#79 - Sleep, Recovery & Performance Strain Tracking With Whoop Founder Will Ahmed

In today’s episode, we hear from CEO and Founder of Whoop, Will Ahmed. Whoop provides daily personalized fitness, sleep, and recovery data delivered to you in real time. Will developed the concept while at Harvard when he realized he was overtraining for his squash team. Will began researching technology that he could wear or use to help him understand what was happening in his body while he was training. He tried everything from step counters to pulse oximeter readers but didn’t find anything that was right for him. That’s when the concept of Whoop was born. In his research, he came across information on heart rate variability and how other athletes had used it in the past to determine their training schedule. The CIA and cardiologists had also researched used it as a predictive metric for lie detection and heart problems. For Will the big leap of faith for Whoop was how to run a company, but by the end of his senior year at Harvard, he had a big prototype. With his partners he was able to raise about three hundred thousand dollars in the first round of investing from friends, family and angel investors who believed in the business and technology. In year one the team focused mostly on research and development, while year two focused on fixing bugs, design, and scaling the production of the product. He wanted to begin targeting top tier athletes to prove the technology would resonate for the best of the best. Two of their early customers were Lebron James and Michael Phelps. That strategy validated the technology and made the brand aspirational. It’s not easy to target top tier athletes for a sales pitch. Will explains that you have to first target someone in that athlete's life other people don’t necessarily know. Back in 2014 athlete’s personal trainers were not super well known, so Will targeted Lebron and Michael’s personal trainers to get them to buy into the technology first. Confidence is built off of wins, for Will he always visualized where he wanted to go, so he’s not surprised by how far they’ve come. He says keep your feet on the ground and your eyes in the sky. Will keeps thinking about how to make the technology disappear. Maybe that means hiding it in clothing, or it means having the option to put the technology inside of you. Then, Nick asks Will about how Whoop has changed his habits. One of the biggest things he learned wearing Whoop was the negative effects on his body from drinking alcohol. He still has the occasional drink, but nowhere near what he used to have, it’s one of the easiest ways he changed his life. He also is now more aware of restorative sleep by trying to keep his time in bed high value through REM and slow wave sleep. He’s increased his restorative sleep through not eating too late, drinking lots of water, and wearing blue light blocking glasses. He also sleeps in a cold dark environment. You can only manage what you measure, so Whoop allows him to manage his sleep and leverage his time in bed. Right now, Whoop has a tactical focus within the company because Will believes we can improve not just the time spent in the field but also recovery time at home as well. This data can help those who suffer with PTSD to know when to go back into the field. Routine is important, so Will explains that things like sleep and exercise routines are important to having good recovery times. Being in routine is incredibly important and knowing what is going on in your body is integral to health and training. Timestamps: 1:30 - Host Nick Bare introduces podcast and guest Will Ahmed 7:08 - Will explains heart rate variability 10:27 - The evolution of fitness technology 15:42 - Year one of Whoop 19:30 - How Whoop targeted top tier athletes 22:07 - Whoop’s first