WHOOP

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Source: WHOOP site

Founders: Will Ahmed, John Capodilupo, Aurelian Nicolae
Founding: 2012
Mission: Unlock human performance
Employees: 660 (U.S.) & ~65% Local
Workplace: Hybrid
Stage & Capital Raised: Series F & $400M+ raised
Investors: SoftBank, IVP, Cavu Ventures, Thursday Ventures, GP Bullhound, Accomplice, NextView Ventures, and Animal Capital
Key Customers: Cristiano Ronaldo, Alex Morgan, Rory McIlroy, LeBron James, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and tens of thousands more
Glassdoor Rating: 4.1
Valuation (estimated): $3B+ (announced a $3.6B valuation in the $200M Series F fundraise)
^ this is a useless number from MGMT Boston. There is no tangible valuation until the business is sold or goes public. Don’t forget it!

IMPORTANT DISCLOSURE: I didn’t talk to anyone at WHOOP for this profile. Yes, I know a few people over there. No, I didn’t want to put any of them in an uncomfortable position so this is all me & my own research, commentary & extrapolations based on publicly available info. They’re busy with Cristiano!

WHOOP is on a mission to unlock human performance, revolutionizing how people better understand their bodies. This late stage consumer tech company, located just over the Green Monster in Kenmore Square, is a global leader ushering in a new generation of AI driven technology for the human body.

What should you know about WHOOP?

  • WHOOP is growing up
  • This is an AI, data & research company
  • International expansion is a key strategy in the coming years

If you believe that health is wealth, you should believe in WHOOP.  Here are ten things to know about WHOOP and shout out to Will Ahmed for surviving the earthquake this week. What can’t they endure over there??

  • Origins in Athletic Training – Co-Founder Will Ahmed was a Harvard athlete who wanted to know how training was impacting his body from sleep to training to recovery. After reading hundreds of medical papers, his research led him to believe that monitoring key biometrics like heart rate and heart rate variability 24/7 did more than just help with training – these metrics could also make athletes feel better, perform better, and live better. He teamed up with John Capodilupo and Aurelian Nicolae in 2012 to bring this vision to life backed by Accomplice, Founder Collective, NextView & others
  • New Product Coming Soon? – WHOOP released their first wearable, the WHOOP 1.0, in 2015. 2.0 followed in 2016, 3.0 in 2018, and 4.0 in 2021. If we are to infer future timelines around historical product development lifecycles, we could be seeing 5.0 pretty soon..
  • Software Enabled Evolution – In 2018 the company transitioned from a $500 consumer hardware product to a subscription based model, changing the economics and incentives of the business to become a hardware enabled software company
  • Secular Growth in Consumer Wearables – Over the last decade, WHOOP and the consumer wearables market have grown rapidly. In 2024, wearables revenues hit $125B and are on track to more than double by 2030 (src). WHOOP (although not publicly reported) likely has north of 100,000 subscribers paying $200+/year as it expands to use cases outside of high performance athletics
  • Hub & Spoke Distribution Model – The company sells a single flagship hardware device (with 70,000+ customizable color & material combinations) alongside an array of software & data products including WHOOP Coach & WHOOP Labs
  • WHOOP is AI Driven – Their team is partnering with OpenAI to drive adoption of LLMs internally, educate & empower employees, and scale knowledge sharing across the company
    • Less than 30 days into full deployment, 100,000+ messages were exchanged within their Enterprise platform
    • 50+ internal GPTs have been built to help functional teams
    • An AI Steering Committee was created to drive overall AI strategy & roadmapping
    • A 25 member AI Guild was spun up to help teams build GPTs, create a library of L&D AI resources, hold office hours, run events, and more in the coming quarters
  • 2024 Features Round Up – In December they announced their top features released in 2024. Highlights include tracking Body Composition and Weight change, Heart Rate Zones, Pregnancy Insights, Strength Trainer, Journaling, and more personalization features
  • The Executive Team is Growing – Garrett Bastable recently joined as COO to kick off 2025. Ed Baker joined in 2023 as Chief Product Officer after his startup, AnyQuestion, was acquired. Longtime Marketing leader John Sullivan was promoted to CMO in February 2024 and Michener Chandlee joined as CFO in Oct ‘23 to bring more expertise to the C-Suite

Operators to Know (Locally):

My investigative powers continue to need work so apologies to the WHOOP team I know I missed many *excellent* up & coming operators internally

Key Roles To Be Hired:

If I were interviewing here are some questions I’d ask:

  • What are the key 2025 initiatives across the company, departments, and functional teams?
  • How does AI transform WHOOP’s opportunity?
  • What are the biggest challenges as you scale the team internationally?
  • What are the most important roles you’ll be looking to add in 2025 // teams that need the most help?

We’re optimizing for readability here so to learn more about WHOOP you’ll have to D.Y.O.R. I’m excited to watch this team unlock human performance in the AI age. All competitors applaud your efforts. See you around town!

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