WHOOP, Inc.: Digital Entrepreneurship During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

This case is about WHOOP, Inc., a digital startup in the fitness technology space, how it responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, and its evolving business model and opportunities in the competitive wearables industry. WHOOP launched as a wearable device company. Its business model evolved from selling a device to providing software as a service (SaaS). Industry competitors included large digital organizations like Apple and Google, sportswear companies such as Under Armour and Nike, and global wearable device startups like Oura, a health technology firm in Finland. In early 2020, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, WHOOP launched research initiatives to track user wellbeing in the social-distancing conditions imposed worldwide. The company responded to disruptions to its supply chain, developed and evaluated algorithms to detect Covid-19 infection, and created partnerships with research organizations. Going forward, WHOOP proposed to define a strategic response to business disruptions and the new digital platform competitors.