What happens when a product takes ten years to become an overnight success?

On this week’s Keep Going, I talk with Reid Robinson, founder of Robinson Exotech Corp. and creator of the X Leg, a wearable exoskeleton designed as a hands-free alternative to crutches. The idea came out of Robinson’s own recovery after a serious car crash in 2015 shattered his lower leg and ankle. Over the next two and a half years, he went through 13 surgeries while doctors tried to save his leg.

Between surgeries, Robinson started wondering why there wasn’t a better way to remain mobile without putting weight on an injured leg. He sketched an idea, searched for an existing product and, when he couldn’t find one, decided to build it himself. The first X Leg was made in his garage from cut-up crutches, Home Depot aluminum, leather belts and an IKEA cutting board. It looked rough, but it allowed Robinson to cross the street and play soccer with his kids while his injured leg still couldn’t support even five pounds.

That prototype turned into five years of research and development. Robinson tested five versions, worked with local patients and eventually secured patents in several countries. X Leg began selling in 2021, but Robinson continued working his IT job while running the company during evenings, weekends and lunch breaks. Until May of this year, he describes himself as effectively working three jobs: being a father, working in IT and building X Leg.

This is the part of entrepreneurship that we don’t talk about enough. There is a popular idea that persistence is automatically admirable, but sometimes continuing with a company that isn’t working is simply wasting another year. I’ve talked to thousands of entrepreneurs, and after a decade of slow progress I would normally tell someone to seriously consider whether it is time to stop.

Robinson’s story is different because there are signs that the underlying product works for at least some customers. People actively search it out after other mobility devices haven’t worked for them, and Robinson says customer messages about what they were able to do while using X Leg have kept him going during difficult periods. One customer told him the device allowed him to attend his daughter’s wedding in Europe.

The problem is getting the product into the existing medical system. X Leg is still relatively expensive, isn’t automatically covered by insurance and needs more clinical evidence before Robinson can pursue the kind of dedicated insurance coverage that could make it easier for patients to obtain. Studies are underway or being planned in the US, Chile and Canada, and Robinson hopes those results will eventually help move X Leg toward standard care.

Robinson has spent ten years trying to turn something he built for himself into something other people can use. There is still no guarantee that X Leg becomes a large company, and Robinson is very clear that the device doesn’t work for every injury. But there is an important distinction between blindly refusing to quit and continuing because customers keep giving you evidence that the thing you built solves a real problem.

That’s what makes Robinson’s story interesting. Perseverance only pays when there is something worth persevering for.