Website design for B2B AI companies https://nitter.cf/t.co/mKwecO6spw | Clients include @MachineF00tball @AxonPark @NOCAPSports and 140+ others
Book a call
Joined September 2023
- Tweets13.6K
- Following2K
- Followers5.1K
- Likes33.9K
Recently I read the security section on a client's website
It said SOC 2 Ready. ISO 27001 Ready
I get why. The work is done, the audit isn't
But a security reviewer at a big company reads "Ready" as "not certified". Then they start wondering what else is softer than it sounds
If you're not certified yet, say it plainly. Which audit, who's doing it, and when the report is due. Link the policies you already have
If you are certified, show the date and let people request the report
If you sell to bigger companies, what does your security page say today
In October 2025 I hired full-time for the first time. One of them lasted 15 days
Before that we worked with freelancers project by project. A designer for the design, a developer to build it. Full-time felt like the next step
At the start everything looked fine. But almost no work was coming from one of the new hires, and I couldn't figure out why
After 15 days I found out. He was working another full-time job at the same time and hadn't told me
I let him go
The interview didn't show me any of that. The first two weeks of real work did
If you've hired your first people, what did the first two weeks tell you
I found my own team's mistake on a client's site a few weeks ago.
We built it in January. They've been editing it themselves since, which is how it should be.
But 20 pages still had the builder's default title. In Google they all showed up under the wrong name.
7 sample blog posts from the original template were still live too. Indexed.
Nobody noticed, us included. The site looks right in the browser. You only see it in Google.
We offered to fix our part for free.
If someone built your site from a template, search site:yourdomain.com on Google and read every title. Takes 2 minutes.
Anything that isn't yours is still out there
In January 2024 I gave a client all their money back
I was running a design subscription then. This client paid for a 15 day block straight from a payment link on my site. No call, no brief. I was happy, one less step
Then the work started. The direction changed 4 times. A landing page that normally took me 2 days dragged on for almost 3 weeks. Exhausting for both of us
So I refunded the full fee
And I changed two things. Every client now talks to me for 15 minutes before paying. And the direct payment links came off the website
That call isn't a sales trick. It's where we agree who the page is for before anyone pays
If you've hired a designer before, how many rounds did it take before it felt right
I had to refund a client. 😔 Here's why? 👇
- Client didn't book a call before subscribing to my design agency.
- I was super happy about that, as I was able to remove one friction between me and the clients.
- But that didn't go well. The project client shared was a bit tricky one.
- We had to change the design direction 4 times completely.
- Almost 3 weeks were passed to complete a single landing page, which usually takes 2 days.
- The whole process was super exhausting for me and for my client too.
- So I refunded 15-days subscription fee, as the work I produced didn't went as planned.
Lesson learned 🤔
- I will remove stripe direct payment links.
- All clients should go through a 15-min call with me first.
- This will be healthy for both the clients and myself.
- I know I might lose a couple of potential clients but quality should be top priority for me.
We are taking 2 more clients this month on pentaclay.com
A few weeks ago I compared a client's homepage on desktop and at phone size
On desktop, the top of the page said who the product is built for. Below it, a line about two well-known programmes backing the company. Their strongest trust line
On the phone version, that badge said "Launch pricing" instead. And the backing line wasn't there at all
In B2B that matters more than it looks. The person who finds you sends the link to their boss. A lot of the time the boss opens it on a phone, between meetings
So the person who decides sees the weaker version of your site
30 second check. Open your homepage on your phone and your laptop side by side. Read the first screen of each
If something that builds trust is missing on the phone, bring it back
If you sell to bigger companies, who on the buyer's side opens your link on a phone
My first template sold every month, even while I slept. Then the sales just stopped
Nothing was wrong with the template. What changed was me. I stopped posting about it and I wasn't putting out anything new
Nobody goes looking for you. If you're not in front of people, they forget you exist
So I made the second one, Probuilder, and put it out around August 2024
The sales came back
That's the part I still have to remind myself. The work doesn't sell itself, it sells when people keep seeing it
If you run a startup, how often do people actually see you
Someone asked under a launch: what are great examples of mobile friendly landing pages to launch a startup
When I check a launch page on my phone, I look for 4 things
- the first line fits on the screen without scrolling
- one main button, not three
- the product shows up before the logos
- the form asks for an email, not a phone number and company size
I'm putting together the 12 best launch pages I can find from seed-stage B2B startups
Want the list
Recently I checked every contact link on a client's website
Two of them were WhatsApp buttons. That's the main way their customers get in touch
The one on the homepage had the wrong country code. The one on the contact page had no country code at all
So a customer taps the button and the chat goes nowhere. No error on the site. The message just never arrives
Nobody on the team would notice. They never message themselves
30 second check. On your phone, tap every contact button on your site. Email, phone, chat, booking link. See where each one actually goes
If you sell to bigger companies, which link on your site have you never clicked yourself
Early in my career I didn't want to design social media posts
I wanted to design websites and real products. Social posts felt like small work
Then a senior colleague told me to do every kind of design. Social posts, booths, websites, apps. That's how you grow
I didn't love hearing it, but I said yes to everything after that
Over the years I designed the products, the website, the event booth, the sales deck, the infographics. Sometimes all of them for the same company
That's how I saw what a buyer actually sees. Booth first, then the deck, then the website. When each piece looks like a different company, trust drops. When they all match, the company feels solid
If you sell to big companies, do your deck and your website look like the same company
I read a founder's launch of an open standard for cookie banners. One reply called it the most unglamorous useful thing ever. Fair
If you sell to big companies in Europe, the banner is part of their first look at you
- If you run analytics or ad pixels for visitors from the EU or UK, get consent before those scripts load
- Make reject as easy as accept
- Keep it in your brand, not a default grey box
- Link your privacy page and a security page from the footer
Legal and security teams read these pages when they review a vendor. I learned that designing for banks
Who on your team owns the cookie banner
A few weeks ago I checked a client's homepage at phone size
The main button, "Start your order now", was in the first screen
But you couldn't see it. The cookie banner covered the bottom of the screen, and the chat bubble sat on top of what was left
On a laptop you never notice this. There's room for everything
On a phone, the two things a site adds last end up covering the one thing that matters
30 second check. Open your homepage on your phone in a private tab, so the cookie banner shows again. Look at the first screen
If your main button is hidden, move the chat bubble, make the banner smaller, or put the button higher
If you sell to bigger companies, when did you last see your site the way a first-time visitor does
CAN SOMEONE EXPLAIN THIS TO ME LIKE I'M 5?
If AI replaces all the jobs, where are people supposed to earn the money to keep buying things?
I don't get why this simple question isn't being asked.
On 1 Jan 2024 I posted my goal. $25,000 a month from Pentaclay
The plan looked simple on paper. 5 clients at $5,000 a month each
Reality was nothing like it. Nobody wanted a big monthly plan from someone they'd never heard of. Some months were completely dry
So I tried the smallest offer I could think of. One landing page design. First $97, then $149
When I posted the $149 one, 4 of the 10 spots were booked in 48 hours
Same designer, same work. The only thing that changed was how big the ask was. A stranger won't commit to thousands a month, but they'll pay a little to see if you're any good
And that small ask kept paying. One of those 4 clients is still working with me. This month they gave me a $1,400 project
If you sell to people who don't know you yet, what's your small first step
Let's share our 2024 goals in public in this thread 👇
I will bookmark this post to reevaluate at the end of 2024. 🔖
Here's mine 👇
- Design subscription agency pentaclay.com | $25k/M
- Lose 30lbs weight
- Travel 3 more countries
- Launch two more products
- Be a better father, a better husband, and a better friend
What's yours?
#buildinpublic
I read people's replies under new startup launches. Two stuck with me
"Why is it so hard to understand what it is. Checked the website, no idea"
"Why make a video with zero substance. A quick demo would have been better"
That's a painful way to spend a launch. Everyone shows up and nobody gets it
The fix is boring. The first line on your homepage says what it does and who it's for. Plain words, no slogan
Then show the product. A screenshot or a short clip, right under that line
Same for the launch video. Product on screen in the first few seconds
What does the first line on your homepage say right now
My first template took me almost 2 months. My second one took a developer 3 days
In 2024 I was doing everything myself. Learning Framer, designing, building, fixing review feedback. ClayAI took almost 2 months before Framer approved it
I designed the second one in Figma and figured building it would take me about a month
Then I met a developer who builds Figma designs in Framer. He said 3 days. I paid him, he built it, and it went through review
That's when it clicked. I'd been the slowest part of my own business. From then on designers designed, developers built, and I managed
That's how we got to 100+ templates and components
If you're building a startup, what are you still doing yourself that someone else could do in 3 days
If you sell software to bigger companies
What slowed down your last deal the most
I'll share what I've seen on the website side for each one in the comments
0%Security review
0%Legal and procurement
0%Finding who signs
0%Went quiet after the demo
0 votes • 1 daysIf you sell software to bigger companies
What slowed down your last deal the most
I'll share what I've seen on the website side for each one in the comments
0%Security review
0%Legal and procurement
0%Finding who signs
0%Went quiet after the demo
0 votes • 1 daysSomeone asked a website-builder founder: what if you want a human in the loop, especially on content
Good question. We use AI a lot when we build sites, but some things never go live without a person reading them first
- numbers and stats
- customer names and logos
- anything about security or compliance
- prices and contract terms
- quotes and testimonials
AI gets these wrong in quiet ways. A logo you don't have permission to use. A stat from last year. A security claim your team never made
If you sell to big companies, one wrong line there can cost you the deal
What's on your never auto-publish list
Earlier this month I audited a client's website.
Their blog had 8 posts. In Google, all 8 had the same title and the same description.
So Google sees 8 pages that look like one page. They end up competing with each other, and most of them barely show up.
On another site I checked, the location pages were 91% the same text. Only the town name changed.
Both teams wrote real content. Nobody had looked at what Google actually shows.
30 second check. Search site:yourdomain.com on Google and read the titles down the page.
If the same line shows up again and again, fix that first. Every page needs its own title and its own description.
If you write a blog for your startup, when did you last search your own site on Google
Banks don't buy software from a website. But a weak website can still cost you the meeting
Six years of designing for a company that sells to banks and fintechs showed me how it really works
Deals start offline. Events, booths, cold emails, warm intros. Then someone at the bank opens the website before they agree to a demo call
That visit is a trust check. They look for a security page, client logos, testimonials, the products explained clearly, and a developer portal for their tech team. If those aren't there, no call
Design matters too. Banks turned down anything flashy. Boxes inside boxes, loud colors, fancy fonts. Calm and clear felt safe to them
If you sell to banks or big companies, which of those pages is missing on your site