An assistant for the calls you can’t take
Doug picks up when you don’t. It asks who’s calling and why, puts urgent people straight through, and sends you a clean summary of everyone else.
Free 14-day pilot · No contract · Turn forwarding off in about ten seconds
Doug: Hi, this is Doug, Alex’s AI assistant. Who am I speaking with? Caller: It’s Sam, his sister. Our dad’s just been taken to hospital. Doug: I’m sorry, Sam. Let me put you through to Alex now. Outcome: Put through.
Doug: Hi, this is Doug, Alex’s AI assistant. Who am I speaking with? Caller: Dana from Acme. Just checking the invoice went through. Doug: Thanks, Dana. I’ll pass that to Alex with your number. Outcome: Message taken.
Doug: Hi, this is Doug, Alex’s AI assistant. Who am I speaking with? Caller: We’ve been trying to reach you about your vehicle’s warranty. Doug: Alex isn’t interested, thanks. Goodbye. Outcome: Declined: spam.
The cost of a missed call
How it works
Keep your number and your phone. Your phone still rings first. If you decline a call, don’t answer, or have no signal, your carrier passes it on to your Doug line. That’s conditional call forwarding: a one-time setting or short dial code, and you can switch it off just as quickly.
It says who it is, asks who’s calling and what it’s about, and applies your rules. VIPs skip the questions, blocked numbers never get through, and everyone else is screened in a short, polite conversation.
Urgent callers are put straight through to you. Everyone else leaves a clean message with a callback number. Right after each call you get a summary by email and text: who called, what they want, how urgent it is, and what to do next.
Two ways to use Doug
Personal · Founders, agents, consultants
Doug is your gatekeeper. The people you mark as VIPs ring straight through during your hours. Everyone else is asked who they are and what they need, and only the urgent ones interrupt you.
After hours your phone stays quiet. Callers can leave a voicemail, and you read the summary when you’re ready.
Business · Clinics, contractors, studios
Doug is your receptionist. It answers every call, including at nine at night, and answers questions from the details you give it. It never invents prices, availability or policies.
Whatever the caller needs, Doug makes sure you have their name and a number to call back. While you’re closed it can’t put anyone through, so it takes a complete message instead.
The rules Doug lives by
When in doubt, take a message.
A missed message is easy to recover. An unnecessary interruption isn’t. Doug is built to lean one way.
It can’t put a call through that it isn’t allowed to.
Outside your hours, the ability to transfer is taken away, not just discouraged. A caller insisting it’s an emergency can’t talk Doug into it.
It says it’s an AI.
It tells every caller up front that it’s an AI assistant, never claims to be you, and says so again to anyone who asks.
Your VIPs skip the line.
Numbers you mark as VIP ring straight through during your hours, without being screened. Blocked numbers never ring at all.
Speed
Every reply has a budget of about 800 ms, from the moment the caller stops talking to the moment Doug starts. Doug starts speaking after its first sentence instead of waiting for the whole reply, and the audio is never converted between formats.
Hear Doug take a call
Audio sample coming soon.
We’ll post a real, unedited call handled by Doug, not an actor and not a mockup. Until then, the examples at the top of this page show what Doug says.
Trust and privacy
Founding-member pricing
Founders, agents, consultants
$49/month
Founding-member price, locked for as long as you stay.
Clinics, contractors, studios
$199/month
Founding-member price, locked for as long as you stay.
Free 14-day pilot. No contract. Turn forwarding off in about ten seconds. Cancel anytime.
We built Doug because the calls that matter and the calls that don’t arrive on the same phone, and it rings the same way for both. Every time we silenced it, we were guessing what we’d missed.
Doug is the assistant we wanted: it answers, asks the right two questions, and only interrupts when it should. It says up front that it’s an AI, it never pretends to be you, and when it isn’t sure, it takes a message.
The first members will shape what it becomes. We read every request and set up each pilot ourselves.
Questions
No. You keep your number and your phone. With conditional call forwarding, your carrier sends the calls you don’t answer, decline, or can’t take on to your Doug line. You set it up once, with a short dial code or a setting on your phone.
If you’d rather Doug answer first, we can move (port) a business number to Doug instead. Porting takes longer and depends on your carrier, so most people start with forwarding.
First, a short notice that the call is recorded and transcribed. Then, on a personal line: “Hi, this is Doug, Alex’s AI assistant. Who am I speaking with, and what is this regarding?” On a business line: “Thanks for calling Bright Dental, this is Doug, the AI receptionist. How can I help you today?”
Callers always know they’re talking to an AI. If one asks again, Doug says so plainly.
On a personal line your phone stays quiet: callers are asked to leave a voicemail, and you get the summary.
On a business line Doug keeps answering. It can’t put anyone through while you’re closed, so it takes a complete message with a callback number instead.
It takes a message. That’s the rule it’s built on: a missed message is easy to recover, an interruption isn’t. If a conversation goes round in circles, Doug takes a message and ends the call politely.
If one of the services Doug relies on fails mid-call, the caller hears a short apology and can leave a voicemail. They never get silence or a dropped line from our side.
English only for now.
During the pilot, the minutes Doug spends on your calls are on us.
Before any billing starts we’ll agree a monthly allowance with you in writing. Nothing is charged beyond it without your say-so.
Reply to any email from us. There’s no contract, and the 14-day pilot is free. To stop Doug answering immediately, turn off forwarding on your phone. It takes about ten seconds, and we’ll give you the exact code for your carrier during setup.
Early access
Tell us a little about your calls. We’ll set up a free 14-day pilot on your line, with no contract. If it isn’t for you, switch forwarding off and that’s the end of it.