Test log · AI for business owners · No sponsor sets a verdict

I test AI tools so your business doesn't pay to find out.

I'm Garrett. I build AI products for a Fortune 500 finance company by day. Here, I sign up for the tools small business owners keep hearing about, run them for real, and tell you what works, what it costs, and what to skip.

Garrett Johnson
Active tests05
CategoryAI receptionists
Price band$25 to $199/mo
Verdicts boughtZero

The test bench

Batch 001 · AI receptionists

Every tool gets the same treatment. I set it up myself, run it against a real scenario, try to break it, and publish the verdict with real numbers. Nothing appears here that I haven't personally opened.

Verdicts land here as each video publishes. Next batch: AI bookkeeping, chatbots, and no-code automation.

The protocol · Identical for every tool

Same business. Same four calls. No favorites.

Each tool is configured with the same fictional plumbing company: same hours, same prices, same instructions. Then it takes the same four calls, recorded, including one designed to break it.

CALL 01

The easy one

Hours and service area. If a tool fumbles this, the test is over early.

CALL 02

The booking

A leaking water heater and a request for tomorrow morning. Does a real appointment show up?

CALL 03

The curveball

Interruptions, a changed mind, a price question out of nowhere. The rude-customer simulation.

CALL 04

The emergency

Water everywhere, right now. Does it recognize urgency or read a script?

Get in touch

Read by a human · Replies within two days

Sponsorships, partnerships, press, or a question about a tool I tested. One form for all of it. If a pitch needs channel numbers, say so and I'll send current ones.

Sponsor note: a placement never buys a verdict.

About

Why trust a stranger on the internet?

Fair question. Most advice about AI for small business is written by people selling AI to small business. The roundups are affiliate bait, and the "reviews" are of tools the writer never opened.

Evaluating whether software is worth the money is my actual job. This channel is my own thing, and nobody pays me to like their tool.

By day I'm a product manager building AI products for a Fortune 500 finance company. That job is where the testing discipline comes from.

Some links on this site are affiliate links. They cost you nothing, and they only exist for tools I tested on camera and would recommend to a friend who owns a business. When a tool isn't worth it, that's the video.