The Gstaad Guy Podcast Will Ahmed: Founder & CEO of WHOOP – Physiology, Prevention, AI, & The Future Of Health
Jan 7, 2026
Will Ahmed, Founder and CEO of WHOOP, dives into the transformative power of wearable physiology. He discusses the removal of screens from wearables to enhance user experience and emphasizes the importance of heart rate variability for recovery and training. Will shares insights on using AI for personalized health predictions and the cultural shift towards prioritizing longevity. He highlights WHOOP's role in preventive health, illustrating how continuous data can lead to life-saving interventions, leading a conversation that redefines our relationship with health technology.
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Design For Continuous Wear
- Will Ahmed deliberately removed visible tech from WHOOP to ensure people would wear it 24/7.
- Continuous wear enables the baseline and longitudinal data WHOOP needs to interpret physiology accurately.
The Ugly Prototype That Proved HRV
- The V1 WHOOP was an orange box tethered to a wristband that needed a computer to download data.
- Despite the ugly prototype, it proved wrist HRV measurement was possible and convinced early investors.
HRV As A Contextual Signal
- Heart rate variability (HRV) reflects autonomic balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic states.
- HRV is highly sensitive to context, so WHOOP builds baselines from continuous measurements over time.
