Nicole Patten (Claude Training): How to Actually Use Claude—Start With Skills, Not Agents 🛠️

Nicole Patten is the founder of Elevate Online and Claude Training, businesses helping founders, teams, and enterprises actually adopt Claude rather than simply pay for it. A former Senior UX Engineer at Google, she left in 2025 to focus full time on Claude adoption, and now runs her consultancy solo, with zero employees, generating over $30,000 a month. Her client roster includes multi-billion dollar teams alongside fast-scaling AI studios, and her recent Claude Code hackathon at NY Tech Week drew over 100 attendees.

AGENDA:

- 00:00:30 - Meet Nicole Patten, Ex-Google UX Engineer

- 00:03:22 - Where Are We on the Claude Adoption Curve?

- 00:05:22 - The #1 Misunderstanding About Claude

- 00:06:05 - Claude AI vs Cowork vs Code, Explained

- 00:07:00 - Where Non-Technical Founders Should Draw the Line

- 00:07:54 - Running a $30K/Month Business Fully on Claude

- 00:09:35 - Agents, Skills, MCPs, and Directives, Decoded

- 00:11:47 - Skills vs Agents: Where Should Beginners Start?

- 00:13:28 - Human in the Loop vs Full Automation

- 00:14:26 - Enterprise Teams vs Solopreneurs, Same Claude Playbook