The Walker Webcast: Unlocking Human Performance with Will Ahmed, Founder & CEO of WHOOP

Date: August 14, 2025
Host: Willy Walker
Guest: Will Ahmed, Founder & CEO of WHOOP

Episode Overview

This episode of The Walker Webcast features a deep-dive conversation between host Willy Walker and Will Ahmed, the founder and CEO of WHOOP. Together, they explore the philosophy, innovation, data, and future vision behind WHOOP, a leading wearable fitness and health technology company. The discussion covers WHOOP’s mission, key physiological markers, personal health insights, global trends, recovery, the powerful impact of actionable data, gender and fashion considerations, and the broader frontier of personalized health fueled by AI.

Main Themes & Key Insights

1. WHOOP’s Mission: Unlocking Human Performance and Healthspan

• Evolution of the Mission:
  • Originally focused on elite athletes, “unlocking human performance” meant achieving peak athletic results (Gold medals, NBA championships).
  • Over time, scope broadened to everyday performance: helping people get in shape, manage stress, pregnancy, travel, and lifestyle choices (diet, alcohol).
  • Now also focused on longevity: expanding from lifespan to “healthspan”—about helping people not only live longer, but live better.
  • Ambitious Public Goal:
    • “We want to add a billion healthy years to our members’ lives, to society at large.” (06:20)
    • Net measure: as users use WHOOP, does their data indicate they are gaining or losing healthy years?
• Notable Quote:
  • “It’s hard to get more excited about a mission than that.” —Will Ahmed (08:54)

2. Product Evolution & User Experience

• Broader Application, Broader Audience:

  • WHOOP started as a tool for elite athletes but is now mainstream, serving both younger “sportier” audiences and older users with specific health concerns.
  • Introduction of pricing tiers (basic, core, advanced) to reach broader demographics.
    • New features: Healthspan tracking, ECG, AFIB detection, daily blood pressure estimates.
    • “The most growth the company’s ever experienced, the highest sales we’ve ever experienced and the highest engagement we’ve ever experienced.” (11:16)

• Personal Data and Empowerment:

  • WHOOP collects ~100 MB of data per user per day (13:39).
  • Focus is on layered data presentation: “Don’t assume people want to see all the data immediately...what’s the most important if you have 3 seconds, 30 seconds, 3 minutes?” (14:30)
  • Data serves to both inform users and fuel groundbreaking research and AI for health.

• AI-Driven Coaching:

  • WHOOP AI acts as a “24/7 coach, trainer, doctor, nutritionist,” offering both reactive and proactive data insights. (19:13)

3. Data in Practice: Recovery, HRV, and Behavior Change

• Behavioral Insights:
  • Many users initially find negative recovery data discouraging, but Will emphasizes that it’s about learning how to use the tool: “Building a relationship with your data. Some people learn to react and grow from the numbers, others struggle.” (19:13)
  • “If you’re going to tell someone something’s not good, you also want to tell them how to fix it. That’s something WHOOP’s getting better at every year.” (19:18)
• Personal Example (Willy Walker):
  • Dramatic improvements in recovery score, HRV, and resting heart rate after reducing alcohol and focusing on sleep. (24:00–26:45)
• Notable Quote:
  • “Hard-driving individuals struggle with behavior change and rest. Your mind pushes your body further than it should or wants to go.” —Will Ahmed (26:47)
  • “The hard-driving persona often needs to see the data to recognize, ‘I could have been better.’” (27:55)

4. Elite Athletes & Recovery

• Key Differentiator:
  • The best athletes excel at recovery, not just exertion. E.g., LeBron James and Michael Phelps highlighted for their world-class sleep and recovery routines. (30:01)
  • “They’re competing 24/7. What you don’t see is the other 20-22 hours of the day where they’re doing everything to recover and optimize.” (30:05)
  • “You could look at 10 graphs on a wall and point to the one that was LeBron’s sleep—it was just so much better than the others." (31:13)

5. Physiological Metrics: HRV, VO2 Max, and Technology

• Heart Rate Variability (HRV):
  • Explanation: A measure of the variation in time between heartbeats—a window into the autonomic nervous system.
  • Higher HRV = Better performance, resilience, and flow states.
  • Example: Tour de France cyclists’ HRV and recovery after rest days (32:37–33:55).
  • “A higher HRV suggests your body is in a better state of rest or peak performance or flow.” (34:47)
• New Capabilities:
  • ECG/EKG Monitoring: Provides detection for AFIB and other cardiac events.
    • “We want to take every medical technology and put it in a non-invasive form factor.” (36:55)
  • Blood Pressure Insights: Estimation without a cuff using wrist data.
  • Potential for Non-Invasive Glucose Monitoring: Will confirms it’s in development: “Yes.” (39:23)
    • Only 3 million of 40 million U.S. candidates currently use CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor). (39:46)

6. Data, Responsibility, and the Fan/Athlete Experience

• Broadcasting Athlete Data:
  • WHOOP data (heart rate, strain) has been aired live during sporting events (e.g., PGA Tour, NBC), enhancing fan experience but raising privacy and competitive concerns.
  • “This data could change how defenses approach games if they knew an athlete’s recovery...you have to get a lot of people to go along with it, and be compensated.” (44:00)
• Betting & Scouting:
  • In theory, recovery/strain data could impact betting and talent scouting, but ethical and practical complexities abound. (40:31)

7. Gender, Fashion, and Global Trends

• Men vs. Women Usage & Fashion:
  • “We have slightly more men than women. I think that’s changing with time.” (45:56)
  • Women’s preferences impact form factor and wear location; WHOOP is innovating with clothing integration (e.g., bras, waistbands).
• Global Differences in Lifestyle Data:
  • Later bedtimes in the Middle East (1–2am typical), more caffeine/smoking but less alcohol.
  • Alcohol: Ireland remains the highest per capita; in the U.S., D.C. led alcohol consumption in 2024, particularly notable in an election year. (47:41–49:00)
  • WHOOP data reveals spikes in stress on election nights and after major sporting events.
  • Fun Fact: January 1 is the worst recovery day in the U.S. (50:01)

8. Groups, Community, and Family Use

• WHOOP Groups:
  • Social groups drive motivation, behavior change, and healthy competition, e.g., within families or companies.
  • Example: Willy and his sons track their recovery, strain, and sleep together. (51:33)
  • Unexpected uses: A father uses WHOOP to help communicate with his non-verbal autistic son. “Whoop by presenting some numbers and information created that bridge to, bond a father and son over their health.” (53:50)
• Notable Quote:
  • “I can also imagine it moving in medical directions—groups working to compete on years off their physiological age. We’ve gotten some fascinating testimonials.” (52:50)

9. The Future of Personalized Health

• Healthcare Disruption:
  • Will predicts a shift: consumer-facing brands like WHOOP may become the new “point of contact” for health, potentially merging with health insurance functions.
  • “My bet is it's a consumer facing company that starts to become your doctor’s office and your relationship with medicine and health.” (56:21)
  • Key drivers: behavioral change, transparent data, predictive alerts (heart attacks, AFIB).
• Societal Trends:
  • Consumers crave more transparency, control, and motivation for proactive health.

Notable Quotes & Timestamps

• “The mission is to unlock human performance and healthspan. We want our members to live longer and healthier lives. We want to add a billion healthy years to our members’ lives, to society at large.”
  —Will Ahmed (08:54)

• “If you’re going to tell someone something’s not good, you also want to tell them how to fix it. That’s something whoop’s getting better at every year.”
  —Will Ahmed (19:18)

• “Hard-driving individuals like you also struggle a lot with behavior change and rest. The hard driving persona often needs to see it to recognize, ‘I could have been better.’”
  —Will Ahmed (26:47–27:56)

• “You could look at 10 graphs on a wall and point to the one that was LeBron’s sleep—it was just so much better than the others.”
  —Will Ahmed (31:13)

• “A higher HRV suggests your body is in a better state of rest or peak performance or flow.”
  —Will Ahmed (34:47)

• “Virtually everything you see in a doctor’s office that’s measuring you, we’re going to try to do non-invasively and continuously.”
  —Will Ahmed (38:16)

• “January 1st is the worst recovery of the year... the second worst in the US is the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which I thought’s a funny one.”
  —Will Ahmed (50:01)

• “Whoop by presenting some numbers and information created that bridge to, bond a father and son over their health.”
  —Will Ahmed (53:50)

• “My bet is it's a consumer facing company that starts to become your doctor’s office and your relationship with medicine and health.”
  —Will Ahmed (56:21)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Mission & Healthspan: 06:20–09:41
• Product Growth & Tiers: 11:16–13:39
• Data, Algorithms, & AI: 13:39–17:13
• Data Negativity & Behavior Change: 19:13–22:48
• Personal Data Transformation (Willy): 24:00–26:45
• Elite Athletes & Recovery: 30:01–32:37
• HRV & Physiology Deep Dive: 32:37–36:32
• ECG & Med-Tech in Wearables: 36:32–39:17
• Blood Glucose Monitoring & CGM: 39:17–40:31
• Athlete Data in Broadcast/Gambling: 40:31–45:46
• Gender, Fashion, & Global Patterns: 45:46–49:31
• Groups & Family Use: 51:33–54:39
• Future Vision & Health Industry Disruption: 56:15–58:31

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a rich exploration of how WHOOP blends cutting-edge tech, entrepreneurship, health research, and behavioral science to empower individuals—athletes and average people alike—to maximize their wellbeing and longevity. The conversation is candid, inspiring, and occasionally humorous, making it a compelling listen for anyone interested in the future of wearables, personalized health, and how data can drive real change.