Will Ahmed: Turning Harvard Squash Obsession Into a Global Wearable Empire

Will Ahmed, the 22-year-old chief executive of Whoop, addressed a crowd at Northeastern University's EXP research center on Thursday. He discussed the trajectory of his wearable technology company, which now counts more than 2.5 million customers worldwide. These users wear Whoop bracelets to monitor sleep, stress levels, and heart rate. Ahmed recently earned a spot on Time magazine's list of the 100 Most Influential People in Sports.

Ahmed founded the company while serving as a student athlete at Harvard. He was an avid squash player who wanted specific data on how his workouts affected his performance. He read hundreds of medical journals on physiology while taking a business class at MIT. That research led to the business plan for Whoop. He noted that his early success relied on targeting a very specific group. "Our initial target market was 10,000 people in the world. You can’t have a much smaller market than that," he said.

The early days of the startup were marked by frequent rejection. In the early 2010s, Ahmed sought investors and team members who were interested in high-quality health data for athletes. Many told him the idea was not viable or that they did not want to work with him. "I would go meet with people and they would tell me it wasn’t a good idea or that they didn’t want to work with me," he recalled. He pushed through the negative feedback by developing resilience. He eventually found investors and employees who shared his vision for the wearable health market.

Ahmed emphasized his leadership philosophy, which prioritizes the needs of his employees over his own. He believes that viewing problems as opportunities to learn keeps leaders focused. "The healthy thing for me about this is that it gets you out of your head," he said. "When you take an approach of thinking that challenges, problems are going to bring out the best in you, you’re going to overcome these things and learn something from them."

Northeastern University has become a major recruiting partner for the Boston-based company. Ahmed stated that the university's co-op program is one of the best from a recruitment standpoint. Whoop has hired 262 co-ops since 2024 and more than 500 in the past decade. Sam Iannone, a fourth-year business student and moderator for the event, served twice as a Whoop co-op. He is also known as the symbolic Mayor of Huntington Avenue.

Ahmed also addressed the role of artificial intelligence in healthcare. He predicted that as the world becomes more artificial, there will be a strong movement toward being real. He expects this shift to happen in physical places. He believes that human touch will remain necessary even as disruptive technologies influence the industry.

Students in the audience noted the value of Ahmed's perspective. Ethan Menezes, a fourth-year math and science major, cited Ahmed's humility and intensity as key takeaways. "He lives life in service of the people he is interacting with," Menezes said. Rae Yang, a fourth-year computer science and music major, appreciated the focus on human connection amidst the rise of AI. She noted that hearing big founders discuss AI can sometimes feel out of touch, but Ahmed's emphasis on people wanting to connect resonated with her.