health
March 28, 2026
Whoop has LeBron - now it wants your mom
Whoop founder Will Ahmed has spent 14 years building a health wearable beloved by elite athletes, and is now racing Oura — and the FDA, and the limits of consumer medicine — to turn it into something that could one day save your life.
TL;DR
- Whoop, founded by Will Ahmed, has evolved from a performance tracker for elite athletes to a broader health wearable.
- The company has achieved significant revenue growth and profitability, with a sticky subscription model.
- Ahmed aims to position Whoop as a life-saving health monitor, incorporating features like ECG, atrial fibrillation detection, and blood pressure insights.
- Whoop has faced scrutiny from the FDA regarding its blood pressure feature, which the company disputes.
- Partnerships with Quest Diagnostics allow for blood test biomarker integration and review by clinicians.
- The 'Health Span' feature, calculating biological age, has become a popular offering.
- Whoop's hardware design lacks a screen and notifications, differentiating it from smartwatches.
- Rival company Oura also offers a smart ring with a similar subscription model, and both companies are seeing growth in their female user base.
- Elite athletes, including Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, have shown a strong organic preference for wearing Whoop bands, even when instructed to remove them.
- Whoop has a policy against giving athletes equity for wearing the band, relying on organic adoption.
- Ahmed emphasizes the challenging but rewarding nature of entrepreneurship, focusing on solving problems.
- Whoop is actively hiring, while Oura is reportedly exploring an IPO, which could set financial benchmarks for Whoop.
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