Will Ahmed has founded WHOOP which has been valued at 3.6 billion today, as one of the biggest athletic wearable companies in the world. WHOOP was founded in 2012, as Will Ahmed was a student athlete at Harvard. He wanted to prevent overtraining and learn more about how his body was recovering. He began to do research on the topic and then WHOOP released its first product in 2015. Now in 2023, you will see many professional athletes wearing a WHOOP band on their wrist.
The current version of WHOOP out now is the 4.0. It is a thin band that can go around your wrist or bicep. It has customizable bands with different designs as well. It does not have a screen but connects to an app on your phone. WHOOP will measure your sleep, strain, recovery, stress, and other metrics as well. Strain is measured based on the amount of cardiovascular and muscular load put on your body on a scale from 0-21. Based on your strain, WHOOP will recommend the amount of sleep you should get. It is a lot more than just tracking your steps, heart rate, etc. Some athletes who use WHOOP are Lebron James, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, just to name a few. It has also partnered with the NFL, MLB, PGA Tour as the official wearable and recovery device. It is not just for professional athletes, but for anyone that wants to know more about their body and improve their habits and routines. Ahmed was named to the 2021 Sports Business Journal 40 under 40 list as well as 2020 Fortune 40 Under 40 Healthcare list and previously named to Forbes 30 Under 30 and Boston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40. Will Ahmed has been able to find a need that he had as a college athlete and turn it into a very big business.
