Ed Baker’s resume reads like a founder’s fantasy.

At Harvard, he launched Date Site, an early dating platform. His next venture, Friend.ly, grew to more than 25 million users and was acquired by Facebook. At Facebook, Ed helped lead international growth as the company crossed one billion monthly active users. He later joined Uber as VP of Product and Growth, where he helped define weekly trips as the company’s north-star metric and scaled the business from hundreds to thousands of employees.

In 2017, Ed left Uber, moved back to Boston, and decided to rebuild his health. Within six months, he transformed himself into an elite triathlete and went on to win his first Ironman in Lake Placid. Along the way, he became deeply focused on recovery, sleep, and performance data.

After founding AnyQuestion, which was acquired by WHOOP, Ed joined the company and now serves as Chief Product Officer. He leads product strategy across product, design, software, and AI, helping millions of members optimize their health and training.

In this episode, Ed shares how he applies the same systems thinking to business, athletics, and life.

You will learn how to:

• Build viral growth loops and sustainable user acquisition

• Choose and operationalize the right north-star metric

• Balance speed and product quality at scale

• Train, recover, and sleep for long-term performance

• Use wearable data and AI to prevent burnout

• Build teams that execute without micromanagement

• Design a life that supports both ambition and health

Whether you are scaling a startup or pushing your personal limits, this conversation offers a blueprint for achieving extraordinary growth without sacrificing well-being.

Ed Baker: What Ironman Training Revealed About Building Companies | Traction

Traction Podcast