logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2024
17m 29s

Business Daily meets: Whoop founder Will...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

They’re the 300 dollar subscription fitness bands being worn by a host of celebrity-backers in 2024. But who is the business leader behind the billion-dollar Whoop brand?

The son of an Egyptian migrant to the US, Will Ahmed was always interested in sports. During his college years he started to notice the dangers of doing too much sports training. He describes this as a ‘rabbit hole’ as he began researching sleep and recovery patterns in professional athletes.

This led him to create a fitness tracker company that is a 3.4 billion dollar venture today, attracting famous athlete-investors like Michael Phelps and Cristiano Ronaldo and taking on established names in fitness tech like Apple, Google, Garmin and Fitbit.

We hear how he did it, and what challenges he’s faced along the way.

(Picture: Will Ahmed in his office, wearing a Whoop device. Credit: Whoop)

Presented and produced by Devina Gupta

Up next
Yesterday
The impact of 'thirsty' data centres
We're in the US state of Georgia, where huge data centres need water to keep cool. But how is this need for cloud storage and AI capability affecting local residents and the environment?Presenter: Michelle Fleury Producer: Nathalie Jimenez(Image: Georgia resident Beverly Morris l ... Show More
17m 50s
Jul 8
Does university still get you a well-paid job?
Graduates are facing one of the toughest jobs markets in decades. We hear from students in India, the US and UK about whether they feel a university or college degree is worth it as we discuss the cost of attending university around the world and what your job prospects might be ... Show More
17m 27s
Jul 7
Returning to Ukraine?
The UN estimates that nearly seven million Ukrainians have left their home country since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Many have set up businesses in their new country - around 90,000 of those in Poland. We hear about the challenges they’ve faced, and the sectors ... Show More
17m 30s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2024
S10 Bonus: Andrey Kudievskiy, Distillery
Andrey Kudievskiy has always been fascinated by technology, and when asked about himself, he identifies as an entrepreneur. He has been a software engineer, database developer, administrator and then jumped accidentally into management. Outside of his professional life, he is mar ... Show More
32m 58s
Jul 2024
S9 E32: Shalin Madan, Formidium
Shalin Madan immigrated to the US when he was 6 years old. He spent 20 years in the financial markets, of which he got into when he was a teenager. HIs first and best memory of the industry is when Netspace IPO's, and the stock went up 300% in the first day. Outside of financ ... Show More
24m 43s
Aug 2024
Flashback: Why Failure is a Path to Progress, with Will Ahmed of WHOOP
As a D1 athlete, Will Ahmed became obsessed with the idea of recovery. How do you unlock human performance, and what data would you need to do so? This interest led to the creation of WHOOP, the next gen wearable technology. Will started WHOOP in 2012, immediately after graduatin ... Show More
43m 40s
Mar 2024
'The $150,000 Coach' Shannon Graham & Four Loko Founder, Chris Hunter 💸 E61
Shannon Graham, founder of Astranaut, has dedicated himself to empowering individuals to lead fulfilling lives for over 20 years. He has started projects to help with video game addiction and to empower Hispanic immigrants financially. Shannon's teamed up with leaders all over th ... Show More
1h 10m
Dec 2019
The team player: How Karim Awad has grown EFG Hermes from a regional giant into a global player (Ep 3)
Karim Awad started at EFG Hermes as an analyst and rose to become the head of EFG’s high-profile investment banking unit — a job he held until he was tapped to run the firm as Group CEO in 2013. In an industry known for its outsized egos, Karim is Scottie Pippen, the consummate t ... Show More
34m 7s
Feb 2024
S9 Bonus: Ruslan Zaripov, RiskHunter by KRIT
Ruslan Zaripov has been interested in computers since the early days. He started his career as a database developer, and eventually became a project manager. Essentially, he has been serving in information technology his whole life. Outside of tech, he is married with 2 kids and ... Show More
21m 23s
Dec 2024
E87: What It Takes to Win Big (in MENA): Insights from a $35B Founder and Global Investor
Chris Rogers is a global entrepreneur who co-founded Nextel Communications, a wireless connectivity company, in 1987 and sold it for $35B in 2005. In the early 2000s, Chris came to Saudi Arabia to launch Nextel as a joint venture with Saudi Telecom. His deep connection to the reg ... Show More
1h 19m
Jul 2024
E78:Vadim Fedotov on leading Groupon, founding Bioniq, health & wellness, mental toughness and the right diet
Vadim shares insights from his journey as a professional athlete, how he learned all about mental toughness and breaking your opponent. We shares his journey beyond sports into management consulting in Germany and then becoming the youngest CEO in Groupon as he led Eastern Europe ... Show More
1h 30m
Apr 2024
#32- Abdulmajeed Al Sukhan (Co-Founder & CEO of Tamara) on why building companies is tougher than fighting cancer
This episode was recorded live at the Sharjah Entrepreneurship Festival (SEF). Our first live show!Abdulmajeed is a serial entrepreneur in the true sense of the word. He is co-founder of Nana (the largest grocery delivery platform in KSA) and currently co-founder and CEO of Tamar ... Show More
42m 50s
May 2024
Ep. 88 The Grit It Takes To Turn Your Idea Into A Billion Dollar Reality With Whoop's Will Ahmed
I don’t want to offend the other guests, but Will Ahmed might be the most impressive guest we’ve ever had on this podcast. Aged just 22, whilst still a student at Harvard, he founded Whoop, a wearable health tracker that measures the minutiae of your heart rate data to give you i ... Show More
1h 12m