Background
Josh Passell is the Co-Founder of Cora, an AI fitness coach backed by Y Combinator (W24). He studied Economics at Cornell University, where he worked in the Labor Dynamics Institute (LDI) Replication Lab — the team at Cornell that performs reproducibility verifications on accepted papers for the American Economic Association (AEA) Data Editor.
After graduating from Cornell, Josh spent time as an assistant high school basketball coach before moving into fitness technology — an early hands-on look at how coaching, feedback, and accountability shape an athlete's development.
Josh has spent years immersed in training and fitness technology, and saw the gap firsthand: high-level coaches and sports scientists have access to recovery data, periodization theory, and nutrition frameworks that most everyday athletes never see. He co-founded Cora to close that gap.
His focus at Cora is on the athlete experience — making sure the coaching Cora delivers is grounded in the same principles that real sports scientists use, and that the product feels like talking to a coach who knows your body, not just a calorie counter.
Areas of Expertise
Athletic Training
Zone 2, VO2 max, heart rate zones, and progressive overload — from the perspective of a competitive athlete.
Recovery Science
HRV, rest days, deload weeks, and active recovery — evidence-based approaches to sustainable training.
Nutrition for Athletes
Macro tracking, nutrition timing, and fueling strategies for performance and body composition.
Fitness Technology
Apple Watch, Garmin, Whoop, and Oura integration — translating wearable data into actionable coaching.
Articles by Josh Passell
25 articles on training, recovery, nutrition, and fitness technology