# Bryan Johnson

Bryan Johnson (born August 22, 1977) is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, founder of Braintree, OS Fund, and Kernel, known for his anti-aging project Blueprint and its 'don't die' philosophy.

Bryan Johnson (born August 22, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, writer, and author. He is the founder and former CEO of Kernel, a company creating devices that monitor and record brain activity, and OS Fund, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage science and technology companies. Johnson also founded Braintree, a payment systems company acquired by PayPal in 2013, and has received widespread media attention for his anti-aging protocol called Blueprint, which he promotes under the philosophy "don't die."

Johnson's career spans payments, venture capital, neurotechnology, and longevity science. His ventures have attracted both commercial success and public scrutiny, particularly his personal health optimization efforts and his use of confidentiality agreements. In 2026, Johnson announced he was diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disease.

## Early life and education

Johnson was born in Provo, Utah, to Richard Johnson and Ellen Huff, and raised in neighboring Springville as a middle child with a brother and a sister. After his parents divorced, Johnson lived with his mother and stepfather, who owned a trucking company.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in international studies from Brigham Young University in 2003 and earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2007.

## Early ventures

Between 1999 and 2003, Johnson launched three startups. His first business sold cell phones and service plans, hiring fellow university students and earning roughly $300 per sale, which helped fund his education at Brigham Young University. He then co-founded Inquist, a VoIP company combining features of Vonage and Skype, which ceased operations in 2001. Subsequently, Johnson joined his brother and another partner on a $70 million real estate project in 2001, though the project did not meet its sales goals.

## Braintree

Johnson founded Braintree in 2007, a company specializing in mobile and web payment systems for e-commerce. The company ranked 47th on Inc. magazine's 2011 list of the 500 fastest-growing companies and 415th in 2012. In 2012, Braintree acquired Venmo, a peer-to-peer payment app, for $26.2 million.

By September 2013, Braintree was processing $12 billion in payments annually, with $4 billion on mobile devices. On September 26, 2013, PayPal, then part of eBay, acquired Braintree for $800 million. Time Magazine reported that Johnson walked away from the sale with more than $300 million.

## OS Fund

In October 2014, Johnson announced the launch of OS Fund, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage science and technology companies. He backed the fund with $100 million of his personal capital. The fund focuses on companies working on transformative technologies, including areas related to [artificial-intelligence](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/artificial-intelligence) and [machine-learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/machine-learning).

## Kernel

Johnson founded Kernel in 2016, investing $100 million of his own money. The company initially aimed to develop advanced [neural-network](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/neural-network) interfaces but later shifted focus to building hardware that measures electrical and hemodynamic signals produced by the brain. In 2020, Kernel demonstrated a pair of helmet-like devices capable of recording brain activity, with potential applications in studying Alzheimer's disease, aging, concussions, meditation states, and strokes. The company has suggested the devices could help paralyzed individuals communicate or provide new therapies for mental health challenges.

In February 2026, documents released by the United States Department of Justice revealed that Johnson had email correspondence and meetings with Jeffrey Epstein in 2017 regarding Kernel. Johnson confirmed the meeting took place, stating he was introduced to Epstein by Alex Klokus and cut off contact after one video conference.

## Blueprint

On October 13, 2021, Johnson announced an anti-aging initiative called Project Blueprint, which later became a commercial company headquartered in Los Angeles. Johnson stated the aims were to reduce the biological age of his organs to that of an 18-year-old and "make death an option." Blueprint sells consumer health products, including supplements and foods derived from Johnson's personal optimization protocol.

The protocol Johnson follows as a test subject cost approximately $2 million per year in 2023 and tracked over 100 health measurements. He reduced his daily supplement intake from 111 to 30 by March 2026. In 2024, Blueprint launched Blueprint Basics, a subscription service costing $333 per month. In October 2024, Blueprint raised $60 million in external funding from investors including Kim Kardashian and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss. In July 2025, Gyre Renwick, formerly president of Modern Health, was appointed CEO of Blueprint, with Johnson continuing to lead product and protocol development.

## Anti-aging protocol

In 2019, Johnson stated he had maintained health-compromising habits for years due to entrepreneurial demands and being a young father. He began improving his well-being through standard health interventions before shifting to anti-aging experimentation in 2021.

In 2023, Johnson underwent a series of monthly 1-liter plasma transfusions over six months. One of these was a tri-generational transfusion experiment, with his 17-year-old son as donor for Johnson, and Johnson as donor for his father. Johnson said he would not repeat the transfusions due to lack of benefits. The FDA has stated such transfusions are without benefit and may be harmful. Johnson follows a strict dietary and lifestyle regimen for life extension.

Since 2023, Johnson has publicly shared his biomarker data and engaged in competitive biohacking. In 2025, he recorded a DunedinPACE speed of aging score of 0.503 per calendar year, a DNA methylation biomarker estimating biological aging pace. His claims have drawn criticism from experts such as Moshe Szyf, a professor at McGill University, who expressed skepticism about achieving such remarkable results, and Andrew Steele, a longevity scientist, who emphasized caution regarding the science.

## Use of confidentiality agreements

A New York Times investigation revealed that Johnson used confidentiality agreements to control his public image and that of his companies. Some workers have joined forces to challenge these agreements. Johnson defended the practice on social media, stating, "I post nudes on social media. I track my nighttime erections. My team openly discusses my semen health... Rather than letting people walk in blind, we disclose this upfront, in writing, so there are no surprises."

## Personal life and public image

Johnson's public persona blends extreme transparency about his health data with aggressive corporate secrecy measures. His "don't die" philosophy has made him a polarizing figure in the longevity community. In 2026, he announced a diagnosis of an incurable autoimmune disease, which he has incorporated into his ongoing health optimization narrative.

His ventures have intersected with broader developments in [deep-learning](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/deep-learning) and [large-language-model](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/large-language-model) research, though his primary focus remains on neurotechnology and longevity. Johnson's work has been compared to other tech entrepreneurs investing in [generative-ai](https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/generative-ai) and related fields, though his approach is distinct in its personal experimentation and public data sharing.

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Source: https://www.wikiprompt.org/wiki/bryan-johnson
License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
Last updated: 2026-09-12T16:20:48.402991+00:00