Being paid to get fit may sound too good to be true, but it’s exactly what this week’s Searching for Mana guest Ole Fomenko is doing for his app’s more than 70 milllion users.  Sweatcoin tracks a user’s steps and this summer will covert them into free crypto currency.  Watching a movie with his children was the inspiration for the app; his motivation for driving it lies in repenting for previous professional sins.  It’s a great episode, enjoy…

Oleg Fomenko, founder of health currency app Sweatcoin, is this episode’s guest on the Searching for Mana show.  Oleg has an eclectic CV: born in the Soviet Union, he started his career working for global corporate brands such as Coca-Cola and Mars, before coming to the UK and working at Boston Consulting Group, where he learned from other entrepreneurs’ failures.  He decided to create Sweatcoin after realising his own fitness, which once enabled him to climb Kilimanjaro three times, had declined to the point he could no longer run 5k.  And after watching a movie with his children about robots and obese humans…

In this episode Oleg talks about the importance of sticking to your vision and not being swayed by others’ opinions or ambitions.  He also discusses how Sweatcoin’s success lies in nature’s failure to award an orgasm for exercise - as well as choosing NEAR foundation as the protocol.

This is a wide-ranging interview with great insights into an entrepreneur’s mindset and journey to success.

2:00 The User case – how Sweatcoin came about

6:20 Nature’s failure to give humans an orgasm for exercise

13:44 Making the business case for Sweatcoin

17:00 Stopping the scammers

20:20: How Sweatcoin is bringing about behavioural change

24:15: Starting his career in corporate life – and how his values have changed

27 Becoming an entrepreneur…

28:50 Why Boston Consulting Group was an unhelpful experience

32 Build a business on a problem rather than an idea

37 The importance of staying focused and not getting distracted

40 The impact of Covid

42:25 The rational for choosing NEAR protocol

53:13 Encouraging people to keep moving

58 Oleg’s mana….