My Ultrahuman Experience: Product, Community, and Learnings

Over the past month, I got a host of questions from friends, family, and random strangers, regarding the odd-looking sticker on my arm. The conversations usually went something like this:

“Why do you have a black sticker on your arm?” they would ask naively.

“Oh, that’s a CGM to track my plasma glucose level,” I casually replied.

“Well, are you diabetic at such a young age?” they inquired.

“No, I am just interested in seeing how my body responds glycolytically to food and exercise,” I ranted off (unsure of what they would make of that).

An awkward silence followed, “So, are you a scientist?”

“Yes, a mad one!”

Nope, I didn’t say that (I would have liked to). I would explain why I was tracking my glucose, the Ultrahuman logo on the sticker and what they do, and the importance of glucose as a biomarker for health. To document my experience so far, I decided to pen down my initial thoughts on the product, the community, and the overall learnings from my experience using Ultrahuman. So, here it goes!

Pour Some Sugar on Me: Discovering Glucose

As an undergraduate at JHU, taking a Biochemistry class is probably one of the best things you can do (and is a requirement for most biology/ engineering majors). The professors introduced me to the beauty of biomolecules, and glucose was one such molecule that immediately caught my attention. Glucose is the energetic source of the human body, and we all experience its magic every day of our life.

Zooming out, I began to learn about glucose metabolism, the prevalence of metabolic diseases (especially in India), and what I can do to overcome my propensity to develop metabolic disorders in the future. I hail from a Gujarati family, and I have been skinny fat for most of my teenage years, with metabolic disease running through the family. So, what could I do about that? Well, that’s when I came across the work of Dr. Peter Attia, who has been an early advocate in the longevity space by using tools to overcome the barriers of ageing. I became hooked!

Introduction to Biohacking: Discovering Ultrahuman

In my opinion, the world of biohacking, using biological molecules or supplements to enhance either physical or cognitive efficiency, was popularized by Tim Ferris. In the early days, he would run micro-experiments on himself to measure the impact specific molecules, food, and behavior had on his well-being. He would use a combination of devices, from continuous glucose monitors to sleep tracking devices, to quantify the impact of his experiments. The tools at his disposal included:

• Levels – Continuous Glucose Monitoring/ Metabolic Health

• Eight Sleep – Sleep Temperature Modulation/ HRV

• Oura Ring – Stages of Sleep

• Fitbit – Activity Levels

• Zero Fasting – Intermittent Fasting Tracking

Looking at how real-time data tracking allows one to make quantifiable tweaks to their lifestyle, I wanted to explore if similar products existed for the Indian consumer. And that is when I came across Ultrahuman, which was slowly opening its product to people who signed up for their waitlist.

Actionable Insights: Experiencing Ultrahuman

During this two-week experiment, I learned four things about Ultrahuman that stood out and took me by surprise:

Nailed the Onboarding Experience – First impressions matter

The Ultrahuman onboarding experience takes a first-time user through the daunting process of inserting the CGM into their arm. Ultrahuman overcomes this through a step-by-step guidance video that accurately mirrors the real-life experience. It is scalable, relatable, and exhaustive – automatically building consumer trust with the brand.

Community, community, community – A gift that keeps on giving

Community is an underutilized asset in health technology interventions and fitness in India. Ultrahuman tapped into that galore. From Day 1, they add you to an active Slack community where members from the company welcome you, answer your questions, and urge you to share your CGM experiences. From the outside, this seems like a high-touch operational process. However, this small gesture builds a strong network of users who become advocates for the brand.

Killer Product – Seamlessly interweaving the offline and online experiences

Building products that blur the lines between the offline and online world is challenging to say the least. That said, Ultrahuman surpasses my expectation with a delightful mobile application and offline packaging, stickers, and brochures combining the best of the physical and digital worlds. The brand maintains consistency in design, copy, and emotion across the two worlds, which is pleasing.

Do More with Data – Present data well and build insights and nudges on top of it

Data collection, by itself, is useless if that is where one stops. Ultrahuman presents the user's glucose data in an easy-to-understand way. Additionally, the more valuable product is their intelligence layer on top of the data layer that drives actionable insights for users at scale. Then, taking user input for meals, sleep, and activity goes from a friction point to one of curiosity, and then it becomes a habit. Below is evidence of how I improved my eating habits based on their insights in a week.

The Road Ahead – What Are the Challenges?

I am a big fan of the Ultrahuman product and team. It is rare to see a world-class health technology platform coming out of India, where health has traditionally been a reactionary exercise rather than a proactive one. This point brings me to the challenges that I think Ultrahuman will face moving forward.

Educate First, Sell Later – Indians are hesitant to experiment with products, especially ones they don’t fully understand. Health knowledge is generally limited to the privileged folks who inhabit Tier-1 and Metro cities (a small fraction of the total population). The challenge Ultrahuman faces is the significant education barrier it would need to cross to take its product mainstream.

Price Sensitivity in Mass Markets – Ultrahuman is a premium product priced relatively high for the average Indian consumer. If I had to give a crude analogy, it is comparable to being the Tesla of the automobile world, and not everyone can afford it. The primary cost component is the CGM, and they would need to optimize that for widespread adoption.

Behavioral Change at Scale – In my eyes, the biggest challenge that Ultrahuman faces is driving a mindset change at scale – going from a curative to a preventative mindset. Diabetes is one of the most prevalent diseases in India due in large part to widespread negligence and a lack of education. Unless a health complication becomes debilitating, people avoid addressing it. So, how would Ultrahuman enable and empower people to take charge of their health before things get out of hand?

The opportunity, if realized, has the potential to change the way Indians traditionally overcome metabolic disorders through data-driven insights.

I am excited to see where they take this next!

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Note: This is not a sponsored post, just a loyal consumer appreciating the efforts of a team building complex products for a traditionally overlooked market.