158+ Essays

Essays

Deep thinking on building businesses designed to own forever. Not how-to content. Decision logs, frameworks, and pattern recognition.

George Pu
George Pu
$10M+ in businesses built. Zero VC.

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I Don't Use a Financial Advisor (Here's My System)
George's Takes

I Don't Use a Financial Advisor (Here's My System)

Friend asked for my financial advisor referral yesterday. Don't have one. Fired him two years ago after realizing I was paying 1.25% annually for advice I could get from a $20 book and portfolio performance I could beat with index funds. Here's my exact system for managing money without paying advisor fees—and when you actually need professional help. Why I Fired My Financial Advisor The moment I realized I was getting ripped off: 2021: Portfolio returned 8.3% after fees Same period: S&P

·8 min
The Talent Magnet Strategy: How Location Became Competitive Advantage
Founder Mobility

The Talent Magnet Strategy: How Location Became Competitive Advantage

Most founders think about geography as a constraint for talent. "We can't compete with Silicon Valley salaries." "All the good people are in London/NYC/SF." I've helped 8 companies turn geography into their biggest talent advantage. Combined result: $23M in salary savings with better hire quality than their VC-backed competitors. Here's how location became competitive advantage instead of limitation—and the strategic hiring decisions that built exceptional teams across multiple markets. The

·13 min
The Solopreneur Myth
George's Takes

The Solopreneur Myth

My first real business started in Arashdeep's basement in 2019. We had no money. We had no customers. We had no business plan. What we had was each other, and that made all the difference. Not because two people are always better than one. But because one person cannot be two people at the same time. The Lonely Default The solopreneur narrative is everywhere now. It's trendy. It's empowering. A single person with a laptop changes the world, asks no permission, needs no one. What's never ta

·5 min
The Last Honest CEO
George's Takes

The Last Honest CEO

I read what Sridhar Vembu said about his engineers and it hit me like a cold shower. He told them to "start considering alternative livelihoods," including himself. With calm acceptance. No spin. No "we're restructuring for growth." No "this is actually a great opportunity for shareholders." Just: the game might be changing, so maybe think about what you'd do if your job disappeared. That's the most honest thing a CEO has said in two years. The Chasm Amazon laid off 16,000 people without ex

·3 min
What Employment Actually Felt Like at 18
Founder Mobility

What Employment Actually Felt Like at 18

It was 2017. I was at the University of Waterloo, barely one semester into my CS degree. International student. Broke. My English was fine but my experience was zero. I had one semester of coding in an unfamiliar school system and absolutely no resume to speak of. The program required me to find an internship. That was non-negotiable. You either found a co-op job or you couldn't continue. I was terrified. The Advice Everyone Gave Me Everyone told me the same thing: you should go on study t

·5 min
I'm Done Pretending I Know My Net Worth
George's Takes

I'm Done Pretending I Know My Net Worth

I put $10 million on my profile a month ago. It was technically accurate. Three million plus in revenue over three years times a 3-4x multiple. That's the math founders use when they want to feel rich without actually having money. I cringe at it now. I watched a founder claim a $35 million valuation based on a $1 million seed round. The math required for that to work requires assuming everything goes perfectly and nothing ever gets disrupted. That worked until December 2025. Then Claude hap

·3 min

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Bitcoin Is A Cult (And I Can Prove It)
George's Takes

Bitcoin Is A Cult (And I Can Prove It)

I'm 27. I've spent three years afraid to write this post. Not because I don't believe it. Because I was terrified of what the cult would do. The Twitter pile-ons. The "have fun staying poor" responses. The being permanently labeled as a hater who "doesn't understand Bitcoin." But "Own or Be Owned" includes owning your mind. So here we are. The Narrative Collapse Gold just hit all-time highs. Bitcoin is down 40% from its peak. When I point this out to Bitcoin maximalists, they have a fascin

·4 min
Survival Mode
George's Takes

Survival Mode

I told my team something last week that probably sounded nuts. We're in survival mode, but we're not broke. That's the part nobody talks about. Everyone glamorizes the "we have 3 months of runway" panic. The story where you're eating ramen and sleeping under your desk. But we're sitting on 2-3 years of cash. We're fine on that front. And somehow, that makes it worse. Survival mode isn't about money. It's about relevance. The Other Kind of Crisis In February 2022, I took out a loan to make

·3 min
Why I'll Never Live in Silicon Valley Again
George's Takes

Why I'll Never Live in Silicon Valley Again

Lived in San Francisco for 3 years. 2019-2022. Burned through $300K extra just on location. Toronto taught me what freedom actually costs. Here's the math on why I'll never go back—and why most founders shouldn't either. The $300K Geography Tax Three years in San Francisco cost me exactly $300K more than Toronto would have for the same lifestyle. Not approximate. Exact. I tracked everything. The brutal breakdown: Housing (biggest killer): * SF: $4,200/month for 1BR in SOMA (decent but

·8 min
Three Ways to Build a US Business Without Moving There
Founder Mobility

Three Ways to Build a US Business Without Moving There

Everyone assumes you need to move to the US to build a US business. I've helped 12 companies scale in America while staying based in Canada, Europe, and Asia. Combined revenue impact: $47M+ over 3 years. Here are the three proven models that work—and the strategic advantages that emerged that nobody expected. The Three Models That Actually Work Model 1: The Partnership Proxy * Find US partner who becomes your market presence * They handle relationships, you handle product/delivery * Rev

·11 min
3 People + AI > 15 People Without It. But...
George's Takes

3 People + AI > 15 People Without It. But...

3 people with AI can outproduce 15 people without it. The math is obvious. The productivity gains are real. The cost savings are massive. But there's a nuance no one talks about. Yes, you can build faster and cheaper with tiny AI-powered teams. But you also lose things that matter—things that don't show up in productivity metrics but determine whether you build the right thing. Here's what actually happens when you optimize too hard for lean. The Obvious Math (That Everyone Gets) 3-person

·8 min
Founder Reality Is Free. Forever.
Announcements

Founder Reality Is Free. Forever.

No paywalls. No courses. No upsells. Nothing. Everything I publish on Founder Reality — every essay, every video, every podcast episode — is free and will stay free. I'm making this commitment publicly so I can't walk it back. Here's why. The Internet Broke Trust Over the past decade, the playbook for building an audience became obvious: give away free content, build an email list, sell a course. Every creator figured it out. And because every creator figured it out, every audience figured

·3 min

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