About a year ago I realised we were onto something special with Another Round (then Train Badass). Our members were happy, they were getting results, I loved training them and they loved how we were doing it.
It felt like we were doing something fun and different in a space that can take itself very seriously, and what we were doing was working.
Our recipe was simple:
I decided that it was time to go big or go home. I wanted to bottle the secret sauce and bring it to more people.
I started learning about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it can and cannot do. I did a bunch of courses and learned as much as possible, even creating my own basic AI models. I quickly learned that AI is not killer robots 🤖. AI is not sentience or empathy, or ANY complex human emotion. AI is fantastic at automating replicable tasks at scale.
During the past year, we've built and trained AI that not only makes our training system faster, but also better. The model has tens of thousands of points of reference to help our coaches choose the best exercises for each member based on thousands of people who have similar goals and enjoy the same type of training, and it does it with an amazing degree of accuracy.
Like a nail gun or a blender, our AI is a tool that serves one narrow purpose. It can't do the job by itself, but it makes certain jobs quicker, tidier and more efficient. That's all our AI is: simply put, it helps our coaches deliver the best workout plans for our members. It doesn't do it for them, it just shares the heavy lifting in workout planning, allowing the coach to tweak, adjust and deliver to the individual, and support them on their journey.
The rest is all human, the support, the accountability, the empathy and the check-ins, the celebrations and the encouragements. We don't automate that, we never will, and I don't think anyone should. That's what makes it personal, that's why it works.
One year on, and two investment rounds later, I'm extremely excited about where we're going. We're building a team of the nicest, best coaches - people you'd like to have a drink with as much as be trained by - and a training system that is accessible and tailored to you. It's not just for the fitness fanatic or the masochist, it's your entry point to the goals you want.
We're here for you and we'd love to help you get where you want to be.
Come join the party 😎
Max
