All-In Podcast · Oct 29, 2026 · 55m · 50m saved
With Will Ahmed, Founder and CEO of WHOOP
Photo: Chase McCann, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikipedia
Will Ahmed built WHOOP on 50 billion hours of continuous physiological data, pulled from members who wear the device an average of 23.6 hours a day. That scale came from a decision Will calls the single biggest strategic call in the company's history: ripping out the one-time hardware sale and replacing it with a subscription.
"On average, a WHOOP member wears WHOOP 23.6 hours a day. We have just over 50 billion hours of continuous physiological data." — Will Ahmed
Jason Calacanis pressed him on growth, regulation and trust.
The full interview is covered here so you can skip it. 55 minutes of audio, 5 minutes of reading.
Here are the 5 takeaways that matter.
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Key Takeaways
WHOOP's membership grew from 1 million to 4 million in about 6 years, accelerating each round
Its subscription model avoids the hardware trap of shipping new devices every 12 months whether or not they're innovative
WHOOP got a warning letter from the FDA over a blood-pressure feature and refused to back down
Its ECG feature carries actual FDA medical clearance under the 510(k) pathway, unlike the wellness-only blood pressure tool
WHOOP's subscription model means it doesn't sell data — the membership itself is the product
1. From 1M to 4M Members
WHOOP took 12 years to reach its first million members, then 18 months to double that, 6 months to add a third million, and expects to close this year near 4 million. Will traces the acceleration to a 2017 decision he calls the company's biggest strategic call: trading a one-time $500 hardware sale for a $15-$30 monthly subscription.
A hardware business has to keep selling new devices to survive
"When you're a hardware business, you're incentivized to ship new hardware every 12 months, whether or not it's actually innovative, because you always need that next dollar from a hardware sale." — Will Ahmed, on why WHOOP moved to subscriptions
A subscription business, Will says, gets obsessed with existing members instead, adding features like ECG monitoring, AFib detection and blood pressure insights to hardware already in the field rather than waiting for the next device cycle.
