Matthew Pohl didn’t come up with his idea in a lab or on a test range. It started with a random thought while reading about the transparent lenses used in early AR glasses.
He remembered how, in arcade shooters like Big Buck Hunter, there’s always a perfect little dot guiding your aim. Then he wondered why that dot couldn’t exist in real life, moving in sync with a person’s head and firearm.
That spark turned into Boca Raton-based startup Future Optek, which currently has around five employees.
Before this, Pohl had already built two companies: a Bitcoin mining venture launched in 2013 and a consumer product that he said did well enough to teach him how a strong model should work. Those lessons set him up for what came next.
In 2021, the idea of a dynamic, real-world version of that familiar aiming dot started to click. Pohl explained that when he first read about transparent displays, he realized they were basically tiny screens you could see through.
That set off the big question: What if you could place a reticle on that surface and have it move instantly with the user’s movements?
From there, he dug into the engineering. Future Optek filed its first patent. Then a second. Early prototypes followed.
“We have a pretty sophisticated prototype built,” Pohl told Refresh Miami, noting that it is at the TRL-7 stage, a technical term denoting a prototype system demonstration in an operational environment.
He added that they had already drawn interest from major players. “We’ve received acquisition interest from a large company in the space.” A major optics manufacturer also issued a letter of support, and Pohl was preparing for talks with a major defense organization the same week we spoke.
The tech itself is built around simplicity on purpose. It uses two IMUs (inertial measurement units), the same kind of sensors that tell your phone when it’s sideways. One sits on the firearm, and one sits on the glasses. By comparing the readings, the system generates a reticle that shifts immediately as the user moves.
“We’re able to do it extremely fast – around one millisecond,” he said. That timing makes the movement imperceptible to the eye, which is exactly what the company is aiming for.
Just as important is what the system does not do. There’s no laser. No camera. No emission that broadcasts the user’s position. “There is no signature to this,” he said. That point matters more than ever. As Pohl explained, defense leaders are wary of systems that send out any signal an enemy can lock onto, especially as drones and AI make it easier to detect even small emissions.
Future Optek plans to sell first to two groups: civilian firearm enthusiasts and law enforcement. Those markets help fund development and allow the team to test features without the strict constraints that come with military requirements. For the military, the first target customers would be army and marine units – anyone operating on the ground.
South Florida, Pohl said, has been a surprisingly strong home base for work like this. “There is a very active defense ecosystem in South Florida,” he said, citing the collection of major military commands in Tampa and the broader cluster of defense contractors and programs throughout the state. Florida’s legal environment also helps when your work involves testing with live ammunition.
The end goal is simple and personal. Pohl wants the product in the hands of people who need it most. “I am most excited about getting this into the hands of soldiers tested and on the field as soon as possible,” he said. Ukraine came up more than once as a place where he hopes the tool can make a difference. But beyond the strategy, there’s also the plain satisfaction of seeing a long effort become real. He admitted that hearing feedback like this is great or this is life-changing would hit home after years of development.
Future Optek is still raising its next round. The next phase is about finishing the final product and getting it out into the field. Pohl noted that the Gold Coast Tech Accelerator has played a useful role early on, giving him access to mentors and contacts who understand both hardware cycles and defense procurement.
Pohl ended our conversation with a thought about the battlefield of the next decade: one where emitting anything could have real consequences. If AI systems can detect a signal and turn it into a target in seconds, then tools built to stay silent may matter far more than tools built to shine.
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