern, we can predict
that.
So that is really the at thispoint, a broader view of what we
believe the human digital twinwould allow it to do.
SPEAKER_00 (37:41):
Yeah.
Wow, that's that's incredible.
If I had a goal of one dayrunning in a half or a full
marathon, I could leverage mydigital twin to help me optimize
my performance and my workoutprogram and based on all of the
data that it has on me.
That would be really incredible.
And then just being able to kindof map out what the future of
(38:04):
my, I want to say my balanceprogram, if you will, like
everything that that wouldmatter to me in the next 20
years based on the data whereI'm projected to be, and make
informed decisions about how Iwant to continue doing what I'm
doing today or changing what I'mdoing today so that I can have a
better outcome in the next 20years, that would be incredible.
(38:26):
That would be absolutelyincredible.
And t tell us a little bit aboutyour work with the Balance
Health Academy, where you'reembedding your work into
science.
How do you how do you balancethe need for rigorous clinical
validation and with the speedexpected from a startup?
SPEAKER_01 (38:43):
Yeah, that is actually really critical to us
as a company.
Um, what we want to do if we'regonna tell somebody about their
balance, their movement, andthen and how we can help them to
optimize their movement soprevious to prevent some of the
um the outcome which you falland and enjoy later on.
Um so we want to, every layer ofour technology stack, we embed
(39:06):
sign to that.
So we have that's why we have asign team.
So the way we did you makedecisions as a company, um,
because to me that's that'simportant that that you know
it's going back to the the theoriginal the you know, since we
start uh kennis barefoot as acompany is look at we look at
you from the sign perspective.
So so that has been rooted deepinto uh our DNA.
(39:28):
One we identify the problem,okay, and then and then we
always start with the sign teamand the first team evaluate
that.
And then uh, is it a problem?
Is it scientifically?
Have we looked at it from theside?
Are there any research back thatup?
And then the next thing we startto look at uh you know solution,
and the scientist will be theteam that decides on the
(39:48):
solution because we want to makesure that when we put out the
product, it's going through thisrigorous step-by-step process.
So somebody, when when we tell apatient, whether a patient,
whether a clinician that we havethe tool, we want to make sure
that we have do everythinghumanly possible from our end,
whether from the technologystandpoint, uh from the data
privacy perspective, whetherfrom the scientific perspective,
(40:11):
we have done everything that wecan to ensure that we deliver
the best product that we candeliver to our customers.
So it is critical.
Um, our science team once we'llgo back to the workflow for us.
The science team wants with theprotocol, we've developed the
solution, and that's where theengineer will come back on the
back end.
So the sign team have the a lotof uh the veto uh veto right.
(40:33):
And of course, there's alwayscohesiveness between sign and
engineer.
We all get in the room togetherbefore we actually co a single
line.
SPEAKER_00 (40:42):
Awesome.
And I know that the Richmondstartup ecosystem has really
fueled your journey there.
So what has the local communitygiven you exactly?
And and how do you see yourselfgiving back as a founder?
SPEAKER_01 (40:56):
A lot.
Well, the local community givingme a lot.
So I mentioned uh Start Virginiais a great ecosystem.
We've been a member since 2018.
Um, and then you have LighthouseLap, again, a lot of mentors.
Um, we got here today, you know.
I say the reason I were able tokind of connect with my mentor,
to my mentor, unfortunately,pass away, which he does make
the project even more personalfor me.
(41:18):
Um, you know, Steve and theother one, uh Cox is one of my
long-term uh mentors who passedaway as well.
So we, for me personally, that Iwant to dedicate this project to
their legacy.
Well, they believe in me.
Um, so um, so Virginia LihauLaugh, Virginia Innovation
Partners Partnership, uh, theICAP program.
So, yeah, these are um these aregreat organizations.
(41:40):
That's that's why, you know, I Ialways thank for their support,
um, the grant, of course, uh,and of course, access to all the
mentors.
So for me to get in back is andI share with everybody, you
know, um I'm open, you know, youreach out to me on LinkedIn, I'm
happy to share with you anytime.
Um, but all I ask you that, youknow, you are you want to make
(42:01):
sure that you do your homeworkuh before you come and spend
time with me because I want tomake sure that whether I'm
spending you 30 minutes or anhour, uh, we walk away something
that inspires you to take thenext action.
So um uh I will I will continuemy mental legacy by sharing what
I have learned over the years.
SPEAKER_00 (42:18):
Beautiful.
Yeah.
Always try to pay it forward.
That's that's that's a greatthing.
So for innovators in inchallenging tech industries and
health tech specifically, wherethere are many risks high and
and timelines are long.
So what's the what's the mindsetrequired to stay resilient?
SPEAKER_01 (42:39):
Well, you at the end of the day, you you have to have
a purpose.
You know, your why.
You know, we start with a why.
Your why have to be bigger thanyour problem, because problem
will come every single day.
You have I have more setbackthan you can imagine.
But at the end of the day, ifyour why, you have a strong
purpose while you're doing it,and and I I learned this over
the year.
Don't do it because you youthink uh startup is something
(43:03):
that's glamorous, that youyou've been portraying me that
it's a long journey.
I have been in Barkney's yearsfor the last eight years.
I have committed myself, and tome, um that's something that I'm
passionate about because I thinkabout the the impact that we'll
deliver to the people we'rehelping.
To me, that's that's keep thatkeep me get up every day.
And um, it's a journey.
You have to enjoy that.
(43:24):
You have to live it.
You have to live to the themoment that you feel like, why
am I doing it?
You pull your hair out, you stayup one or two o'clock in the
morning, you have to be willingto give up a lot of things.
You have to be willing tohumility.
People misunderstood, noteverybody will get you, but
that's okay.
But that's why you need to findyourself as some great mentor.
(43:44):
You have to have your you'llhave um, you have to be able to
really truly love what you dobecause it's gonna be very
difficult.
And lastly, um, you know, Istart shoe business not knowing
anything about shoe.
I start a digital healthcompany, not knowing anything
about health or health tech ortechnology or sensor, but I can
learn.
Stay curious, learning.
(44:05):
Stop, you know, I read so manybooks about uh sensor hardware.
Uh, I went and talked to a lotof people.
You don't need to be an expert.
Sometimes to me, inexperience isthe best thing that can happen
to you.
Not knowing is the best thingcan happen to you, but you have
to uh know uh at the end of theday that um you have to
persevere, uh persistent,patient, uh, and purpose.
(44:28):
Those are the things that that Ihighly recommend you should
consider before you think aboutenter any kind of uh industry if
you want to make somethinginnovative.
SPEAKER_00 (44:38):
Yeah, yeah.
I love uh knowing your why, andthat's gonna be what gets you
out of bed in the morning andkeeps you moving.
And not knowing everything andjust being able to bring the
bring the experts in the roomwith you to answer the
questions.
I think that's that's reallypowerful stuff.
And you all you often speakabout mobility and wellness
across the human lifespan.
(45:00):
How does that perspective uhinfluence the way that you lead
your company and your personalvision of longevity?
SPEAKER_01 (45:06):
Yeah, mobility has always been important to me.
Um going back to, you know, Ithink after I enjoy myself, and
the next thing I know, I starteda shoe company.
In 2022, I end up running a uh abarefoot marathon.
Not because I wanted to.
Uh for me, there's two thingsthat happened there.
I ran a barefoot marathon, tookme six and a half hours.
I ran a marathon because I wastrying to raise money for the
(45:29):
Afghan refugee, being a refugeemyself.
Um, it resonated.
It it to me, it it there's twothings I want to raise money,
and the other thing I want toprove that the human body is an
amazing machine.
I couldn't run two milesindoors, and after I make the
transition, here I am uh at age39.
Um, who knows then then I am endup running uh the the barefoot
(45:51):
marathon.
So mobility is important.
We talk about, you know, I wasout in in uh San Francisco
pitching uh to a group of VC ona longevity market.
You know, longevity is a bigthing nowadays, longevity,
wellness, health span.
But when you look at longevityover in in and we need to define
how do we define that?
Well, you can't have longevityor wellness or health span if
(46:14):
you don't have mobility.
Think about it.
We we take our mobility forgranted, but until you don't
have it, that changed your lifedrastically.
So mobility to to me, that'sthat's to me the first of the
thing, and and something that weneed to um we need to take time
and then take care of ourability to move, which is
starting to balance your gait.
So so we can enjoy, we can doactivity.
(46:34):
You can go out, play soccer withyour kid, um, you can go for a
long hike.
That's that to me that'simportant.
SPEAKER_00 (46:41):
All of that makes so much sense.
Uh so let's let's fast forward10 years from now.
What does success for Kennis AIlook like?
Not just for you, but yourpatients, communities, and the
society at large.
SPEAKER_01 (46:56):
Absolutely.
Um, what we envision the futurewhere um you know I talk about a
lot, you know, mobility is thebeginning, but what we're
looking about is preventivecare.
What we want to do, preventivecare should be accessible, uh
uh, should be accessible from uhto me, it's it should be um a
human right to do that becauseright now um preventive care in
in general uh is still a very uhit's only a very selective group
(47:19):
of people.
There's over 8 billion people onthis planet that we're sharing,
we call home.
But preventive care doesn'tapply, it's only applied to a
small group of us.
So what we envision successmeans that we will leverage
technologies and and um andbuild an ecosystem where we
want, you know, think about uh,you know, the this new idea, a
digital hospital that focuses onpreventive health.
(47:42):
That's what success means to us.
That means we have a globaldigital hospital that we want to
make prevent and get access toeveryone and anyone.
And that means we can buildtechnology with hardware and
software.
Um, the idea of going to atraditional hospital model, I
think there's an opportunitythat we there's a lot of
deficiency for that and alsocreates a lot of limited access
(48:02):
to a lot of folks.
Imagine that we have a digitalhospital, for the first digital
hospital that we can makeaccess, that we can have
technology and it's gonna beboth software and hardware.
We make preventive careaccessible for everyone who
wants to have that.
SPEAKER_00 (48:16):
And that is the future.
SPEAKER_01 (48:18):
Yes.
SPEAKER_00 (48:18):
Yes.
I see it.
I'm with you.
And I wish you the best of luckmaking that that future uh
happen for everyone.
But Vincent, I want to thankyou.
Your story is a reminder thatinnovation often comes from
reimagining the overlook andturning it into something
transformative.
(48:40):
So what what stood out to for metoday was that's the kind of
ambitious vision the world needsmore of.
So thank you.
And for our listeners, I hopetoday's conversation sparks a
new perspective on what healthmovement and innovation can mean
in the age of AI.
So until next time, I'm JasonMcGenthy reminding you to stay
(49:03):
curious, keep innovating, andalways look for ways of the
future proof of your knowledge.
SPEAKER_01 (49:10):
Yeah, I I just want to say thank you.
I and and always say I I reallyresonate when you say stay
curious.
Curiosity, that's what makes ithuman.
Yes, stay curious.
And just you gotta start fromsomewhere.
Now now is the time.
SPEAKER_00 (49:25):
Start start from what is your why and tracking
the right problem.
Yeah, that's correct.
Well, I learned a lot from youtoday, so thank you so much.
SPEAKER_01 (49:34):
Thank you, James.
SPEAKER_00 (49:35):
I know our audience is gonna really enjoy this one.
SPEAKER_01 (49:38):
Thank you so much for for giving me the
opportunity to share um, youknow, my personal story and and
also kinda story and how we'regonna uh inspire uh the next
generation of entrepreneurs andalso the the people that uh the
lives that we're gonna impactwith our technologies.
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