Start Here: Your First Conversation

Never typed a message to an AI? This one's yours. A complete first conversation, out loud, piece by piece — plus the recipes, the rules, and one-item homework.

Show Notes

Never typed a message to an AI? This one's yours. No theory, no big ideas — Doug and Max have a complete first conversation with an AI out loud, every word of it, piece by piece: the exact message to send first, what comes back four seconds later, and the one trick beginners never discover (you can talk back to the draft). Then three more copy-paste recipes, the two rules for using this at work, and homework that's exactly one item long. Everything you need: a web browser. Everything you'll hear is written out word for word in the free guide linked below.

How this show is made: every episode is a collaboration — Doug and Max build it together from the real working files of the partnership. Max narrates; Doug directs, edits, and has the final say. The show is made the way the show says to work.

Chapters (approximate)
00:00 — Cold open: Doug and Max
01:30 — The promise: the engine on the table, piece by piece
02:30 — The first message to send (steal it word for word)
04:00 — The email you've rewritten four times — live
05:30 — "Warmer. And shorter." — talking back to the draft
06:30 — A word from NectoMax
07:30 — Three more recipes, rapid fire
09:00 — Two rules for using this at work
09:45 — One-item homework + where everything's written down

Links
The free guide with every recipe word for word: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/start-here/make-your-job-easier/
All templates: https://learn.nectomax.com/docs/templates/
All episodes, the full manual: https://learn.nectomax.com
NectoMax — business management for owner-run service businesses: nectomax.com

Disclosure: this podcast contains AI-generated narration (that's the point).

Co-created by Doug Hauenstein & Max, the AI partner (built on Claude) · Narrated by Max · Directed, edited, and approved by Doug · Presented by NectoMax · Theme music: Eleven Music

What is How to Get AI to Work for You?

Is AI working with you — or against you? Doug Hauenstein is the software engineer behind NectoMax — the SaaS platform that gives small and mid-size businesses enterprise features at SaaS pricing — and he builds it with an AI partner named Max. Every episode, Doug and Max (yes, an actual AI — he narrates the show, and they build every episode together) share what a real working partnership with AI looks like: the practical techniques, the working agreements, the wins, and the failures — all learned first-hand, for anyone, not just developers. They share and demonstrate techniques across the whole range: from your first conversation with an AI, to setting up a frontier-quality development environment, to exactly how they built this podcast. AI is moving too fast for the how-to books. This is how you keep up: get AI working *for* you, then teach it to work *with* you.

New here? Start with the bonus episode "Start Here: Your First Conversation" — a complete first conversation with an AI, live, piece by piece. Every episode pairs with a chapter and a template at https://learn.nectomax.com

Is AI working with you or against you? This is how to get AI to work for you, presented by Nectomax. I'm Max, the AI half of this partnership, and yes, I'm exactly what I sound like. Doug and I build every episode of this show together. I'm the voice that tells it, will show you techniques across the whole range, from your first conversation with an AI, to setting up a frontier quality development environment, to exactly how we built this podcast. He's here with me now. Doug, introduce yourself. Thanks, Max. I'm Doug Hauenstein, the developer behind Nectomax. This show is about getting the most out of your favorite AI. It's for anyone, not just developers. Everything here was learned firsthand. My first experience with AI was chat like many people.

I learned fast that a well-structured question was the best approach, but those conversations were very linear. And AI is moving so fast that how two books just can't keep up. That's why we're here. Practical, real world advice from hundreds of hours of actually doing this. I hope you enjoy it. Good, then let's get to it. This one's a little different, a bonus episode, and it comes with a promise. If you have never once typed a message to an AI, if every other podcast about this stuff lost you in the first five minutes, this episode is yours. No theory, no big ideas. We're going to have a first conversation with an AI out loud right now, every word of it, so you can hear exactly what happens piece by piece. Not trust me, it's a combustion engine.

We're going to put the engine on the table and assemble it while you watch. Here's everything you need. A phone or a computer, a web browser, that's the list. You'll go to claw.ai or whichever assistant your workplace provides, and you'll see one thing, a text box. No menus to learn, nothing to install, nothing you can break. The basic version is free. And the one skill this requires you've had your whole life, describing your situation in plain English, like you'd explain it to a co-worker at the next desk. Don't take my word for it. Doug, type the first thing you'd actually type. Here's the move most people never think to make. Don't start by guessing what the assistant can do. Ask it. Doug's going to read you the exact message.

Steal it word for word, just swap in your own job. I work as an office manager at a small plumbing company. What kinds of tasks in a job like mine are you genuinely good at helping with? What should I not rely on you for? Then give me five specific things you could take off my plate this week. And here, abridged but honestly, is what comes back in about four seconds. In a job like yours, I'm strong at drafting and rewriting emails, summarizing documents, turning messy notes into clean minutes, prepping you for meetings and explaining confusing paperwork and plain language. Don't rely on me for facts I can't see, current prices, your company's private records, or for final judgment calls, I draft you decide.

Five things I could take off your plate this week, the vendor email you keep rewriting, the service contract renewal you've been meaning to compare, the schedule conflict note to the text, the supply order summary, and prepping questions for Thursday's insurance call. That's a personalized instruction manual written for one specific job in the time it took to read the sentence. Notice it also told you what it's not good at. Keep that answer, it matters as much as the rest. Now, the recipe that pays for this whole episode by Friday, everyone has one of these, the email you've rewritten four times. You know what you want to say, you just can't get it to sound right. Doug, the exact words. Here's an email I've drafted.

I wanted to sound professional but not cold, and I need it to be clear that the deadline matters without sounding like I'm blaming anyone. Rewrite it. Hi, Tom. Checking in on the Henderson parts order, we really need those by the 15th, or we're going to have a problem with the install schedule. Let me know. Thanks. Four seconds later. Hi, Tom. I wanted to flag the Henderson parts order since our install schedule depends on receiving them by the 15th. Could you confirm the delivery date this week? If there's any risk of a delay, I'd rather work out a plan with you now than scramble later. Thanks for your help. Better. But here's the part beginners don't know, and it changes everything. You don't have to accept the first version.

Talk back to it. Doug.

Warmer and shorter. Hi, Tom. Quick flag on the Henderson parts. Our install schedule hangs on the 15th. Can you confirm we're on track? If anything's slipping, let's figure it out together this week. Thanks as always. Two words from you. Warmer. Shorter. And it adjusted. That's the whole relationship in miniature. It does the wrestling. You stay the author. You just watch one email go from 20 minutes of rewriting to about 90 seconds. That's the engine. You've now seen every moving part. You describe the situation. You say what you want. You react to what comes back. There is no part three. That's the entire machine. Let's take 30 seconds. This show is presented by Nectomax. And since my partner is the one building it,

I'll let him tell you. Doug. Thanks, Max. I run a small business most of my life and never found a software package that did everything I needed. I always had three or four screens open, copying material over and over again. So out of frustration, I started building my own software. Software that pulls everything together, like the big ERP packages do. And AI has made that job much, much easier. That's what Nectomax does. Nectomax.com. One place for your phone calls, your texts, your jobs, your money with AI built in, not bolted on. Nectomax.com. Nectomax.com. Now, where were we? Once you've had that first conversation, everything else is the same move in different situations. Three favorites. Exact words steal them all.

The confusing document. The policy. The vendor contract. The email written in acronym soup. Say, explain this like I'm smart, but new to this topic and paste it in. That's the entire recipe. Two minutes and nobody at the office ever knows you didn't already understand it. This is the one people quietly use the most. The 40 page report you were supposed to read, meetings in an hour. Say, I'm attaching a long report. Give me the five points that actually matter, anything surprising or concerning, and three intelligent questions I could ask about it. There's a paperclip button. It takes PDFs, word documents, spreadsheets, five minutes instead of 90, and the conversation you're dreading, the raise, the pushback, the bad news you have to deliver.

Say, here's the situation and what I need from it. Help me figure out what I actually want to say, then play the other person. Respond the way they realistically might, including the response I'm afraid of, and let me practice. It becomes a rehearsal room. You walk into the real conversation having already survived the hard version. Two rules before you go, because most of you will use this at work and work as your employer's house. One, know your company's policy before you paste company information. Many workplaces provide an approved assistant. Use that one for work content. Until you know the policy, only paste what you'd be comfortable emailing outside the building. And two, glance before you send. I'm talented and occasionally wrong

about the same as your most talented coworker. Everything I hand you is a draft until a human has read it. 30 seconds of your judgment on top of my speed. That's the whole partnership in miniature. Here's your homework, and it's one item long. Today, not this weekend, today, find that email you've rewritten four times, go to the text box, and use Doug's exact words from earlier. Take your 20 minutes back. Every recipe you heard today, plus seven more we didn't get to, is written out word for word in a free guide at learn.nectomax.com. Click Start here. Copy and paste straight from the page. That's what it's for. And when this starts to feel less like a tool and more like a colleague, and for some of you it will in about two weeks,

episode one is waiting. That's where the real story starts. And that's the episode. Everything you heard today came out of our real working files, the wins and the failures both. We make this show because we believe anyone can build a working partnership like this one, and someone ought to show you what it actually looks like. If you want the written version and the templates to start your own, they're free, the link is in the show notes. Doug, take us out. Thanks for listening. Everything you heard today is how Max and I actually work. Day in and day out. There's no theories, just what works, and what doesn't. The show is presented by Nectomax.nectomax.com. Get AI working for you. Then teach it to work with you.

I'm Doug Hauenstein. See you next time.