World-class athletes have performance coaches, biometric trackers, and all the data they need to squeeze every edge out of their bodies and minds. Navy SEALs train with cutting-edge tools designed to keep them sharp under life-or-death pressure. But frontline healthcare workers, like the surgeons, nurses, and emergency physicians who routinely make life-or-death decisions, get, while….none of that.
“Long-term success in medicine usually comes at the expense of yourself,” said the Nashville-based entrepreneur and Navy SEAL veteran.
Brian Ferguson wants to change that.
With his startup Arena Labs, Ferguson is on a mission to “put a performance coach in the pocket of every doctor and nurse in America,” borrowing the performance science that shaped elite athletes and special operators and bringing it, for the first time, into clinical settings.
Performance Science Meets Medicine
Arena Labs provides wearables, tailored curriculum, and individualized coaching, built around what the company calls High Performance Medicine. The platform is designed to be used asynchronously, meeting clinicians where they are rather than adding to an already crushing workload and schedule.
In just 5 minutes a day, the platform helps clinicians manage their mental, physical, and emotional readiness within their workplace settings.
“This world of human performance and protocols to improve sleep, manage stress management, and steward the body are relatively new in everyday life. But much of it came out of decades of learning,” Ferguson said. “We’re the first company to bring that thinking into frontline health care.”
Finding Validation in the HealthTech Space
The company recently published a peer-reviewed study in JAMA Network Open showing that its platform, Arena Strive, reduced clinician burnout by 33% in just eight weeks, with every primary outcome reaching statistical significance.
It’s the first evidence that combining wearable biometrics with human coaching produces measurable, physiological improvements in clinician well-being, according to the study.
Arena Labs has also found validation while working with 17 of the top health systems in the U.S., including Advocate Health, HCA Healthcare, Cleveland Clinic, and the Defense Health Agency. Earlier in February, the team announced it was selected for a research and development contract under the Department of Defense’s Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program with the University of Pennsylvania.
The company has raised nearly $6 million from investors including London-based Locke Capital, Austin-based Scout Ventures, LaunchTN, and Crisis Prevention Institute. Ferguson expects to reach profitability by the end of 2026.
From SEALs to Startups
Ferguson’s path to healthcare startups was anything but direct. After working at the White House and Pentagon in national security, he joined the Navy, drawn to service in the aftermath of 9/11. SEAL training introduced him to the emerging world of human performance, including stress management, biometric monitoring, and work around mental resilience. He would later realize such tools were almost entirely absent for those in the medical community.
During his military career, Ferguson worked with outside organizations, ranging from hospitals to elite sports programs, searching for technologies that could sharpen human performance under pressure. A pattern emerged.
“I was blown away that the best surgical teams in the world in terms of heart surgery didn’t have a focus at the individual or the team level on how to manage stress and pressure,” he told Hypepotamus.
After leaving the military, he embedded with Cleveland Clinic surgeons. At the end of it, he put together what he called a surgical performance program. The early concepts for Arena Labs were born.
“The mission has stayed the same, but the business had to evolve dramatically through COVID,” he said, pivoting from in-person clinical services to virtual reality stress training before landing on a scalable, app-based coaching platform.
A City That Fits
Ferguson relocated to Nashville from California during COVID, drawn by the city’s energy, its booming healthcare industry, and an influx of talent.
“The intersection across the arts, music, universities, healthcare, and a lot of young companies makes this city feel wildly unique,” he said.
His core team of 12 is currently backed by a large bench of certified performance coaches.
The healthcare world, Ferguson said, is ready for what Arena Labs is building. Clinicians aren’t looking for another wellness app, but they do want a competitive edge.
“At the end of the day, these people all love what they do because they’re Service Archetypes,” he said. “They’re hungry for tools to help them be better at their craft, rather than just preventing burnout.”