What happens when you take the brain behind New Zealand’s Naked Bus and point it at AI? In this episode, Hamish Nuttall and I talk about stripping away everything customers don’t need, building systems that actually work, and why an AI “receptionist” might be the most practical tool small businesses can adopt right now.

We dive into:

• How Naked Bus went from 3 riders on day one to 40% market share by obsessing over customer problems, not cool features.

• Why every “contact us” moment is a defect, and how Hamish used tiny tweaks (like a tick box!) to cut support down to almost nothing.

• The danger of building million‑dollar solutions before you’ve run a $100 experiment.

• What an AI receptionist actually does: instant replies, qualifying leads and booking appointments by text, while you stay under the sink / in the clinic / with your clients.

• Why speed to lead (seconds, not hours) is the difference between getting the job and being ghosted.

If you’re a founder or small business owner drowning in admin and “shoulds”, this conversation will help you refocus on the one problem that really moves the needle, and let smart systems quietly handle the rest.

Learn more about Hamish’s work at Lazy Magnet and his AI agents at lazymagnet.ai. Or contact him at [email protected]

And if this episode helped, send it to a friend who’s still running their business on a paper diary.