OLThe Operator's Lab
The Operator's Lab — Tools. Training. Thinking. What Actually Works.
The Operator's Lab — startup media veteran turned solo operator, based in Japan

I automate my work. I train at home.
I live in Japan. I measure everything.

I spent years covering Silicon Valley startups as media, then sold B2B SaaS to enterprise buyers. Now I run my own operation solo — and test the tools I used to write about. Every number below comes from real API invoices, real time logs, real equipment I train with. If I haven't used it, I don't publish it.

TOOLS TESTED
28
DAYS IN THE FIELD
3969d
LAST UPDATED
Aug 20, 2026
Filed under

Latest Tests

Home Gym

Doorframe Pull-Up Bars: Tested Two, Returned One

I bought two doorframe pull-up bars. One came back to the store after a week. The other is still in my door frame six months later. Here's the difference.

desk-setup

Desk Lamp for Remote Work: I Tested 4 Before Finding One Worth Keeping

I went through four desk lamps in two years of remote work. Eye strain, color temperature wrong for video calls, flicker I didn't notice until I had a headache. Here's what I look for now and the one I've kept for 14 months.

420d tested
publishing

beehiiv vs. Substack: I Ran a Newsletter on Both

I published the same newsletter on beehiiv and Substack for two months each. Growth tools, deliverability, and what it costs once you actually have subscribers. The gap is bigger than the homepages admit.

120d tested
security

Bitwarden vs. 1Password: I Migrated My Whole Vault Twice

I moved 300+ logins from 1Password to Bitwarden, then lived in Bitwarden for three months. Open source and cheap vs. polished and paid. Here's what actually mattered day to day.

90d tested
side-hustle

Buffer vs. Hootsuite: Scheduling a Week of Posts in One Sitting

I ran a month of social posting for a side project through Buffer, then Hootsuite. The simple one vs. the everything one. Which actually saves a beginner time — and which drowns you in features you'll never touch.

60d tested
hosting

Cloudways vs. DigitalOcean: Managed Convenience vs. Raw Control

Cloudways runs on top of DigitalOcean — so is the managed markup worth it, or should you go straight to the source? I ran the same app both ways for a month. Here's who each one is actually for.

45d tested
Current build

My AI Stack

Coding
Claude Code
primary dev assistant
Workflows
Claude API
content automation
Tasks
Todoist + AI
project management
Publishing
Astro + Vercel
this site
JE
Japan-based engineer. Solo operator. Obsessive measurer.

I build and run AI-automated side businesses. Every article on this site reflects a live, paid-for experiment — not recycled spec sheets or ChatGPT summaries.

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