Ace__

I have made something that addresses this. Not ready to share it yet, but soon-ish. At the moment it only works on GPT model 4o. I tried local Q4 KM's models, on LM Studio, but complete no go.

My reply is based on assuming you have not trained before, thus a beginner.

When starting out, 3 times a week full-body workouts are recommended. You'll get the most bang from your buck, take advantage of newbie gains, and push yourself no more than need be to grow. Adaptations due to triggering muscle growth can take up to 36 hours, so full days rest in between workouts.

3 sets per exercise unless otherwise stated. Reps stick to 8 - 10. Once you have been training for a while, you can do reps in the 5 - 8 range, but off-the bat, doing that heavy, form can suffer, ego can kick in, and you'll look the same months down-the-line, and you'll have bad habits that will cause problems down-the-line, if not sooner.

Routine:

Monday

Squats B Press Lat Pulldown Abs Calfs Shoulder side lateral raise Bicep curls 2 sets Tricep pulldown 2 sets

Wednesday

Incline Press Deadlifts Rows (bent over or regular) Shoulder Press Facepulls Abs Calfs

Friday

Squats B Press Lat Pulldown Abs Calfs Shoulder side lateral raise Bicep curls 2 sets Tricep pulldown 2 sets

Rest in between sets: 2 minutes. If you need more, certainly with squats, then 3 minutes is fine. Do the exercises, if all 3 sets are within the rep range, you put on more weight next time. You grow when you rest, ie not when you train. Training is just to damage and trigger the growth. Progressive overload can be any number of things: increase reps, shorter rest time, increase weight. So, increase weight, increase reps with new weight, all 3 sets within rep range, increase weight, etc.

Make sure you sleep properly, 7 hours minimum. Eat properly, protein rich stuff. If problematic, protein shakes are fine. Nattys need to rest properly, and eat properly, and not do way too much volume, which you won't do with the above program.

After 8 weeks, deload week, can be where you don't train at all, or train with light weights. You can grow from any number of reps, provided percentage of muscle used is high enough. Takes longer with low weights, but once in a while a high rep program should be implemented, gives your joints a rest from the wear and tear.

Cheers, Ace.

My use case may or may not have been part of the intended initial focus of Budibase, which was to create an MVP to test and refine an idea. I am not a dev, but I was able to find my around it for the most part. To me, it was like an updated, easier to use MS Access alternative. When I was stuck, I joined their Discord chat room. The founders were prompt and informative in response to my questions. Congratulations on the launch. To success. Ace.

Mum's the word mate, haha.

Hello Paul.

At the bottom of that guide is a link, alongside the following copy: When less is more: Empirical study of the relation between consumer behavior and information provision on commercial landing pages. In a nutshell, less information increased conversion rate. Lack of context, but still interesting:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324965555_When_less...

Landing pages are not meant to be done and dusted, they are meant to evolve. Landing pages are not meant for all, so visitors do need to be based on a persona. A persona has to be based on facts, therefore you should know the visitors to a certain degree.

"What do you know about me?"; if too many people are creeped out, then the landing page needs working on. If there is an acceptable conversion rate, and a small percentage are creeped out, then that may or may not be acceptable. You can't win them all, so you win the ones you can and see what can or should be done to attain more.

What is important is that there needs to be understanding and appreciation of the internal dialogue, and you show and/or to tell to whatever degree.

If the landing page creator is overwhelmed, so be it. If the visitor is overwhelmed, then either the visitor was the wrong persona or the landing page needs working on. The guide is not meant for all, it is meant for a specific persona.

Edit: To clarify my last line: If the specific persona is overwhelmed, then yes it will need working on, but based on showing it to them. Some have said it is heavy, and it took a bit of time to get their head round it. That's acceptable. However, there is a v2 that covers a lot more, but it will have to wait.

Cheers, Ace.

I have no tips, no hacks, no shortcuts. Honestly this is such a big topic, that I am tempted to just share v1 of a guide to landing pages I made. However before I do...

So, one thing that would make a real difference to a landing page. An appreciation of the foundational blocks of a landing page, which are:

1. The contextual factors: business, market, your solution, target audience, positioning, tactic, financial.

2. The Key Narratives: basically where they are now, and where they will be in the future with your solution.

3. The Overall Narrative:

a. What Are You?

b. Who Are You For?

c. What Do You Know About Me?

d. What Do You Do?

e. How Do You Do It?

f. What’s In It For Me?

g. Why Should I Believe You?

h. How Do I Get It?

I'll share the link now, but like I said, this is just v1, not had a chance to put up v2 yet: https://startizer.com/blog/startup-landing-page-guide

Hello.

I wouldn't say I am looking for a co-founder, but am open to connecting to see who is out there that may have an interest in what I have been working on, and start a dialogue.

So, it's been around 6 years now, that I have been working on a startup system that guides founders from initial idea to launch, early traction, problem-solution fit. At this point if you are thinking do you really want to follow the system of someone who has taken 6 years, I'll have to smirk and note your somewhat valid point.

It took 4 years of working with founders, and investors, to get the initial framework sorted out, which I made in Excel. I took another year to go through the framework again, and remake part of it in Access. Evidently I have a thing for MS. I released the Access version with the first few steps just here actually: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22445660

Got around 120-ish users, got the feedback, etc, etc, and have been going through the framework again, and working on MVP v3. Currently, I am redesigning the UI, polishing various content, few other bits and bobs.

In terms of what I bring to the table: 24-25 years marketing and sales, 11-ish years working with startups, 4-5 years investor portfolio support (family offices and a couple of VC's), investor relations, investor readiness, scout for a few VC's, etc, etc.

I should state I have another startup that has been running for 3 ish years, and am also working on a growth system as well. I shall leave you with a link to a page that shows where I stand on some issues pertaining to startups: https://startizer.com/problems-with-startup-material

On a different note, I see a fair few founders looking to have a chat about their MVP, about early adopters, about launching, etc, etc. Happy to have a chat, don't want anything in return.

Oh, one last thing, at no point will I be looking for outside investment, not looking to go big or go home, am already stuck at home as it is.

Cheers, Ace.

Edit: Sheesh, contact details; ace(at)startizer.com

Large files, and I mean from hundreds of GB to terrabytes I use https://www.filemail.com/. Their desktop app uses UDP, so it is a lot faster than TCP based protocols like FTP and HTTP. Yeah you can still use their website to send stuff, and if small in size, free anyway for up to 50 GB.

Hello Matt.

I am saying, and I will elaborate:

1. Focusing on growth instead of retention in the early stages and certainly before PMF or at least strong indications of PMF, is a bad decision.

2. Focusing on automation and attempts at operational efficiencies when it comes to marketing and sales, again before PMF or at least strong indications of PMF is a bad decision.

When it comes to growth, automation and attempts at operational efficiencies, you do that when there are strong signals. You don't cut out selling in person, till you have an acceptable closing rate. Even then, I would still recommend frequent selling in person to learn more until there are diminishing returns.

Instead, you'll find an inordinate number of founders attempting to attain double-digit growth while there is triple digit churn. Automation of certain things like scraping lead lists, when the lists are nothing more than dump lists.

Hacking things out, when what they should learn is discarded because the process towards the end-goal cuts out what they need to learn, take on-board and become intrinsic.

Throwing up websites that are clones of well established competitors. Parroting without any deep understanding of why those things are on the site, of why those things need to be said. Oblivious to why they themselves are not in a position to say those things.

I would really like to say more on this. I would call it a pet-peeve, but I got a zoo full of them. If you want to carry on the discussion in private, happy to do so, but for now, I got work to do.

Cheers, Ace.

I remember digging into the source material used in this article, and contacting the founder, not Nico, but the other gentleman, can't remember his name, an amicable friendly chap. Anyway, I said to him, that a lot of the founders, although I respect their transparency and willingness to talk about unfortunately failing, they appear blinkered to the reasons for their failure. I won't mention the founders reply.

Looking at PMF in terms of:

1. The definition of PMF

2. How PMF is drummed into founders

3. The proposed criteria to evaluate PMF

4. The actual things to measure within the criteria

I won't pull a number out of my backside to state to what degree PMF wasn't the issue, but I will say PMF was not the problem in some of the startups mentioned in the source material. In some cases PMF was not something they should have even been looking for at the stage they were at.

Another reason that cropped up quite a few times. Bad Marketing. Putting growth over retention, automation and efficiency over learning and personally figuring out how to sell in person isn't bad marketing to me. That's a bad decision.

Thanks for sharing this, much appreciated. It will take some time to go through them all, but at the moment, Ash Kyd and Webamp stand out.

I was actually checking out Winamp a few days ago, as I was reminiscing about Geiss and Milkdrop.

Thanks Ignoramous for checking it out and the comment. Cheers, Ace.

Hello Jppope.

I have only just start blogging. I wanted a detailed guide on various things to do with startups, marketing, sales, validation, etc, that covers in detail and takes into account context.

There are very few blogs that I like, most are SEO rubbish, but occasionally I come across something where I respect the time, insight and disposition to freely share knowledge. A place where I plant my flag as well.

So, only one proper article at the moment: https://startizer.com/guide-to-landing-pages-part-1-the-foun...

Cheers, Ace.

Hello. I created a guide to aid in the formulation of a landing page. This is part 1 that covers the foundations that need to be addressed before any copywriting or actual building begin.

Hello DocuAir, no worries, you are welcome. Cheers, Ace.

Hello Amro, thanks for checking it out whenever you do, and the comment, much appreciated. Cheers, Ace.

It burns!!! (Perform an exorcism, not an excorcist, sheesh. Have to correct it otherwise, I'll remember it for days, haha).

Hello Rebataur. I appreciate you checking it out and the comment, thank you. I checked out the video at the link you shared (Penny Lane). Yep, Product Management, looks clean and focused. I am open to having a chat about consulting certainly. Would you like me to contact you, or vice versa?

Cheers, Ace.

Hello Dmerenda.

What can I say mate, other than thank you. Hmm, no I can actually say more, haha. You've been there and done it so many times, worked with so many, that I am genuinely getting what I believe to be, is an emotion, haha.

Seriously now, thank for your kind words, and sharing your time with me and the feedback at the drop of a hat. Much respect mate. Ace.

Hello HeliasVieira. Your wish is granted. As it is such a great wish, you still have 3 left, this one's on the house, haha.

We should have a chat. No should, need, must, haha.

Thank you for checking Startizer out, and your comment. Cheers, Ace.

Hello Kirubakaran. I very much appreciate you taking the time to check it out, your comment, and for noting that yeah, it looks like what it is, made in Access but, considerable care and effort has gone into it.

Thank you mate. Ace.

Hello Dchuk. I can't say I knew, but I did believe someone would ask this question, and even answered it on the About Me page.

"Are you using Startizer on itself, on yourself? Yes, some sort of Ouroboros tribute."

Valid question. I have used MVP v1 on Startizer, as that covered everything from idea to launch and early traction. MVP v2 doesn't cover all the steps as that would take too long, but even so, I used it cos v1 was in Excel, but v2 had a database behind it which meant it was closer to how I and a few think it should be. Still, long way to go, but slowly step by step, keep learning, keep using it, keep getting feedback.

I also use it with startups I work with. Some founders are also using it. And after today, touch-wood, hopefully some more are, but I will contact them anyway, and see how I can help them (and myself in the process) further.

Hello Harris.

Thanks mate, much appreciated. I am certainly open to exploring what my possible next steps could be. I will check out Webase, and continue the conversation with you.

Cheers mate, and thank you. Ace.

Hello Dade.

Thank you for letting me know how things progressed. Yes that formatting, I could get it to sit properly on a 1920 x 1080, when zoomed out. But Access does responsive, like I do serious dummy data, haha.

As for the sample data itself, I have serious data, but that is rather with startups I work with, or them doing one (or few) at some point.

But the dummy data that is in there, my favourites are the emails, man I needed to get that off my chest, haha.

Mate, thank you, very much.

Ace.

Edit: Sheesh, sorry your question, startup sim game, if I can continue to get things off my chest, count me in.

Hello AreJaytee. Sorry about that. I was unable to ascertain your email address. From your profile, checked other places, to no avail, couldn't find one for you.

So, please use this direct link to download it: https://startizer.com/download-startizer-mvp-v2/

Let me know when you have downloaded it please. Obviously I didn't want to present a direct download link, haha, but got to do what ya got to do.

Cheers, Ace.

Hello Orkhan. Nice to see you here. You are very welcome pertaining to the little help I provided, you are the one doing the real work, so onwards and upwards mate.

Cheers, Ace.

Hello Phil. Thank you for checking it out, your comment, and the good luck wish. Long way to go, so I'll take all the good luck wishes I can get. Cheers mate, Ace.

Hello Yanbo. At first I was like, who is Yanbo? Then it clicked. Too kind mate. Finding where x marks the spot is ok, it's the digging that hurts, haha.

Hello DK, nice to see you here. Yeah occasionally something half decent comes out of my mouth, haha. Cheers mate.

Cheers mate, I just sent it over. If you need me to send over a priest to perform an exorcist after you see the 'code', haha, let me know.