Our story
The mirror is old. HINDSIGHT is new.
The rear-view mirror was patented in 1906 and became standard in cars within a generation. For everything else — bikes, boards, boots, horses, helmets — the mirror never arrived. HINDSIGHT is the company that finally engineered it into a lens.
The founder's account
Where this began.
I am a physicist, specialising in high-energy lasers and optics. I founded HINDSIGHT because of the many narrow escapes and close calls I had on busy roads. My thinking was straightforward — you wouldn't drive without a rear-view mirror — knowing what's happening around you is the difference between operating safely and operating blind. Human awareness is mono-directional; risk is not. I set out to fix that.
For years I cycled in Edinburgh and London; the problem was not any single event. It was the pattern. I kept turning my head. I kept feeling the limit of what the human neck can do while moving forward at speed. I kept thinking of what I was missing ahead of me every time I looked back — that door I couldn't see open, the pedestrian checking their phone while stepping into the street. Every commute produced another one too-close encounter in busy London traffic, and every encounter made the same point.
Cars solved this a hundred years ago. The rear-view mirror was patented in 1906. A decade later it was standard equipment. The physics is simple, mature, and beautifully understood. Nobody had put that physics into a lens.
So I did. First on paper. Then as prototypes. Then as a company. Now, internationally.
— Alexander Macdonald, founder
1906
Rear-view mirror patented.
1911
Ray Harroun wins the first Indianapolis 500 using a mirror.
~1920s
Mirror becomes standard equipment in cars.
2026
Mirror arrives in a lens.
The co-founder
A partner who knew what rear-view vision is worth.
HINDSIGHT was co-founded with Callum Skinner, Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist in track cycling. Track cyclists live and die by awareness — of position, of competitors, of the space they cannot see without turning. Callum understood the problem at the level of sport. The physics and the athlete's instinct met in the same room.
The company has grown from that founding pair. The principle has not changed.
Callum Skinner
Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist, track cycling. Co-founder, HINDSIGHT.
Alexander Macdonald
Physicist. Founder, HINDSIGHT. First to put rear-view physics into a lens.
What we built first
Kickstarter, 2020.
The first consumer product carrying HINDSIGHT technology was funded by Kickstarter. We raised over one hundred thousand pounds from more than six hundred backers in thirty-eight countries. The campaign was the proof that the idea was not only ours — it belonged to anyone who had ever turned their head while moving through traffic and wished they had not needed to.
We shipped. We listened. We learned that a single direct-to-consumer product was not the right shape for a lens technology designed to serve a category.
So we redesigned the company.
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£ raised on Kickstarter
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Backers
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Countries
The pivot
Why we certify rather than compete.
A lens that delivers Complete Perception is not an alternative to other eyewear. It is a property that should exist inside every category where rearward awareness changes outcomes.
Running eyewear. E-mobility goggles. Military optics. Law enforcement glasses. Snow goggles. Water sports optics. Equestrian lenses. First responder eye protection. Cycling eyewear.
The right shape of the company is to make the lens available to every partner building in those categories, and to certify the result with the HINDSIGHT certification. That is what HINDSIGHT does today.
The direct-to-consumer product lives on as proof of what the lens can do. The ingredient brand is where the category becomes a market.
Phase one
Direct-to-consumer. Prove the lens.
Phase two
Ingredient brand. Certify the lens inside partner products.
Phase three
Standard. Complete Perception as a default.
The research
Evidence we can stand behind.
Research conducted at Edinburgh Napier University measured how wearers respond to rear hazards compared to conventional lenses. Wearers reacted 139 milliseconds faster.
The study is published in full. Every claim we make about lens performance is traceable to the source document or to the brand book, and every figure is repeated on the evidence page of this site.
We do not claim more than we can show. We show what we have.
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Faster rear hazard reaction
Preserved
Forward vision while wearing the lens
Where this goes
Complete Perception as a safety standard.
The long-term goal is not to sell a lens. It is to make Complete Perception a default expectation of any lens worn in motion. That will take years, partners, research, and regulators. It will take cyclists, riders, officers, operators, athletes, and commuters choosing the lens that sees what they cannot.
This is not a sudden moment. It is an inevitable one. Rear-view vision is already standard in cars. HINDSIGHT is the company that makes it standard everywhere else.
Answers
The story, in short.
Who founded HINDSIGHT?
HINDSIGHT was founded by Alexander Macdonald, a physicist, and co-founded with Callum Skinner, Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist.
What was the original product?
The first consumer product carrying HINDSIGHT technology was funded by Kickstarter, raising over one hundred thousand pounds from more than six hundred backers in thirty-eight countries.
Why did HINDSIGHT become an ingredient brand?
Because Complete Perception is a property that belongs in every category of performance eyewear, not in a single direct-to-consumer product. Certifying partner products is the right shape of the company.
Is HINDSIGHT a cycling company?
No. HINDSIGHT is a lens technology company with nine certified movement categories including running, e-mobility, military, law enforcement, snow sports, water sports, equestrian, first responders, and cycling.
Is the research published?
Research was conducted at Edinburgh Napier University and is published in full. Every figure we cite is traceable to the source.