Today, I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve joined Oura as the company’s new CEO.
If you’re reading this, you’re likely an Oura member. You have your own Oura story. Maybe Oura helped you optimize your sleep, fostered healthy habits, or educated you about your metrics. I’ve heard many stories from members and I find each one to be as unique as the humans wearing a ring. Maybe you are just curious and starting your journey toward better sleep.
My journey to Oura is a personal one. The fall of 2021 was particularly stressful, and my sleep suffered. After getting my Oura Ring and using it, I was able to see my data and use the personalized insights and guidance to improve my sleep, my mood, and my overall health. Oura was a lifesaver.
Oura’s mission is to empower every person to own their inner potential. Everyone at the company feels connected to that mission, and our mission has attracted an incredible roster of passionate, hardworking people that make up our team. Oura is comprised of a diverse group of “human-first” people who believe in connecting and creating with kindness, empathy, and inclusivity. I will have the privilege of working with world-class developers, doctors, designers, data scientists, researchers, product managers, marketers, and so many other talented individuals. I am grateful to the incredible team at Oura and the amazing work they have done.
From Oulu, Finland to Helsinki to the US, the company is powered by craftspeople who care deeply about the work they do. They are proud of the ring, the software, the data science and physiology, biology, and physics behind Oura. Our people are motivated to put in the effort to make Oura an incredible, amazing experience. Most of all, they want to make a positive impact on the world. I understand why they are so inspired: they’ve witnessed firsthand how Oura can make a positive impact on people’s lives, starting with sleep.
Luckily, it’s not just the Oura team that has seen these benefits. Through key partnerships with NBA, UFC, NASCAR, and more, Oura has optimized training, helped with fatigue management and illness detection, and provided meaningful insights on the impact of sleep and recovery. Oura was a valuable tool that allowed the WNBA to have a COVID-free season, and it was used to study sleep and fatigue in extreme conditions underwater by NASA. Oura is also utilized and trusted by researchers including University of California, San Francisco and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute for illness-detection research, as well as University of California San Diego for women’s health research.
Oura is like a 7th sense: it’s personalized and continuous. It uses “always on” sensing of your biometric data to adjust and customize your experience to reinforce daily healthy habits. As you enter tags, record workouts, listen to meditations, Oura makes its guidance and your experience increasingly personal to you so you can better control the course of your health to live a more balanced life.
You also see important patterns to help identify meaningful cause and effect correlations, such as seeing that drinking alcohol can ruin REM sleep. And just as you change, we iterate and improve our software so that we can better serve you and your unique needs. The magic of Oura emerges in the combination of you, the ring, and the software — and you are the most important part of the equation.
And we’re just getting started.
We believe we are the best sleep tracker today, period. But our vision is bolder. We see a future where we expand into a holistic health solution. Illness detection, reproductive health, activity, recovery, and mental health are opportunities to make a difference. Take women’s health for example: researchers at University of California San Diego found the Oura Ring continuous temperature tracking technology can help spot hormonal changes in women’s bodies that can indicate pregnancy or key events in the menstrual cycle, like ovulation.
Coming in as a new CEO, I know there are things we need to improve upon. You may have read about our website ordering challenges or customer service backlog earlier in the year. The team was overwhelmed with the demand — we had to scramble to catch up. The team worked hard to address the issues: we bolstered staff and cleared up the backlog. I am happy to report that we are currently delivering on our customer experience with minimal to no delays for shipping or customer service. I am grateful for all the hard work — late nights and long hours on behalf of our customers.
I know members have expressed frustration around some of the features announced in the Gen3 launch. Our team is working hard to deliver for you. We hear you and we get it. Workout Heart Rate is coming this June, overnight Blood Oxygen sensing will arrive this summer, and an updated sleep staging algorithm is coming in the fall. In the meantime, we will continue to deliver new capabilities like new insights and offerings in the Explore content.
Trust takes years to build, and can be lost in a minute. Every day we are focused on earning your trust and confidence. We’ve seen a ton of success, and we’ve also faced growing pains. But as we — a community of committed employees and passionate members — work side by side to bring the Oura vision to life, I promise you that we will give you our very best.
We’ve sold 1M rings and recently announced a $2.55B valuation — both strong signals that people are more keen than ever to better understand and take control of their health. We are investing in our product and our business and our people to ensure we deliver for you.
The work is already underway, and I look forward to rolling up my sleeves to build a product that makes health a daily practice for all. It’s an honor to work alongside such incredible people and to be a part of a community of passionate Oura members. I can’t wait for what’s next.
— Tom
Disclaimer: The Oura Ring is not a medical device and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, monitor, or prevent medical conditions/illnesses.
