In this exclusive CanadianSME Small Business Magazine interview, Andrew Shore, Toronto-based tech entrepreneur, founder and CEO of Amino, shares how a career in gaming and blockchain led him to tackle one of the most common daily challenges: understanding what we eat. Building on an existing walking-rewards app, he and his team evolved Amino into a free, AI-powered nutrition tool that lets users snap a photo of their meal for instant insights, layering in points, streaks, and real-world rewards to make healthy habits feel effortless and engaging.
You’ve gone from gaming and blockchain to launching Amino, an AI‑powered nutrition app with over 100,000 users and more than 2 million meals scanned—what sparked the idea to focus your next venture on everyday food decisions and health?
At WERD Labs, we’re always looking at new opportunities and keeping a close eye on emerging trends. When something interesting comes along that we think can actually help and excite people, we like to explore it.
Around the time AI really started taking off, it became clear that it could make everyday decisions a lot easier. Food is something everyone deals with multiple times a day, but making healthy choices isn’t always simple. Using AI to simplify nutrition tracking just made a lot of sense. Amino was already live as a walking rewards app, so we had a strong foundation to build on. It felt like the right moment to evolve the product into something even more useful.
Traditional calorie‑tracking apps often lose users because of manual logging and complexity; based on what you’ve seen so far, why do most people struggle to stick with nutrition tracking, and how does Amino’s “snap a photo, get instant insights” approach change that experience?
Most people don’t stick with nutrition tracking apps because the process is just too manual. It takes a lot of time to log every ingredient and estimate portions, and people lose interest. Even when someone starts with good intentions, that kind of work makes it hard to keep up.
We wanted to remove as much of that work as possible. With Amino, you just snap a photo of your meal and get instant nutrition insights, which makes the experience feel effortless. Instead of spending time logging food, users can focus on actually understanding what they’re eating and making better choices.
We also gamified our app. Users earn Amino Points for tracking meals and staying consistent. That extra motivation helps turn nutrition tracking into something that feels rewarding rather than like another chore.
Amino uses AI image recognition plus nutritional data and layers in Amino Points, streaks, and real‑world rewards to keep people engaged—how do you think AI and gamification together will change the way people understand food, nutrition, and personal health over the next few years?
I see AI as something that makes life easier by automating tasks people don’t want to do. When it comes to nutrition, a lot of people struggle with the manual work or tracking and staying informed on what they’re eating. AI removes that.
I don’t think AI will necessarily change what people eat overnight, but it will make people more informed. When you can instantly see the impact of your meals, it becomes much easier to understand what you’re eating and make adjustments.
Building a consumer AI product in Canada—especially one that’s 100% free to use and monetized through ads, partnerships, and optional premium features—comes with its own set of challenges; what has surprised you most about product‑market fit, growth, and user behaviour since launching in September 2025?
Amino is completely free to use, and the most surprising thing is that people have actually emailed us asking to pay for the app. People want to support us and not watch the ads in-app.
Another surprising thing is how supportive users have been. That’s a pretty strong signal that we are building something people actually found useful. When users go out of their way to ask how they can support the product, it shows there’s real value there.
For entrepreneurs who want to build consumer AI products in health and wellness, what lessons from Amino’s journey—around focus, user trust, data privacy, or keeping the product fun without losing credibility—would you share to help them avoid common pitfalls and ship something people actually use long term?
AI is really exciting right now and it’s improving quickly, but one of the biggest lessons is not to assume people will use something just because it’s powered by AI. What matters is whether you’re solving a real problem in someone’s everyday life.
Another big piece is trust. When you’re building in health and wellness, users need to feel confident about how their data is handled and that the information they’re getting is reliable.
It’s also important to make the app fun. Things like streaks, points, and rewards can make healthy habits feel more engaging and sustainable over time.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the interviewee and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of CanadianSME Small Business Magazine. Our platform is dedicated to fostering dialogue and sharing insights that inspire and empower small and medium-sized businesses across Canada.
