(soft music) We discovered that there were secrets that your body was trying to tell you that could really help you optimize performance, but no one can monitor those things. And that's when we set out to build the technology that we thought could really change the world. (upbeat music) - Welcome to the Woop Podcast. I'm your host, Will Ahmed, founder and CEO of Woop, where we are on a mission to unlock human performance. At Woop, we measure the body 24/7 and provide analytics to our members to help improve performance. This includes strain, recovery and sleep. Our clients range for the best professional athletes in the world, to Navy SEALs, to fitness enthusiasts, to Fortune 500 CEOs and executives. The common thread among Woop members is a passion to improve. What does it take to optimize performance for athletes, for humans, really anyone? We're launching a podcast to dig deeper. We'll interview experts and industry leaders across sports, data, technology, physiology, athletic achievement, you name it. My hope is that you'll leave these conversations with some new ideas and a greater passion for performance. With that in mind, I welcome you to the Woop Podcast. (upbeat music) I know everyone here at Woop's work tirelessly get this out the door and we take our product very seriously. We want to make sure that when we release something new, it's awesome and people can really get value out of it. So I can't wait to see what the Woop community does with Woop Strap 3.0 and more than anything, I'm proud of this team and our community. (upbeat music) What's up everyone? Welcome to the Woop Podcast. My name is Robert Moller and for you die hard listeners out there, you may remember my voice from episode seven, that was our first conversation between Will and I. Today we're gonna be talking about Woop Strap 3.0 and of course my guest is none other than Will Ahmed, CEO and founder of Woop. Will, what's going on? What's up then, flip in the script. So I'm super excited because we have just launched the Woop Strap 3.0 and I know today we're gonna be talking about an overview and then digging deep into the features that are gonna be coming out. Can we jump into this? So I mean as you know the team's been hard at work, we're really proud that we launched Woop Strap 3.0 which features Woop Live, which is a suite of new features really to improve performance of your overall experience on Woop. The Woop Strap 3.0, it's got a five day battery life. It's got a new pronit band which is a super well engineered band that we've spent over two years developing. We'll talk about that. And it's now Bluetooth low energy compatible, which allows you to pair it to all sorts of different products. The Woop Strap 3.0 also enables Woop Live, which is this suite of features. One of the features is the strain coach. So that's actually gonna allow you to see strain, building and real time, to be coached as to whether you should push more or take on less strain in real time. The Woop Snap Plus, which is a continuation of our Woop Snap feature, you're gonna be able to watch yourself with real time data, overlayed with video, it's really cool. We've been doing it in the office. And then lastly, heart rate broadcast. So that's gonna allow you to connect your Woop Strap to third party apps and devices. And actually see data in real time. So overall, really proud of the team, really proud of the product that we've launched. And I hope everyone really loves it. - Yeah, well, there's a bunch of features in the suite that you just talked about. And I definitely wanna dig into. So the first thing I wanna talk about is the battery life. The battery life is something that has been improved dramatically. And you said it's gonna last five days. - Yeah, you know, our current Gen 2 on the market that had about a two day battery life in some cases a little less. So this is about two and a half times longer. And really it's a breakthrough in algorithms. You know, there's a direct trade off between accuracy, battery life and the amount of data that you collect. - Okay. - We've been able to maintain that accuracy, actually improve it slightly with Generation 3 while massively boosting our battery life. Battery life was something that our users, you know, some of which complained about. And it was something that we wanted to improve. You know, we want you to wear the Woop Strap 24/7. And so we really set out for, you know, a number of years to improve it. - So with all the data that we were able to collect in the past, you guys were able to come in, make the battery last longer and improve the algorithm all at the same time. - Yeah, I mean, it's a real breakthrough from a signal processing standpoint. I think it puts our hardware well ahead of everything else on the market now as a result, because it's not just accurate, but it's super efficient. And it should really improve everyone's experience with the product. - Nice, and you mentioned the band. And I know, you know, we've had different bands that have come out, the technical and the Churchill and all these different things. But I can tell you, you know, that the Pronid band is the best band that I've ever had on my wrist. It's like I'm wearing a cloud. And I have to dig into this because I know all the Woop listeners are gonna be super excited when we talk about this. But tell me about the Pronid band, because this is by far, you know, I would call this our Renaissance band, and I'm super excited for it. - Well, I don't think you're overselling the Pronid band. I think that it really is a breakthrough from a fabric engineering standpoint, you know, the challenge with any band is that it has to adapt to a ton of different activities and a ton of different lifestyles. And, you know, we have very active users. And we've found that some of our bands have performed well for some activities, but not for others. And so we wanted the out-of-the-box band to be world-class and to be something that would really adapt to anyone's lifestyle well. And I think the Pronid band fits the bill. What's unique about it and innovative about it is we've actually created layers of material. So the top layer got the right degree of stretchiness and firmness. In the past, that's been something that we've wrestled with where some bands were very firm, like the Truman or the Lightwave. And some bands were stretchy, like the Technica. - Right. - Right. This is right in the middle, and I think it's the right balance. On top of that, we've added these high tenacity filaments that actually form an active layer between the band and the surface of your skin. And what that's gonna do is it's gonna allow you to absorb, sweat, or water, and have it effectively displaced pressure to improve comfort. I mean, it's really a fascinating concept when you get into the weeds of how all these different fabrics work. And then on top of that, we've even added an internal rubber layer just on the very top, maybe eighth of the band that helps connect the top of the band to your sensor. So that in turn makes sure there's no slippage when your band's doing something active. Well, that's what I was gonna say because I've had a lot of the bands. I think I've worn all of them. - And you're a good critic. - And I have not adjusted this band at all. It doesn't move. It doesn't move at all. And that's what I love about this band because I can swim in it with it in the morning. I can live with it during the day. I don't even know it's there. Where I think some of the other bands, you had to at least adjust throughout the day. I don't touch this thing at all. - Yeah, no, look, it's amazing. Our design team did a phenomenal job. It comes in three new colors, including Onyx, Carbide and Arctic. So you've got a black, a blue, or a white to choose from. I think they're all pretty hot. - Right. - And they also have corresponding clasps with the colors to match. - It's gonna look good on the street. - Yeah, it's gonna look awesome. - So, you know, not we covered the Pronet band. I definitely wanna dig into the Bluetooth low energy. - Well, I think Bluetooth low energy is the most sophisticated Bluetooth protocol. You know, historically we used Bluetooth classic in the Wobstrap 2.0. And that had specific advantages at the time related to accuracy. And we wanted to find a way to use Bluetooth low energy but maintain the same accuracy. That goes back to the algorithm breakthrough that I mentioned earlier. - Right. - So what's nice about having Bluetooth low energy in your Wobstrap is it's gonna improve the connectivity to your iPhone or your Android phone from one. And then it's also now enabling the heart rate broadcast feature which is gonna allow the Wobstrap to communicate to other products. - Nice. - And I know we'll touch on that. - We'll talk about that here in a little bit. You know, I definitely wanna talk about size. We're talking about all these WhizBang things here but how big is this 3.0? - Well, I think the amazing thing is that we've done all this development and increased the battery life to 1.5x. But we've kept whooping the same exact form factor. So the overall footprint that is on your wrist or you can wear in other areas of the arm is still the same size. And that has some advantages too. So if you've stocked up on bands over the course of the last 12 months, your bands will also now work with Gen 3. - Right. What about Woop Live? I know Woop Live is something that everybody's been excited about we've been using it here in the office. Can you kinda dig a little bit deeper, especially, let's start with the strain coach because the strain coach, I see such a big advantage to, you know, and I think that the community is gonna go crazy when they realize what they can do with it. - Yeah, this future was pretty close to home for me because I know I've spoken to so many Woop users and athletes and they say to me, you know, based on my recovery, what should I do? - Right. - And that was really the mindset going into designing the strain coach is, how do we coach someone to take on the right strain for this.
status of their body. And then how can they actually get feedback in real time that they're doing the right thing? And so the amazing thing about the strain coach is at any point you'll be able to go into the menu and you'll be able to pull it up and based on your recovery and based on the strain that you've already accumulated, it's going to tell you how much more strain you should put on your body to be optimal. And you can set your own goals or you can listen to the whoop coach. And then when you start an activity in real time, you'll be able to see, am I building the right amount of strain? Have I met the right amount of strain and should I stop? Or do I need to keep going? So from that standpoint, I've found it to be super interactive. If you're looking for a kick in the pants, it can be motivational because it'll show you you haven't met your goal. And on the flip side, if you're someone who, like me when I was a college athlete, like I would like to overdo it, it'll hold you back. If you need to taper and you need to lower strain today, it'll hold you back. Your body's run down and you really shouldn't crush that workout. It'll hold you back. And so I think the strain coach creates a lot of accountability and I think it's going to be a feature people love. Yeah, I get a lot of questions around when they wake up or when a user wakes up and they're in the red. And that's to say they're 23% and they're in the red. The question I get all the time is, should I just skip the workout? Because I don't know what I should do in order to benefit from me waking up in the red meaning I don't have that strain coach. And I think now when guys or girls wake up in the red, they're able to use that strain coach, utilize it so they don't over train. And so they're staying away from injury. I think it's going to be massive. Yeah, we've been joking about it in the office because for some people it's been holding them back and for other people it's like they're finally going, you know, hitting the treadmill after the after the lightweight lifting workout they just did. Right. No, I, yeah, I think it's going to be a game changer for a lot of our users because it's going to be that much more. I mean, it really is. It's going to be like having another coach. That is a great point. Like if you go in the app today, you see that there's a weekly performance assessment that balances your strain and your recovery, right? And it's looking at over the course of a week, were you training in an optimal level or even were you living in an optimal level? You know, we have a lot of users who just take on stress because that's their life. And I think what's powerful about the strain coach is it'll guide you every day to be in that optimal range. Right. And then at the end of the week, you'll be able to reflect on Monday morning, according to the weekly performance assessment, how well did I listen to the strain coach? So that balance between the strain coach, the sleep coach and the weekly performance assessment were really designing that to try to balance your life. It's been pretty phenomenal. I've noticed just personally using it that like my my optimal range has gotten more dialed in. Right. You know, I can ask the strain coach, hey, am I should I do more or do less? Right. And it's a little bit less of a guessing game, you know, before when you would work out, you'd look back afterwards and be like, oh, that was a 12 or, oh, that was a 15 or, wow, that was a 17. Right. Right. So now you're more proactive about it because you'll know, oh, I'm at a 13. Should I keep going? Sure. Or should I stop? Right. Yeah, I think, I think that's going to help with not overdoing it week over week because like you say, a lot of people do live in that high stress environment and they just don't know what to do at the end of the day or the beginning of the day when it comes to their workouts and not just workouts, but just to live that overall better holistic lifestyle. And the point I'll add is that we designed it, not just for athletes in mind. Like this is really a feature that I think everyone can benefit from because, you know, if you're someone who's trying to get back in the shape or you're someone who's dealing with a lot of stress in your life, you need to find that balance of pushing your body, but not overdoing it. And this feature is actually going to hold people back and make them more accountable. And I think you'll realize that consistency every day becomes the important thing. It's not just one big workout or big stressful day and then everything, right? Right. Yeah, I think that's huge. I definitely think that's huge for all of our users from, you know, military to pro athletes and everybody in between. I think it's going to be a game changer and I think it's going to be massive for injury prevention and longevity. What about Woop Snap Plus? So Woop Snap Plus is a continuation of our Woop Snap feature. And for all members now, you'll notice the Woop Snap functionality has been upgraded. So instead of just taking pictures with Woop data on top of it, you'll now be able to record a video that will still have like your static day strain or your static recovery or your static sleep. So that's something that was requested and it should make the Woop Snap basic functionality more enhanced. Woop Snap Plus is actually going to allow you to stream Woop data on top of video. And I think there's going to be really two ways that people use this. So the first is fun and cool where you're creating a video of yourself busting ass in the gym, right? Your heart rate's jacked and you're doing something cool and you see the strain building and your calories building and you create a short video and you can share it with your friends or you can share it with the world. The second is actually going to be using it for coaching purposes, right? Where you can look at in real time, how is your body responding to whatever you're putting it through? So in the sports setting, that can be actually understanding technique or strategy alongside your body. You know, you think about the NBA playoffs are going on right now, right? There's all these conversations around minutes and what the players are being pushed to hard, right? And if you actually were using the Woop Snap Plus during a game, you'd be able to tell, hey, how's this player responding to the amount of strain that they're putting on the body alongside their form? So you could take a video of an athlete doing that jump shot and see where their heart rate is and their strain is and maybe you realize, okay, their shots start to keep coming up short when their strain hits a certain level. You can picture the same thing in baseball with pitches, right? So it's really interesting. I think a lot of endurance athletes will see value in it too because it'll show them when their form's breaking down. Definitely technical athletes. So for me, you can play squash. You know, I've now been watching videos of myself with this data overlay and I realize, okay, in the third, fourth, fifth games, how's my body responding to certain points? When should I have taken a longer rest, right? So it makes a video so much more dynamic and interesting. Yeah, I think with that feature, when you go into a training session and you have the ability to record what you're doing and then you're able to compare that same, so let's just say for me, running endurance. Yeah. If I'm doing a 10-mileer and I'm doing the same course, I can take that video with my strain building over that 10-mile period or whatever I'm looking at and compare it to a month later or two months later and bring them together and see where I am physiologically using the Woop Snap Plus. Yeah, and I'll go step further. Like if you had a running coach looking at your form during it, you know, he or she might be able to give you feedback on how is your form relative to the strain, relative to the pace. So it's a feature that I think can be really playful and really silly. I think it's also a feature that can be something that's really is for hardcore coaching. And I'm mostly excited to see how the Woop Population uses it. Yeah, I can't imagine what people are going to do, but I think it's going to be cool to see and see how people are using it for sure. So with the Woop Snap 3.0, you mentioned that the HR broadcast feature is able to now connect to different type of devices. Can you expand and let us know what it can connect to? The heart rate broadcast feature is now going to allow you to connect your Woop strap 3.0 to other devices, other software. That's going to include Peloton, Concept 2 Ergs, Wahoo Bike Computers, and then a lot of products that you'll find in your favorite gym, you know, so a lot of the treadmills, the exercise bikes, the rowing machines, those are Bluetooth low energy heart rate profile compatible. And that means that you'll be able to turn on the heart rate broadcast and pair. Beyond these devices, Woop broadcast is also going to allow you to connect other apps. So let's say you like to use Strava to track your runs and your cycling. You'll now be able to see your heart rate in the Strava app by just enabling this heart rate broadcast feature within the Woop app. Yeah. So I'm really excited about this because, you know, when I'm running, I'm always pulling my phone out and looking at the app because I wasn't able to connect it to my watch in the past. Sure. But now I can just look down and see exactly what I'm doing that heart rate zone training, whether I'm on the skier, or whether I'm running on, you know, on the road. Yeah. And even if you're just in a gym and like all of a sudden you jump on a treadmill, you'll just feel see your heart rate right there. You don't necessarily have to have your phone with you. Yeah. So Will, do the new Woop Live features work with the Woop strap 2.0? The Woop Live features do not work with Woop strap 2.0. Now, we will continue to upgrade features for our entire population, both Woop strap 2.0 and Woop strap 3.0. We will continue to support Woop strap 2.0. However, those features are just enabled by the fact that Woop 3.0 has new guts, right? Heart rate broadcast, real time data, real time strain, those things are enabled by the technology that's in the Woop strap 3.0. However, there's still plenty of things in the road map from a software standpoint and a Linux standpoint that we'll be doing for 2.0. It's just that these features specifically work with 3.0. Yeah. [BLANK_AUDIO]
2.0 users. Are they able to buy a Pronet band? So today the Pronet only comes with a WOOP Strap 3.0 or we're working to improve our inventory on the Pronet but today it only comes with the WOOP Strap 3.0. Now the good news is if you've got a bunch of bands on your Gen 2 you'll be able to wear those with your Gen 3. Does it cost more than before? So the exciting thing about WOOP Strap 3.0 and I think it's what's cool about the way we approach our business model today is that again joining WOOP you get your WOOP Strap 3.0 for free. We haven't changed anything about membership pricing. You just now when you join you get an upgraded hardware that is much more advanced. If you're thinking about joining WOOP you can join today for as low as $30 to start. Right. So we've created a pretty awesome upgrade profile for a lot of our WOOP members. If you're out of contract and you're just paying $30 a month you'll get a WOOP Strap 3.0 for free. You just commit to a new membership. Nice. A number of months over time and you could pay as little as $0 and get this thing in the mail. So I can current WOOP members actually do that through the app? Yeah, it's all done through the app. I think a lot of your profile information is already in there so that it should make it easier. And we wanted to make the experience pretty simple. Yeah. I'm sure people are dying to know how fast is this going to ship? So we're fulfilling orders right now based on demand. You know, initial quantities are limited so there is some degree of you buy first, you get first. That's going to keep updating on the website. Okay. So well, before we wrap things up, if the current listeners or users want to learn more about the WOOP Strap 3.0, what can they do? Yeah, I mean, all of the new assets are at WOOP.com. You can go to WOOP.com and check it out. If you're an existing member, I would encourage you just to go into the WOOP app and look at the upgrade. That should be right there in the menu and it'll walk you through a lot of the new features and the new product. And beyond that, our membership services team is there and waiting to help. I think that's part of what it means to be part of a club. You got to get good customer support. Sure. And hopefully our team's there to support that. So it's not very often well that you're on this side of the mic and I'm controlling the podcast. So before we get out of here, you're able to tell the WOOP community and the WOOP user community that's listening to the podcast, anything. And I know that everybody here at WOOP is extremely proud of the launch of the WOOP 3.0. And what would you like to say to the community before we get out of here? Well, thank you for supporting us this far and hopefully you see a lot of your feedback in this new version in these new features. I know everyone here at WOOPs worked tirelessly to get this out the door and we take our product very seriously. So I can't wait to see what the WOOP community does with WOOP Strap 3.0. More than anything, I'm proud of this team and our community. Yeah, for sure. Well, I appreciate the time like always. It's always good to talk to you and I'm sure we'll be talking soon. Thanks, man. Thanks to Robert for coming on the show and hosting this special WOOP Strap 3.0 episode with me. If you're not already a WOOP member, you can join our community for as low as $30 to begin. We provide you with 24/7 access to your biometric data as well as analytics across strain, sleep, recovery, heart rate variability and more. The membership comes with a free WOOP Strap 3.0. We offer 6/12 and 18 month memberships. The more you sign up for, the more you save. If you enter the code "Will Ahmed" at checkout, that's "WILLAHMED" will give you $30 off a membership just for listening to this podcast. For our European customers, the code is "Will Ahmed EU" and that will give you 30 euros off when you join. And for our current members, you can upgrade to the WOOP Strap 3.0 and get access to all the new WOOP Live features by following the link in your WOOP app. If you're out of contract, you'll literally get the 3.0 for free when you commit to another 6 months. Check out WOOP.com/TheLocker for show notes and more, including links to relevant topics from this conversation and others. Make sure to subscribe, rate and review the WOOP Podcast on iTunes, Google, Spotify or wherever you like to listen. We'd love to hear your feedback. You can find me online @WillAmED. I try to respond to everyone who reaches out. And you can also follow @WOOP on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. You can email the
[email protected] with any thoughts, ideas or suggestions you may have. Thank you again to all our listeners, to all our WOOP members. We love you.
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