Searching for Mana with Lloyd Wahed Lloyd Wahed

From discussing the meaning of life, to the cruciality of atomic habits, to genuinely aiming to
change the world, this week’s guest, Michael Gronager - CEO of crypto behemoth Chainalysis -
shares fascinating insights.

With a valuation of upwards of $8 Billion, following their latest funding round in May this year,
Chainalysis is providing critical financial data to enable governments, banks and blockchain
companies to understand how people are using cryptocurrency.

Drawing comparisons to Google - by indexing the blockchain industry, Bloomberg - through their
creation of financial data, and Reuters through their leading content arm, Chainalysis is at the
forefront of blockchain companies, already a market leader, with the potential to scale to
astronomic levels.

Michael dives into his journey, from growing up in Denmark and developing a close early
interest in computers, to his academic research, to an epiphanic moment stuck in a typhoon in
South-East Asia and all the way to founding Chainalysis. His mentality, fascination with Wabi
Sabi and seeking beauty in everything, as well as creating achievable routine habits provide
amazing insight into the minds of a true modern tech leader.

Sendi Young is the European Managing Director for global crypto payments leader Ripple, with
an extensive background across payments with traditional corporate powerhouses. Growing up
in Istanbul in the 1980s, Sendi’s background has helped her acclimatize to the volatility of the
crypto world, becoming accustomed to cycles of economic growth and rapid declines, sparking
her curiosity and passion for macroeconomics.

From here, Sendi built out expertise across global payments with marquee names, before
immersing herself in the world of blockchain, having recognised the pain points and pitfalls of
the traditional financial system. A “crypto gal” through and through, Sendi represents a
European and Global Crypto leader, providing invaluable technical insight into the crypto and
payments ecosystems, her love of the Argentine Tango and how she has risen to prominence.

Eileen Burbidge is the founding partner of Passion Capital, an early-stage venture capital fund
that has backed FinTech giants including the likes of Monzo, Tide and GoCardless among
others. As part of Mana Search’s event presenting their State of Diversity report, Eileen joins
Lloyd to walk through the homogeneity and inequality within the current Tech and Venture
Capital industries. From the intrinsic gendering of children’s toys, to how to build a team, to the
astronomic rise but also war stories with Monzo, and even to fashion trends within VC, this
episode has it all.

Arik Shtilman heads up global payments solution Rapyd – one of Europe’s most highly valued fintechs.  Arik’s first rung on the career ladder was the Israeli army, which taught him a ‘carpe diem’ approach to business that has since helped him win over investors and turn Rapyd into  Israel’s most valuable private company (it recently achieved a 15bn dollar valuation).

Arik explains that the genesis for Rapyd lies in a fellow founder being stung on FX charges on a stag do to the Czech Republic.  It was a steep learning curve where they encountered ‘every single problem on planet earth’ before pivoting and establishing a B2B product rather than B2C.  The company continues to go from strength to strength, undaunted by the pandemic (Arik kept everyone working in the office believing working from home hinders productivity) and the potential of a recession (‘I love a recession’).

This is a great episode and a great example of true entrepreneurship with many career and life lessons highlighted.

The Searching for Mana show with Lloyd Wahed has featured several ‘one of a kind’ guests – and this show is no exception. Wei Lei is not only a global leader for one of the biggest companies on the planet, she is also a two-time mathematical Olympiad who enjoys karaoke sessions, ran a marathon without training for it and overcame her fear of public speaking by taking part in an open mic comedy night.

Clearly not one for half measures, Wei also says she is obsessive to the point of it being ‘clinically inappropriate’ – but also credits this with her ability to dive deep into matters of personal and professional importance. But this intensity is balanced by Wei’s humility, compassion and a mindset anchored in gratitude and collaboration. Music also plays an important role in Wei’s life and in this episode Wei and Lloyd discuss why it seems to be a common thread among founders and pioneers.
As Chief Investment Strategist at BlackRock, Wei is aware of the weight her role carries and discusses Blackrock’s approach to net zero as well as her view on the current market volatility. It’s a great episode – inspiring and entertaining, and not to be missed.

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.