Game · Coming soon
A new game
A team arena game for Steam. Name and trailer coming soon.
Independent software · San Francisco
CZL Labs
Small, private, long-lived software, made in a one-person factory.
Mac app · In development
VideoGhost
Talk. It finds the photos.
Captioned vertical shorts from a phone video, cut with real moments from your own camera roll. Private, on your Mac.
Web app · Live since 2020
ClipNotes
Take notes on video.
Every note stays pinned to the moment that sparked it, so you never lose your place or the thought.
Book · Audiobook · Calculator
Whole Life Wealth
Price the life you’re living.
A book about measuring a good life, and a two minute calculator that values yours in dollars a year across agency, vitality and connection.
Under construction
Next off the line.
Writing · Coming soon
The Logbook
Essays that continue Whole Life Wealth, plus notes on building a one person studio.
The company
We build, own and operate every product ourselves.
Private by default
Where we can, the work happens on your own machine, not on someone else’s server.
Real, not generated
Our tools sharpen what you already have. No stock footage, no filler.
Built to last
ClipNotes has run since 2020. Everything we ship is held to that bar.
Chen Li, Founder and Principal
A product manager since 2014, Chen founded CZL Labs to build the products he wished existed, with a product team’s rigor and a single owner’s focus.
See everything in the lab at chenzli.com ›
Let’s talk.
Partnerships, press and product questions.