Simplicity Wins in an AI-First World (And Why Your Complicated Plan is Probably Wrong)

Published August 19th, 2025 • 23 minutes

Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube

Today I realized I was just building expensive complexity that nobody needed.

This is the story of how simplicity became my competitive advantage in an AI-first world where everyone can build everything.

The $100K+ Quant Trading Disaster

Back in 2020, my friends and I decided to open ANC as a quantitative trading firm.

The plan? Pool our capital, hire the best engineers we could find, build sophisticated algorithms that would automatically execute trades and prove we knew what we were doing.

This was pre-ChatGPT. We thought complexity equaled intelligence.

We spent months building algorithms with names like "super trend" and "mean reversion strategy." We hired 4-5 engineers. We built backtesting systems that could simulate our strategies from 2007 to present day.

The process was insane:

• Step 1: Backtest 10 strategies, maybe 1-3 would pass
• Step 2: Paper trade the winners for months (different coding language, new problems)
• Step 3: Live trading with Interactive Brokers
• Step 4: Wake up at 6:30am every day to monitor hundreds of daily trades

We did this for two years.

The result? Returns were shit.

Transaction costs were high. Execution was terrible. We couldn't even beat the S&P 500 - the simplest ETF index fund you can buy.

The collapse was fast and furious. Overnight, we realized we'd spent years and hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to break a system with sophistication, when the simplest approach was winning.

The Bogleheads Revelation

After ANC Equities died, I didn't touch stocks for years.

Then a few months ago, I discovered the Bogleheads community on Reddit.

The philosophy? Be a "Boglehead" - just put your money in index funds and don't do anything except add money periodically.

My first reaction: "This sounds too easy to be true."

If the easiest way to invest is just buying ETFs, why do hedge funds exist? Why does Wall Street make billions managing money?

But I researched it. Asked AI platforms. Learned more.

Finally, I built a simple portfolio:

• S&P 500 ETF
• NASDAQ ETF
• 3-5 other conviction bets (all household names)
• Total: 8-10 companies

The timeline: I bought these at the end of May 2025.

The result: 5.5% return in 2.5 months.

Let me repeat that: I spent years building sophisticated trading algorithms that lost money, and a simple buy-and-hold strategy beat everything in under three months.

We pitched to the biggest money managers on Wall Street. Steve Cohen committed $60 million to Quantopian (a similar platform) and they lost 20% in the first three weeks.

Meanwhile, I'm buying what anyone can buy and beating the pros.

What the hell is going on?

The SimpleDirect Platform Nobody Wanted

Here's another complexity disaster.

We built this whole platform for home improvement contractors at SimpleDirect. Sophisticated tools, complicated features, everything we thought small businesses needed.

Customer feedback: "We don't need the web platform. We don't need the mobile app. We just need someone to talk to when we have a problem."

These are B2B clients - not even end consumers. And they wanted the simplest possible solution.

So we pivoted to AI agents that pick up the phone and answer questions. Text message responses. Basic human interaction.

Lesson: We could have saved months of development by just asking what customers actually wanted instead of building what we thought they needed.

Managing 14 People vs. Managing 5 People

At our peak, I managed 14 people.

The reality: Chaos. One-on-ones. Quarterly performance reviews. HR processes. You can't tell if someone's slacking off when you're managing 14 people directly.

Now we have 5 people (including me).

The difference: God blessing compared to 14. Family vibe. Everyone knows each other. Engineer 1 can talk directly to Engineer 2 without going through layers.

No HR guardrails. No handbooks. We're like five people from university starting something together.

Result: We execute faster. Get more done. Higher productivity per person.

Even from a management perspective, the simple approach just works better.

The Four Questions That Cut Complexity

When I'm building anything now - this podcast, SimpleDirect features, business processes - I ask these questions:

1. Can this be simpler?
2. What would happen if I removed this entirely?
3. Am I adding complexity to feel smart or to get results?
4. Would I explain this approach to my grandmother?

If it gets too complicated, it's probably not worth my time.

The most actionable approach: Be your most authentic self, solving the simplest problems, using the simplest methods.

Why Focus Beats Multiple Projects

I used to think I was like Elon - running multiple businesses, attention spread across different projects.

Reality check: As my businesses matured and revenue stabilized, I learned the best way to run a business is to keep focus on one thing.

Harsh truth: If you're a founder spending time on multiple things simultaneously, none of them will grow well.

You cannot run multiple things and expect them all to go well.

Yes, Elon is different. But he has teams running different companies while he spends tiny fractions of time on each. For solopreneurs and small business owners, time commitment is very different.

The AI-First World Complexity Trap

Here's what's happening right now:

Everyone has access to AI tools. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini - they make everything easier for everybody.

The result: We're flooding the internet with SEO articles, making cold email easier, complicating code. Adding features costs almost nothing.

The trap: More features doesn't equal better products. More complexity doesn't equal better results.

The opportunity: While everyone else adds complexity, you can win by staying simple.

When I select SaaS products for my company, I always go for the easy route. I don't want to Google how to use this tool. I want something straightforward that just does what I hired it to do.

No complexities. No sophisticated features I'll never use.

The Real Formula to Win

The formula isn't: Fancy everything, hiring world-class marketers, complicated sales funnels, multiple revenue streams you can't maintain.

The formula is: Be yourself, be transparent, be honest. Build audience over time using the Bogleheads approach - compound growth through consistency.

For this podcast: I always ask myself what's the easiest, simplest approach. How can we keep the workflow as intuitive and straightforward as possible?

The simplest thing is just to be authentic and put out content that compounds over time.

What Actually Works

In investing: Simple index funds beat sophisticated algorithms.

In business: Simple solutions beat complex platforms.

In team management: Small focused teams beat large bureaucratic ones.

In content: Authentic voice beats optimized engagement hacking.

In focus: One thing done well beats multiple things done poorly.

The pattern is everywhere once you start looking.

The Bottom Line

Sometimes you hustle days, weeks, and months - and the results are better when you just don't do anything and follow a simplistic approach.

For founders: There are many distractions. Complex partnerships, sophisticated sales funnels, people telling you to be on every social channel.

My opinion: Those are all BS.

Ask yourself: What is the simplest approach to reach my final goal? What processes can I cut that will save me hours, months, or years?

The takeaway: Keep things simple because there's no reason not to. Whatever you're building, whatever process you're running, simplify it down.

That's how you win in an AI-first world where everyone else is adding unnecessary complexity.

Next Episode: Something different (I handpick topics right before recording to keep it fresh).

Community Update: It's been a full week since launch and the feedback has been awesome. Starting next week, I'll read comments from listeners.

Get Involved:

• Website: founderreality.com
• Twitter: @TheGeorgePu
• Email me for portfolio details or feedback

This is week two and we're already being extremely awesome. Thanks for being part of the journey.

New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 9am EST.

Want my investment portfolio breakdown? Email me - I might share the 8-10 household names if there's enough interest.

Got a topic suggestion? Hit me up. This is our journey together.