Sweatcoin · B2C · app that pays you to walk
Offer a few donated brand products a day, with a new one every day
Solved cold start; brands later queued for months to be featured
Workedpartnershipsretention
What they did
Rather than an Amazon-style catalogue they could not stock, ran a small curated list: about four products a day with a new product every day (about 12 a week), using their network to find ~12 brands willing to give value in kind because they liked the idea. Early rewards were real products paid 100% in sweatcoins, not coupons (e.g. Vivobarefoot gave 100 pairs of last season's shoes). Partners handle fulfilment, so redeeming users land on the brand's site and often buy more. Later added discount vouchers while keeping items unique; in some markets positioned as a product discovery channel for health and wellness startups.
What happened
Solved the cold-start problem; as users grew, vendors queued to be featured, asking to move slots forward by months, which signalled engagement was big enough to monetize.
- Stage
- Growth (early-growth)
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How to Turn Gamification Into a Retention Powerhouse — Anton Derlyatka, Sweatcoin“So we created a small, curated list, where there would be like four products only every day, and there would be a new product every day.”
“And you know, we had a good enough network to find 12 different brands that would give us some value in-kind because they love the idea.”
“And they said, "Okay, we'll give you 100 pairs of our last year's collection." And we put them on the on the marketplace, and like, you know, the users were ecstatic.”
“"Oh, guys, when can you feature us? We are due to be featured next November, can we actually move it forward couple of months?"”
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More from this episode
- Sweatcoin: Pay users 1 coin per 1,000 walked steps, spendable in a rewards shopRetention far above other fitness apps early on; users walk ~20% more
- Sweatcoin: Show two ways to earn on the home screen: walk, or invite a friend for 5 coinsNew users went from under 300 a day to 300, 1,000, then 5,000 a day
- Sweatcoin: Pay 1 coin for watching an optional video ad, up to 1-3 times a dayRetention and engagement rose at 1-3 views a day; fell when more were allowed
- Sweatcoin: Let users swap coins for 3 free months of Spotify or Apple MusicFounder says users loved it; instant rewards with no shipping delay
- Sweatcoin: Unlock a secret prize shop after 30 successful invites, for creators with small followingsSpread 'like wildfire'; about 5% of all users came this way
- Sweatcoin: Kick off spikes with friendly creators, then let fast invite chains push store rankings#1 app in the US, Brazil and 65 other countries; now stable growth
- Sweatcoin: Make a fitness app look like a finance app, with a name people react toPress picked it up; first 30-40K users
- Sweatcoin: Build free-tier limits in early, then sell a plan that lifts them and removes adsBasic plan already makes 'considerable' revenue; founder thinks it came 12-18 months late
- Sweatcoin: Let a health service fund extra prizes to keep diabetes program patients engagedProgram completion rose from ~25% to 89%; activity +45% vs +20% on free app