Juraj Kocar Podcast Transcript
Juraj Kocar joins host Brian Thomas on The Digital Executive Podcast.
Welcome to Coruzant Technologies, home of the Digital Executive Podcast.
Brian Thomas: Welcome to The Digital Executive. Today’s guest is Juraj Kocar. Juraj Kocar is an entrepreneur passionate about building brands that make a positive health impact on people around the world. As the founder of Wyse Earth, he tackles chronic inflammation with natural science backed products that combine adaptogenic extracts and honey.
The core of Wyse Earth’s offerings, adaptogenic mushrooms, are rooted in both a 3,000 year history in traditional Chinese medicine, and validated by modern scientific research, proving their effectiveness and reducing inflammation, managing stress and boosting immune function. Before founding Wyse Earth, he served as CEO of Attune Health, a platform for monitoring vital signs via smartphones and Somavetic technologies, which develop devices to reduce the impact of electromagnetic radiation.
These experiences reinforce his belief in the power of combining technology with natural remedies to improve lives globally.
Well, good afternoon. Juraj. Welcome to the show.
Juraj Kocar: Thank you for having me, Brian.
Brian Thomas: Absolutely. I love this. Got to traverse the globe a little bit today. Normally, a lot of my podcasts are North America, but you’re in Prague in the Czech Republic, which is awesome. I love doing these sort of things. You’re probably like my fourth or fifth person out of the Czech Republic doing a podcast, but I really do appreciate the time and so Juraj.
We’re gonna jump right into your first question here. You were touched by a partner’s personal loss, which inspired him to start Wyse Earth. Could you share this story?
Juraj Kocar: Definitely. So I’ll share just a quick back. I was running a company, a US based, uh, US based company. And towards the end, a couple of months ago, I discovered, uh, you know, the amazing benefits of adaptogenic mushrooms.
And I was really going deep into that and wanted to start my own project. And then Daniel, which at that time I didn’t know, reach out to me. And he told me, uh, Hey, Juraj, do you want to meet? I have an interesting product. So we met and he told me, Hey, I have honey infused with adaptogenic mushrooms, which I found pretty interesting and great synchronicity because I was already quite deep into the adaptogenic mushrooms.
And all of a sudden here’s Daniel, talking to me about his product and if I wouldn’t help him to expand to the U. S. market. So this was the first thing that, uh, I said, yeah, this, this definitely some interesting. And the second thing is when he shared, uh, which was quite profound for me when he shared his story with me.
How he had the idea or the intention, why he had the intention to found a company like this was because he lost his sister to cancer, which was very saddening experience for him. And after some time, he met a guy that was able to heal himself from stage four cancer just through adaptogenic mushroom extracts that he was preparing by himself.
So they started talking and, you know, when he was still grieving and, and he decided that when there’s an option like this, when there are natural remedies like this that could help other people, and obviously they have already, He decided to found a company so other people wouldn’t need to go through what he was going through and Yeah, and then he approached me to help him as I mentioned to expand to the US market.
Brian Thomas: That’s amazing. These stories, and there’s been so many touching stories in this podcast, generally, we hear from somebody that has experienced some sort of trauma in their life or a loss a personal loss or a major problem that has inspired them to create a solution to the problem or create a product or something that heals people.
I just love these stories really, really do and I appreciate that. So Juraj, next question for you. How did your background in technology and health influence the company’s mission and product development?
Juraj Kocar: Yeah, that’s a, that’s a good question. So I have a master’s degree in computer science and, uh, this influenced me quite significantly because, uh, you know, I love technology and everything that that’s new out there, but of course, at the same time, I understand there needs to be some, some kind of balance, but this mirrored into my previous two companies that I, that I founded, like Attune Health which is an app that just through face scan can measure your vital signs like blood pressure, oxygen saturation and heart rate and then some of the technologies, which was a frequency therapy device.
So along those lines. We used, I was inspired with, by the same mindset with Wyse earth. So I was looking for the, how we could merge the technology with natural remedies. And, uh, this manifested into, you know, our industry leading 25 to one extraction ratio in the adaptogenic mushrooms. So. What that means in simplified terms is for 25 grams of mushrooms we get 1 gram of super extract that we use then in our blend.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. I really appreciate you sharing some of this stuff, how you can really enhance the process again, a blend of technology, which we talked a lot about technology here, but blended technology and working with these natural plants really to maximize the benefit for the patient or the person that is experiencing some health issues.
So I appreciate that. Juraj. What challenges have you faced in bringing natural science backed health products to market and how have you addressed them?
Juraj Kocar: Yeah. So the first one, I’m not sure if I mentioned it before, but Wyse Earth is about, you know, honey that is infused with adaptogenic mushrooms.
So this was the first challenge to make it right. And we had to add the adaptogenic mushrooms into pested honey, which is, you can think of it as a. Substance is similar to peanut butter or Nutella, but this makes it very stable. So it doesn’t crystallize or it’s not liquid. It has really this nice light texture.
So this was the first challenge. And then of course, going through the regulatory process to put it into market. Cause, uh, here in Europe, we have much stricter rules. uh, towards the food quality than, than in the U. S. So, you know, we had to provide if there are no heavy metals, antibiotics, and, and lots of other toxicology samples.
And so we passed all of that. And the, the second area of challenges with these products is to educate people on the benefits. Yes, we are now discussing adaptogenic mushrooms, and there are quite a known companies like Four Sigmatic or Mudwater out there, but it’s still pretty rare. And, uh, the main thing was to convince customers that, that it works, that, uh, adaptogenic mushrooms have these health benefits that are not only like confirmed by current science and by double blinded placebo studies, but they are also used in traditional Chinese medicine for almost 3, 000 years, so it is time tested as well.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. And I appreciate you sharing some of the challenges and obstacles you had to get through to make it there. Obviously working with in Europe, they do have some strict standards around food and I know that was one challenge, but also doing a lot of R and D to bring this to market was challenging of course.
So I appreciate that. And Juraj. Last question of the day. How does Wyse Earth approach educating consumers about the benefits of aptogenic mushrooms and the importance of combining traditional wisdom with modern science.
Juraj Kocar: Yeah, that’s the really great question. So why we have decided for adaptogenic mushrooms is not only because they are time tested, uh, more than 3000 years and science backed, but also there are, you know, amazing results with them, our customers like experienced.
The other thing is that adaptogenic mushrooms. They are the biggest fighters of oxidative stress in our bodies. And, uh, oxidative stress cause chronic inflammation, and chronic inflammation causes illnesses like cancer, obesity, high blood pressure, cholesterol, and all of these.
So, we try to simplify the explanation of how these adaptogenic mushrooms work and what are their benefits and their specific benefits in what kind of health areas and the ingredients, for example, that are in it, like beta glucans, which is a compound that Train basically our immune system and case cells to fight diseases better. So our bodies are more resilient.
So we try to simplify and educate people on more of a holistic lifestyle.
Brian Thomas: Thank you. And I think education is really important around this, especially those that are experiencing some challenges or want to learn more about, you know, alternative medicine. You know, we are always told that there’s really one way for medicine and I think people are now exploring other options, especially when they have a health crisis in their life.
So I really appreciate that. Juraj, it was such a pleasure having you on today and I look forward to speaking with you real soon.
Juraj Kocar: Of course. Great. I really enjoyed the conversation.
Brian Thomas: Bye for now.
Juraj Kocar Podcast Transcript. Listen to the audio on the guest’s Podcast Page.
