All-In Interview Recap: WHOOP CEO Will Ahmed on Health Data, AI Coaching and the FDA

The All-In Podcast released a full-length interview episode on October 29, 2026, "WHOOP CEO, Will Ahmed: 50B Hours of Health Data, a 4 Million Member Data Moat, & the FDA Fight". It runs about 56 minutes. Host Jason Calacanis sat down one-on-one with Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of the wearable company WHOOP, as part of the show's interview series rather than its usual Friday news roundtable. Here is a plain-English summary of what they discussed, plus a timestamp guide so you can jump to the parts you care about.

This is an independent summary written by GNOUP. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by the All-In Podcast, WHOOP, or any host or guest, and GNOUP does not endorse any product mentioned. The views described below belong to the speakers. Nothing here is medical, financial or investment advice.

Key takeaways

• From a $500 gadget to a membership. Will said WHOOP first sold its band to consumers in 2017 for a one-time price of about $500. People who bought it wore it for a long time, he said, but too few people were buying. Switching to a monthly membership lowered the entry price, and he said it also changed the company's focus toward keeping existing members happy and adding features to hardware people already own.
• Growth and scale, by the company's own account. Will said it took WHOOP about 12 years to reach 1 million members, then faster jumps to 2 and 3 million, and that he expects to end the year around 4 million. He said the average member wears the band 23.6 hours a day, giving the company "just over 50 billion hours" of continuous body data. These figures are the CEO's statements and were not independently checked by GNOUP.
• Sleep, recovery and strain. The app is built around three main scores. Will explained heart rate variability (HRV), the small variation in time between heartbeats, as a window into the nervous system that tends to decline with age. He said keeping it steady over the years is a good sign for fitness.
• An AI coach and a daily journal. Members can log more than 100 habits, such as alcohol, late meals or a warm bath, and the app estimates how each one relates to their recovery score. Jason, a longtime user, rated the AI coach "a seven and a half" out of 10 and said it has improved a lot. The coach itself told him one result was "a correlation, not evidence" of cause, which is a useful reminder for anyone reading these numbers.
• The FDA disagreement. Will described a public dispute after WHOOP launched a blood pressure insights feature as a wellness tool. He said the FDA sent a warning letter, WHOOP stood by its approach, and the agency later updated its guidance to recognize wellness uses for blood pressure. He also noted that WHOOP's ECG feature is FDA-cleared.
• A new ambassador. Will announced that LeBron James is now a global ambassador for WHOOP, saying James had worn the product for 11 years without a formal deal and was one of its first 100 users.

Newsworthy insights

These are claims and opinions voiced on the show, not independently verified findings by GNOUP, unless noted.

Early warnings from wearable data (personal stories, not medical evidence)

• Jason described two times his WHOOP readings changed before he felt ill. Once, a higher breathing rate and skin temperature for two days came before chest pain that sent him to the emergency room. He said doctors found inflammation, not a heart attack. Another time, he said, unusual readings prompted him to test for COVID early.
• Will shared member stories he said the company receives, including a fit, healthy baseball player whose unusually high sleeping heart rate led to a cancer diagnosis, and a long-time member whose HRV suddenly dropped before a cancer was found. He said it is not known whether HRV is a reliable early sign of that illness. These are individual anecdotes. A wearable is not a diagnostic device, and anyone with symptoms should see a doctor.

What the data might do next (company plans and claims)

• Will said WHOOP is building its own AI models trained on its data, alongside blood tests and medical records that members choose to upload. He claimed early signs suggest body signals might one day flag that a lab value, such as cortisol, could be out of range, so a person could get one targeted test. This was described as early research, not a finished feature.
• He said about half of members use the journal every day, and that the company has a team focused on travel and time-zone changes because so many members ask the coach about jet lag.
• Will said WHOOP does not sell member data. He described the membership, not the user, as the product.

Habits the hosts talked about (opinion and personal results)

• Across WHOOP's members, Will said, eating within about three hours of bedtime is linked to worse sleep and recovery, which he attributed to the body still digesting. On Jason's own app, alcohol and late meals showed up as negatives, while warm baths, a consistent bedtime and morning sunlight showed up as positives.
• Jason said he uses a GLP-1 weight-loss medication and has lost a significant amount of weight. Will said a common concern with these drugs is losing muscle along with fat, and that WHOOP's new GLP-1 tracker nudges users toward activity, strength training and enough protein. Talk to a doctor about any medication or major diet change.
• In a quick-fire round, Will said cold showers are an easy everyday habit, that he prefers a classic sauna and sees red light therapy as mostly marketing, and that most people would benefit from more weight training. These are his personal opinions.

Sports, wearables and investing chat

• Will said some players at the Australian Open were asked to remove their WHOOP bands even though, he said, the International Tennis Federation had approved them, and that other major tournaments later said wearables are allowed. He said the NBA is still looking at whether players can wear them in games.
• Asked whether Apple worries him, Will said he has great respect for Apple, and pointed out that there were more wearable competitors 10 years ago than today.
• Near the end, Jason and Will talked about private-company share sales. Their shared advice was to work with a company's finance chief rather than around it, and to be wary of brokers who claim to have shares for sale. This was general conversation, not investment advice.

Watch the episode

WHOOP CEO, Will Ahmed: 50B Hours of Health Data, a 4 Million Member Data Moat, & the FDA Fight on YouTube (All-In Podcast's official channel, published October 29, 2026)

Episode guide

Chapter times are taken from the episode's own YouTube description. Select a time to jump to that point on YouTube.

• 0:00: Welcome Will Ahmed, CEO of WHOOP
• 0:59: WHOOP's $500 hardware problem and the subscription pivot
• 6:59: Inside 50 billion hours of 24/7 health data
• 19:31: WHOOP's AI coach, journal insights and GLP-1 tracking
• 34:57: WHOOP vs. the FDA and competitor wearables
• 44:33: Lightning round, and LeBron James becomes a WHOOP ambassador

About this summary

This recap was prepared from the episode's publicly available transcript text and chapter list. Transcripts can contain errors, so figures and wording may differ slightly from the audio; watch the episode for the exact words. Company figures such as member counts and data totals are the CEO's own statements. The health topics here are discussed for general interest only. This is not medical advice: wearable readings and app insights are not a diagnosis, so talk to a qualified health professional about symptoms, medications or changes to your routine. Nothing here is financial or investment advice either.