Startup Founder Newsletter

Thoughtful long-form founder newsletter with personal essay, resources, and community section.

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  </style></head><body style="background-color:rgb(250,250,249);margin:0"><!--$--><!--html--><div style="display:none;overflow:hidden;line-height:1px;opacity:0;max-height:0;max-width:0" data-skip-in-text="true">I burned out at $2M ARR. Here&#x27;s what rebuilding actually looked like — The Operator #47<div> ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏ ‌​‍‎‏</div></div><!--head--><!--body--><table border="0" width="100%" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" align="center"><tbody><tr><td style="background-color:rgb(250,250,249);margin:0rem;padding:0rem;font-family:ui-sans-serif,system-ui,sans-serif,&quot;Apple Color Emoji&quot;,&quot;Segoe UI Emoji&quot;,&quot;Segoe UI Symbol&quot;,&quot;Noto Color Emoji&quot;"><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="max-width:600px;margin-right:auto;margin-left:auto;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><tbody><tr style="width:100%"><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(28,25,23);padding-right:1.5rem;padding-left:1.5rem;padding-bottom:0.75rem;padding-top:0.75rem"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;letter-spacing:0.1em;text-transform:uppercase;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Issue #47 · March 2026</p></td><td align="right" data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem"><a href="https://theoperator.co/archive" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:none" target="_blank">View archive</a></p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(28,25,23);padding-right:1.5rem;padding-left:1.5rem;padding-top:2rem;padding-bottom:2.5rem"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td align="center" data-id="__react-email-column"><img alt="The Operator logo" height="48" src="/static/company-logo.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px;margin-right:auto;margin-left:auto;margin-bottom:1rem" width="48"/><h1 style="color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:1.875rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:600;letter-spacing:-0.025em;margin:0rem;text-align:center">The Operator</h1><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;margin-top:0.5rem;text-align:center;letter-spacing:0.025em;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Honest dispatches from the SaaS trenches</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(43,127,255);height:0.25rem;padding:0rem;margin:0rem"><tbody><tr><td><p style="font-size:0px;line-height:1;margin:0rem;padding:0rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">·</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-bottom:1.5rem;padding-top:1.5rem;background-color:rgb(250,250,249);border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-width:1px;border-color:rgb(245,245,244)"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:3.5rem;padding-right:1rem"><img alt="Marcus Webb, founder of The Operator" height="48" src="/static/profilepic.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px" width="48"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;color:rgb(41,37,36);font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Marcus Webb</p><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-top:0.125rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Founder, Stacklane · Writing to ~14,200 operators</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-top:2.5rem;padding-bottom:1rem"><tbody><tr><td><h2 style="color:rgb(28,25,23);font-size:1.5rem;line-height:1.375;font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem">I burned out at $2M ARR. Here&#x27;s what rebuilding actually looked like.</h2><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Hey — glad you&#x27;re here this week. I want to skip the usual format and just talk to you directly for a minute.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">About eight months ago, I hit a wall. Not the dramatic kind you read about in Medium posts — no single breakdown moment, no dramatic resignation letter to myself. It was quieter than that. I just stopped caring. I&#x27;d open my laptop in the morning, stare at the dashboard, and feel... nothing. We were growing. The numbers were fine. And I was completely hollow inside.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">I&#x27;d spent three years optimizing everything except myself. Hired great people, built solid processes, got Stacklane to a place where it could technically run without me for a few days. And yet I was working 70-hour weeks because I didn&#x27;t know what I was <em>for</em> if I wasn&#x27;t grinding.</p><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="border-left-style:solid;border-left-width:4px;border-color:rgb(43,127,255);padding-left:1.25rem;margin-bottom:2rem;margin-top:2rem;background-color:rgb(239,246,255);padding-bottom:1rem;padding-top:1rem;padding-right:1rem;border-top-right-radius:0.5rem;border-bottom-right-radius:0.5rem"><tbody><tr><td><p style="font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.375;color:rgb(41,37,36);font-weight:600;margin:0rem;font-style:italic;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">&quot;I&#x27;d spent three years optimizing everything except myself.&quot;</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">What helped wasn&#x27;t a productivity system or a morning routine. What helped was admitting it to one person — my co-founder Priya — and watching her not flinch. She said, &quot;Okay. What do you actually want to do?&quot; I didn&#x27;t have an answer. But the question cracked something open.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Over the next three months, I did a few things that felt uncomfortably small at the time: I stopped checking Slack before 9am. I blocked two afternoons a week for deep work on things I actually found interesting. I started saying no to podcasts, advisory calls, and anything that felt like performing &quot;founder&quot; rather than actually building.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Slowly — and I mean slowly — something came back. Not the manic energy of the early days, but something more sustainable. A kind of quiet enthusiasm. I started looking forward to Mondays again, which honestly felt like a miracle.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">I&#x27;m sharing this because I know a lot of you are in that hollow place right now and you&#x27;re not talking about it. You&#x27;re just pushing through because that&#x27;s what founders do. I see you. It doesn&#x27;t have to stay that way.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">More on this in the coming weeks. For now — on to the usual stuff.</p><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.5;color:rgb(68,64,59);font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-top:1rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">— Marcus</p></td></tr></tbody></table><hr style="width:100%;border:none;border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;border-color:rgb(245,245,244);margin-right:2rem;margin-left:2rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem;margin-top:1.5rem"/><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-bottom:0.5rem"><tbody><tr><td><h2 style="color:rgb(28,25,23);font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.5555555555555556;font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.25rem">📎 3 links that helped this week</h2><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Things I actually read, watched, or used — no affiliate links, ever.</p><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(250,250,249);border-radius:0.75rem;padding:1.25rem;margin-bottom:1rem;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:rgb(245,245,244)"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(43,127,255);font-weight:600;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.25rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Essay</p><a href="https://paulgraham.com/greatwork.html" style="color:rgb(28,25,23);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375;font-weight:600" target="_blank">&quot;How to Do Great Work&quot; — Paul Graham</a><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-top:0.5rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">I&#x27;ve read this four times now. Each time I&#x27;m in a different headspace, I pull something different from it. The section on &quot;staying interested&quot; hit differently this week.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(250,250,249);border-radius:0.75rem;padding:1.25rem;margin-bottom:1rem;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:rgb(245,245,244)"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(43,127,255);font-weight:600;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.25rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Tool</p><a href="https://granola.so" style="color:rgb(28,25,23);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375;font-weight:600" target="_blank">Granola — AI meeting notes that don&#x27;t feel robotic</a><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-top:0.5rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Been using this for six weeks. It&#x27;s the first AI tool that&#x27;s actually changed how I run 1:1s. The summaries are good enough that I stopped taking notes entirely and just show up present.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(250,250,249);border-radius:0.75rem;padding:1.25rem;margin-bottom:1rem;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-color:rgb(245,245,244)"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(43,127,255);font-weight:600;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.25rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Thread</p><a href="https://x.com/lennysan/status/1234567890" style="color:rgb(28,25,23);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375;font-weight:600" target="_blank">Lenny Rachitsky on what separates $1M and $10M ARR teams</a><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-top:0.5rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Saved this thread immediately. The point about &quot;process debt&quot; being just as real as technical debt is something I wish I&#x27;d understood two years earlier. Worth 10 minutes of your time.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><hr style="width:100%;border:none;border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;border-color:rgb(245,245,244);margin-right:2rem;margin-left:2rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem;margin-top:1.5rem"/><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-bottom:0.5rem"><tbody><tr><td><h2 style="color:rgb(28,25,23);font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.5555555555555556;font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem">📚 Book of the month</h2><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:7rem;padding-right:1.25rem"><img alt="Book cover of The Courage to Be Disliked" height="160" src="https://placehold.in/112x160@2x.png/1c1917" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:0.5rem" width="112"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="vertical-align:top"><p style="font-size:1rem;line-height:1.375;color:rgb(28,25,23);font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.25rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">The Courage to Be Disliked</p><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.75rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Ichiro Kishimi &amp; Fumitaro Koga</p><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(87,83,77);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.75rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">A philosophy book disguised as a dialogue. Sounds soft, isn&#x27;t. The Adlerian psychology framing — that we choose our own limitations — is genuinely uncomfortable to sit with as a founder. I&#x27;ve been recommending it to everyone in my circle.</p><a href="https://bookshop.org" style="color:rgb(43,127,255);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;font-weight:600" target="_blank">Find it on Bookshop.org →</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><hr style="width:100%;border:none;border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;border-color:rgb(245,245,244);margin-right:2rem;margin-left:2rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem;margin-top:1.5rem"/><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="margin-right:2rem;margin-left:2rem;margin-bottom:2rem;background-color:rgb(28,25,23);border-radius:1rem;overflow:hidden"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:1.75rem;padding-left:1.75rem;padding-top:2rem;padding-bottom:0.5rem"><tbody><tr><td><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(81,162,255);font-weight:600;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:0.1em;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:0.75rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Community</p><h2 style="color:rgb(255,255,255);font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.375;font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1rem">Join 800+ founders in the Operator Slack</h2><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">It&#x27;s free, low-noise, and genuinely one of the better corners of the internet. We have channels for pricing strategy, hiring, mental health, and a #wins channel that&#x27;ll actually make you smile on a bad day. Come say hi.</p></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:1.75rem;padding-left:1.75rem;padding-bottom:0.5rem"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:2.5rem"><img alt="Community member" height="36" src="/static/people/person-headshot1.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px;border-style:solid;border-width:2px;border-color:rgb(28,25,23)" width="36"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:2.5rem"><img alt="Community member" height="36" src="/static/people/person-headshot2.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px;border-style:solid;border-width:2px;border-color:rgb(28,25,23)" width="36"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:2.5rem"><img alt="Community member" height="36" src="/static/people/person-headshot3.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px;border-style:solid;border-width:2px;border-color:rgb(28,25,23)" width="36"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:2.5rem"><img alt="Community member" height="36" src="/static/people/person-headshot4.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px;border-style:solid;border-width:2px;border-color:rgb(28,25,23)" width="36"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column" style="width:2.5rem"><img alt="Community member" height="36" src="/static/people/person-headshot5.png" style="display:block;outline:none;border:none;text-decoration:none;border-radius:9999px;border-style:solid;border-width:2px;border-color:rgb(28,25,23)" width="36"/></td><td data-id="__react-email-column"><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;padding-left:0.5rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">+795 founders already inside</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:1.75rem;padding-left:1.75rem;padding-top:1.25rem;padding-bottom:2rem"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://theoperator.co/slack" style="color:rgb(255,255,255);text-decoration-line:none;background-color:rgb(43,127,255);font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;font-weight:600;padding-right:1.5rem;padding-left:1.5rem;padding-bottom:0.75rem;padding-top:0.75rem;border-radius:0.5rem;display:inline-block" target="_blank">Join the Slack group — it&#x27;s free →</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-bottom:2rem"><tbody><tr><td><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">That&#x27;s all for issue #47. If something here resonated — especially the burnout stuff — hit reply and tell me. I read every response personally, and it genuinely helps me know what to write next.</p><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(121,113,107);margin:0rem;margin-top:1rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">See you in two weeks. 👋</p><p style="font-size:0.875rem;line-height:1.4285714285714286;color:rgb(68,64,59);font-weight:600;margin:0rem;margin-top:1rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Marcus Webb</p><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">Founder, Stacklane · Writing from Edinburgh, Scotland</p></td></tr></tbody></table><hr style="width:100%;border:none;border-top:1px solid #eaeaea;border-color:rgb(245,245,244);margin-right:2rem;margin-left:2rem;margin-bottom:1.5rem"/><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-bottom:1rem"><tbody><tr><td><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation"><tbody style="width:100%"><tr style="width:100%"><td align="center" data-id="__react-email-column"><a href="https://x.com/theoperatornl" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;margin-right:1rem" target="_blank">Twitter / X</a><a href="https://linkedin.com/in/marcuswebb" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;margin-right:1rem" target="_blank">LinkedIn</a><a href="https://theoperator.co" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:none;font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333" target="_blank">Website</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="center" width="100%" border="0" cellPadding="0" cellSpacing="0" role="presentation" style="background-color:rgb(250,250,249);padding-right:2rem;padding-left:2rem;padding-bottom:1.5rem;padding-top:1.5rem;border-top-style:solid;border-top-width:1px;border-color:rgb(245,245,244)"><tbody><tr><td><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.625;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;text-align:center;margin-top:0rem;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">You&#x27;re receiving this because you signed up at<!-- --> <a href="https://theoperator.co" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:underline" target="_blank">theoperator.co</a>. No spam, ever — just honest writing every two weeks.</p><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(166,160,155);margin:0rem;margin-top:0.75rem;text-align:center;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem"><a href="https://theoperator.co/preferences" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:underline;margin-right:0.75rem" target="_blank">Manage preferences</a>·<a href="https://theoperator.co/unsubscribe" style="color:rgb(166,160,155);text-decoration-line:underline;margin-left:0.75rem" target="_blank">Unsubscribe</a></p><p style="font-size:0.75rem;line-height:1.3333333333333333;color:rgb(214,211,209);margin:0rem;margin-top:1rem;text-align:center;margin-bottom:0rem;margin-left:0rem;margin-right:0rem">© 2026 The Operator · Stacklane Ltd · Edinburgh, Scotland, EH1 1AA</p></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><!--/$--></body></html>
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