Our mission is to improve health, and one day save lives, with every flush

I was studying astrophysics and computer science at Harvard when I dropped out my sophomore year to start WHOOP. I spent the next decade there as co-founder and CTO. When we started, “wearable” wasn’t a word yet. Fitbit had just come out with something you put in your pocket.

What I learned building WHOOP was the power of collecting data on the human body day after day, outside the laboratory. That kind of data lets you build great products, and it moves forward what we know about health. We are still only scratching the surface.

Along the way, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease. When I was first diagnosed, I was hospitalized for 28 days straight and lost 60 pounds. The first three years were touch and go. Today I’m in remission.

My diagnosis threw me into the world of gut health, and I was amazed by how little we know about it: the gut-brain connection, the microbiome, diseases like mine. I wanted data to answer my own questions. WHOOP gave people data on their sleep and recovery. Selfishly, I wanted the same thing for my gut.

So I went looking for a smart toilet company to invest in. I didn’t find one I liked until I met Scott, whose opening line was “WHOOP for your poop.” I invested early, stayed close, and joined full time in March 2025.

I also serve on the board of trustees of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. One of the most satisfying parts of this work has been the scientists who advise us. Many of them have only dreamed of having this kind of data.

Read John’s full story

Both of my parents are doctors. My dad is also a medical device inventor, and my mom is a geriatrician, a doctor for adults 65 and up. When I asked her whether there was any medical value in what people leave in the toilet, it turned into a 45-minute phone call: my first masterclass on gut health.

She told me that probably a third of her patient visits were related to constipation. She had even stopped giving patients her phone number, because they sent her so many pictures of their poop.

That call sent me digging, and I was stunned by what I found. 60 to 70 million Americans are affected by digestive diseases, and millions more would simply feel better with a clearer picture of their gut health and hydration. We built Throne to give them that clarity.

It turned out to be personal, too. I later learned that both of my maternal grandparents had colon cancer, and that IBD runs on my dad’s side of the family. I had my first colonoscopy at 15. And testing early Throne prototypes taught me that stress is the number one driver of my own gut health.

Since starting Throne, the most rewarding part has been seeing how excited people are to finally have a health tracker for a part of their health that’s too often ignored.

Looking ahead, I’m deeply passionate about building a smoke detector for colon cancer. My vision is that someday, people will say “My toilet saved my life” or “Throne saved my mom’s life.” I can’t think of anything more motivating.