LEAD Summit 2026 · Houston · 19 September
The talk, as a page

Hire Your First AI Coworker.

This is the 30-minute talk, the way the room saw it. Twenty-one slides. Some of them play a short scene when you press the arrow: a Monday-morning board, an inbox, a manager asking three coworkers for one page. Each scene stops and waits for you. Read at your own pace, it takes about ten minutes.

The company in the story, Ridgeline Systems, is made up. The numbers on the one slide about a real company are from an engineering org I ran.

Move→ or a click goes forward, ← goes back. On a phone, swipe.
ScenesThe first press runs the scene. When the arrow in the footer glows, press again for the caption, then again to move on.
ReplayP runs the scene again from the top. I brings this page back.
or press the right arrow
On a phone, turn it sideways. The slides are built for a wide screen.
Firas Taiem · CogniStack Solutions
[email protected] · 248-421-0542 · linkedin.com/in/firas-taiem
MonTueWedThuFri
Before anything · answer this in your head
Right now, how much money is waiting on a quote nobody on your team has chased in two weeks?
You have a number. Hold it.
Hire your first AI coworkerFiras Taiem
Four minutes.
Nobody typed.
One of those cards is $184,500, fourteen days silent. Hold your number beside it. We come back to it.
The promise
That was an AI coworker.
By Monday, you can hire yours.
Not a chat window. A coworker with a name, a shift, a rulebook, and a manager.
Hiring one takes seven lines on one page. Tonight you go home with that page.
Hire your first AI coworkerFiras Taiem
Monday, 7:10am · Ridgeline Systems · 40 people · Houston · for tonight, you own it
Seven quotes out. One went quiet. You ask the only AI you have.
Seven tips.
Not one word about Harbor View.
It is a stranger. It has never met your company. Everyone in this room hired this one in 2024, and quietly fired it in a week.
Coworker zero · the stranger→ runs it
Hire one · Scout
Ridgeline SystemsHire #1
S
Scout
Quote desk assistant
StartsMonday
Reports toSara, sales lead
ShiftWhenever Sara says "check the quotes"
NeverSends anything · names a rate off the rate card · promises a date
.claude/skills/quote-check/SKILL.mdone text file · 18 lines
HiredMonday
Hire one.
Scout.
Quote desk assistant. Which open quotes to chase this week, with a chase drafted for each. Before its first shift, it reads one page.
Hire one · Scout · quote-check→ stamps it
Scout · the onboarding doc · where it lives
company-file.md · Ridgeline Systems · one page

Who we are

40-person IT consulting and managed-services firm, Houston, since 2009. Projects first, plus support contracts.

What we sell, and to whom

Custom software and cloud migrations for mid-size companies. Support contracts for clinics, schools, distributors.

Prices, and what is never discounted

Every rate comes off rate-card.xlsx. Hourly rates and the support retainer never move.

People, and who owns what

Sara, sales lead, owns quotes. Dana, office manager, owns invoices. Luis, delivery lead, owns project hours.

How we sound

Plain, warm, short. First names. No shouting, no "!". We say what we will do and when.

Never

Send anything. Name a rate that is not on the rate card. Promise a delivery date Luis has not agreed.

First,
it reads this.
One afternoon, in your words. The three lines under Never are the ones that matter.
Where it lives: one folder, on your laptop or the shared drive. No server. No IT ticket. The whole team opens the same folder.
The onboarding doc · one folder · no serverFiras Taiem
Monday, 9:02am · Sara · now it knows the company
Same question, word for word. Does it find Harbor View?
Same question.
Different answer.
It read three files. Harbor View, $184,500, fourteen days silent: found. The chase is drafted, and it does not sound like you. Saved, not sent.
Scout · connected→ runs it · Cmd-Tab to do it live
Not a demo trick · one real company
Not a demo trick · one real company · 65 people · four countries
0
people, four countries,
one engineering org
<0
weeks to 100%
on AI tools
+0%
productivity
in eight months
−0%
production defects
~0%
of planned hiring
never needed
Numbers a CEO can check. None of it came from buying a tool. All of it came from what you just watched, done sixty-five times over.
What happened at hooplaFiras Taiem
Scout · the first skill · one text file
Write the steps down, once. It is a text file.
ridgeline · the folder
ridgeline/one folder · on the shared drive
company-file.mdthe onboarding doc
rate-card.xlsxnever discounted
exports/quotes · invoices · project hours
discovery-notes/
drafts/what the coworkers write · nothing sent
.claude/
skills/written steps
quote-check/new
SKILL.mdone text file
.claude/skills/quote-check/SKILL.md18 lines
---name: quote-checkdescription: Which open quotes to chase this week, with a chase draft each. Trigger: "check the quotes".---Read company-file.md first. Then exports/quotes.csv.1. List every open quote older than 10 days, largest first: amount, days out, last contact.2. Draft one chase per quote using write-like-me. Save to drafts/. Never send.3. Say the number: dollars waiting, and who to call first.Never: name a rate not on rate-card.xlsx.Never: promise a delivery date Luis has not agreed.Reports to Sara. She reads every draft.
From now on · the whole question
Which of our open quotes should I chase this week?
check the quotes
Three words. Sara says them. Scout does the rest.
Skill one · quote-check · on the site→ three words
Hire two · Echo
Ridgeline SystemsHire #2
E
Echo
The company voice
StartsMonday, 10 AM
Reports toThe owner
ShiftBefore anyone writes a word a customer will read
NeverShouts, no "!" · "do not hesitate" · sends
.claude/skills/write-like-me/SKILL.mdone text file · 19 lines
HiredMonday
Hire two.
Echo.
The company voice. Built once, from five emails you wrote yourself, before 2023. Nineteen lines on how you write. It never reads the emails again, and when you correct a draft, one line gets added. Every coworker after this one borrows Echo before it writes to a customer.
The team so far
S
Scout
Quote desk
Hire two · Echo · write-like-me→ stamps it
Monday, 11:00am · Dana · Echo · using write-like-me
Three invoices past due, $47,920. Can you tell which words are yours?
Ninety seconds.
In your voice. Nothing sent.
Nobody on the other end can tell. And Echo rewrote the Harbor View chase in your voice. Sara read it at 10:48 and pressed send herself.
Echo · write-like-me→ runs it
Hire three · Early
Ridgeline SystemsHire #3
E
Early
Inbox clerk · morning shift
StartsTuesday, 6:30am
Reports toDana, office manager
ShiftWeekdays 6:30am, scheduled. Nobody types.
NeverSends anything · promises a delivery date Luis has not confirmed
.claude/skills/inbox-shift/SKILL.mdone text file · scheduled
HiredTuesday
Hire three.
Early.
Inbox clerk, morning shift. Reads the overnight mail before you do, sorts it, drafts the urgent replies in your voice, and holds anything that breaks a rule.
The team so far
S
Scout
Quote desk
E
Echo
The voice
Hire three · Early · inbox-shift→ stamps it
Tuesday, 6:30am · Early · the morning shift · nobody typed
Twenty-three emails overnight. One is Harbor View. Who replies?
Harbor View wrote back.
One question held. Nothing sent.
Five drafts in your voice. Maya asked for a go-live date. Luis owns dates, so Early did not guess. It flagged Luis and moved on. Staff, not a tool.
Early · inbox-shift→ runs it
Hire four · Chief
Ridgeline SystemsHire #4
C
Chief
The manager
StartsThursday, 9:12am
Reports toThe owner
ShiftEvery weekday 6:30am, and whenever you ask
NeverSends anything · skips a reviewer · guesses when a coworker can answer
.claude/skills/manager/SKILL.mdasks the other three
HiredThursday
Hire four.
The Chief.
Thursday. The Harbor View call is at ten. By now there are three coworkers, and you are the one carrying questions between them. So you hire a manager. One ask, it knows who to ask, one page back.
The team so far
S
Scout
Quote desk
E
Echo
The voice
E
Early
Inbox · 6:30am
Hire four · the Chief · manager→ stamps it
The team · four text files
ridgeline · the folder
ridgeline/one folder · on the shared drive
company-file.mdthe onboarding doc
rate-card.xlsxnever discounted
exports/quotes · invoices · project hours
emails/five the owner wrote
discovery-notes/
drafts/what the coworkers write · nothing sent
.claude/
skills/four sets of steps
quote-check/SKILL.mdScout · coworker one
write-like-me/SKILL.mdEcho · coworker two
inbox-shift/SKILL.mdEarly · coworker three
manager/SKILL.mdthe Chief · new
morning-board/one page every weekday
Four text files.
That is the whole team.
Each one a page you can read. Each one you can change. The manager's file mostly says: ask the other three, then write one page.
The team · four skillsFiras Taiem
The Chief · the manager
One ask. It knows who to ask. One page back.
CThe Chief · the manager
"Get me ready for the Harbor View call at ten."
Understands the ask. Decides who on the team to ask. Assembles one page.
SScout · quote-check
What is open with Harbor View?
Patient portal, $184,500. Chased Monday, replied Tuesday. The phased option is on the table.
EEarly · inbox-shift
What did Maya say last?
Thursday at ten. She asked about go-live. Early held that for Luis, and Luis confirmed December 1 on Wednesday.
EEcho · write-like-me
Draft the opening line.
In your voice. Saved, not sent.
One ask. The Chief asks the other three. One page back.
The Chief routesFiras Taiem
Thursday, 9:12am · the Chief · then the week
One ask on Thursday. A shift all week. Does Harbor View come back?
Fourteen days silent on Monday.
Phase one on Friday. Nobody typed.
One ask. Five mornings. Nineteen drafts. Nothing sent by a coworker. Nine hours back. That is the board you saw at the start.
The Chief · then the roster→ runs it
How it gets better
When it gets one wrong,
you fix the steps.
It never makes that mistake again.
That is the whole maintenance. Not a project. A paragraph.
Skills do not learn. You edit them.Firas Taiem
What it takes
What it takes · honestly
The tool
Claude, on a laptop
What I ran at hoopla. Same steps work in the others. No new system, no logins for everyone.
The cost
Under $200 a month, per seat
One seat to start. The person who does the task, not the whole company.
Who
The person who does the task today
Not IT. Not a consultant. Sara hires the quote desk. Dana hires the chaser.
Afternoon one
The company file
Six things, one page, in your words. You saw it.
Week one
The first coworker
One task, one reviewer, one shift. It drafts, they send.
Day 30
The number you picked
Hours per quote. Days to collect. Whatever you wrote on line seven.
Every coworker stands on the same three things: it knows your business · it knows what it must never do · a named reviewer, and a log.
Photograph this oneFiras Taiem
Your requisition
Seven lines · your first hire
Position
Quote desk assistant
The one task
First drafts of quotes from the discovery notes
Needs to know
Our scope and exclusions · the rate card · three past quotes
Never
Sends anything · names a rate I did not set · promises a date
Shift
Weekdays 6:30am, and whenever Sara asks
Reports to
Sara, sales lead. A name, not "the office."
Day-30 number
Hours per quote: six today, three by ___
Seven lines.
Photograph this.
Or scan the code and type your seven lines on your phone. It writes the onboarding doc and the first ask for you. Everything you saw tonight is on the page: the company file, the four skills, the schedule, a ten-minute install.
cognistacksolutions.com/coworker · send me your seven lines
Your first AI hire · nothing is sold tonightFiras Taiem
Minute one · the number you held
Right now, how much money is waiting on a quote nobody on your team has chased in two weeks?
Monday morning, three wordscheck the quotes
Claude · new chat
No company file. No rules. No manager.
Seven tips.
Coworker zero · the stranger
vs
S
Scout
Reports to Sara · three nevers · a shift
Same tool.
One was onboarded.
CThe Chiefone ask · asks the other three · one page back
S
Scout
Quote desk
E
Echo
The voice
E
Early
Inbox · 6:30am
Thank you.
Firas Taiem · [email protected] · 248-421-0542 · linkedin.com/in/firas-taiem
scan · the page
The end · hire your first AI coworkerFiras Taiem