Therabody: Jason Wersland

Guy Raz (0:00)

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You can find an image of this on your website, and it's amazing, because I am looking at a Kawasaki jigsaw with a cat toy ball and a fence post. Now that I see this, I'm like, there's the fence post, there's the rivet, there's the cat toy. Like, it's crazy. You really, like, you really jury-rigged this together.

Jason Wersland (0:54)

Yeah, think about this. It was the cheapest jigsaw you could find. The vents on the side of this Kawasaki jigsaw, when you started it and you stopped it, you let go of the trigger, sparks would fly out.

So that was my first iteration. But, Guy, people were buying them as fast as I could make them.

Guy Raz (1:24)

Welcome to How I Built This, a show about innovators, entrepreneurs, idealists, and the stories behind the movements they built. I'm Guy Raz, and on the show today, how an injury from a motorcycle crash and a late night experiment with a jigsaw led Jason Wersland to invent the Theragun, a massager that uses percussive energy to ease pain.

What you are about to hear today is not a story about a methodical and strategic path from idea to execution. This story is more of a jagged path, and it's about an unlikely invention that was inspired by accident, actually by a real accident. But to back up for a moment, when Jason Wersland started out in life, he was planning to be a carpet maker and a carpet and flooring salesman, just like his dad. And for many years, that is how he made a living, with a carpet and flooring store in Utah. But just as Jason was about to turn 30, his world started to collapse. He lost his marriage, and then he lost his business.

And so at an age when most people are starting to hit their stride, Jason Wersland was starting over. He decided to move out to LA to become, of all things, a chiropractor. He thought it might be a more reliable way to earn a living. But just as he was finishing up his studies, Jason got into a motorcycle accident. And so after training for years to help rehabilitate other people's back and neck injuries, Jason became a patient himself. And he started to try different therapeutic devices that could help. Now to digress for just a moment, a lot of founders I've interviewed over the years created their products because there was a problem they wanted to solve. A better thermos or a more comfortable sweatshirt or makeup without chemicals. In Jason Wersland's case, he didn't start tinkering to solve a simple problem. He was desperate because he was also in constant debilitating pain. And so late one night, alone and unable to sleep, Jason did something drastic. He grabbed an electric jigsaw, bent the blade, wrapped a dish towel around it, and then wrapped all of that in electrical tape. He turned on the jigsaw and pressed it against the pain points in his body, and it started to work. The percussive and vibrating up and down motion of the jigsaw blade, now safely wrapped in cushioning, was relieving his pain. And that crude jigsaw-turned-massager, believe it or not, became the first prototype for what would become the Theragun.

Now, it would take another seven years before Jason would figure out how to turn that idea into a business, with several mishaps and bad decisions along the way. But what Jason had was an unshakable belief in the value of the product, and a willingness to go out and sell it relentlessly.

Today, the Theragun is the center of Jason's larger business called Therabody. It sells all kinds of therapeutic devices, including compression boots, foam rollers, and even a massage chair. And if imitation is a measure of success, well, Jason's hit the jackpot. Since the introduction of the Theragun, countless other similar products have entered the market.

Jason Wersland grew up in a family of seven kids in Utah. His dad was an immigrant from Norway and a faithful member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church.

Jason Wersland (5:12)

Around 6 p.m. every Monday night, it was time to come in. My dad actually had a whistle.

And he'd stand out on the back porch and whistle that, and he'd have us line up right by the banister of our stairs. And then we'd sit down and it was, you'd open with a prayer, have a scripture, and then there'd be a lesson. And the lesson could be about humility or character or confidence. I remember many times when I was growing up, my dad used to get the wooden spoon, and you'd hold the wooden spoon like a microphone, and he would teach you how to talk. And then as you got to be 12, one of the sort of icebreakers into the church is that you would get in front of the whole congregation and you'd give a talk on Sunday. So giving your talk when you're 12, 13, 14 years old, that was a big deal. I mean, those are really fond memories. My family and my brothers and sisters are my best friends.