Episodes

A collection of 25 posts

Episodes

The VC Market Has Split Into Two Different Games (And Most Founders Are Playing The Wrong One)

By George Pu | Founder Reality Podcast | November 10, 2025 I spent the past week doing something I haven't done in years: analyzing the venture capital funding landscape. As a bootstrap founder, it's not my world anymore. But I realized something shocking that every founder needs to

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Episodes

When to Stop Consulting and Build a Product: The $200M Basecamp Question

Real talk from a technical founder building AI-powered businesses Published October 28, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 36 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I've been getting this question a lot since publishing "The Anti-Unicorn": "George, I've built a successful consulting

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Episodes

How to Know When to Pivot vs. Shut Down Your Startup (The 8am Text That Saved My Company)

Published October 15th, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 30 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Last week, I almost killed SimpleDirect Financing. Not because it was failing. Not because customers weren't using it. But because I was completely burned out. I had already drafted the sunset

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Episodes

3 Thoughts That Changed How I Run My Companies

The goal isn't to feel busy. Published October 17, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 31 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube This week, three ideas clicked in a way that fundamentally changed how I think and run SimpleDirect and ANC. They might not seem connected at

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Episodes

Three Expensive Lessons About Money That Changed How I Think About Wealth

Real founder insights about surviving the AI commoditization era Published October 24, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 34 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I just finished Morgan Housel's "The Art of Spending Money" and it hit me like a brick. Five years ago,

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Episodes

Why Everyone's Chasing the Wrong Thing (And It's Making Them Replaceable)

Real founder insights about surviving the AI commoditization era Published October 22, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 33 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I walked away from a $3-5 million partnership deal two months ago. Not because the numbers were bad. Not because the terms sucked. I

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Episodes

Why My Friends Making $500K at Google Regret Their Careers (And What I Learned About Freedom)

Don't be them in 10 years Freedom compounds. Start now. Published October 1, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 25 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I have a friend named Sha who's worked at Google for 15 years. He finally made it to Managing

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Episodes

The $60 Million GitHub Move That Just Killed Startups (And Why That's Perfect for Bootstrap Founders)

Real talk from a technical founder building AI-powered businesses Published September 26, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 22 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube The Infrastructure Shift Everyone Missed While founders debate whether ChatGPT beats Claude or if Google Gemini will rule them all, something massive happened last

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Episodes

Governments Are Giving Away ChatGPT for Free (Your Startup Should Too)

Are you giving your team AI tools? Published October 6, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 26 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Something fascinating is happening in AI adoption that most founders aren't paying attention to: governments and corporations are racing to give away premium AI

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Episodes

AI Will Copy Your MVP in Three Weeks: Why I Never Build Single Product Companies Anymore

Real founder insights about surviving the AI commoditization era Published October 3, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 25 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I tweeted something this week that got a lot of reactions: "AI will copy your MVP in three weeks. This is why I

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Episodes

Why I Ignored 60% of My Customers for 5 Years (Why Every Startup Should Go Global from Day One)

Unless you're solving a problem that only exists in one country, you should be building globally from day one.

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Episodes

Why I'm Worried About My Friends' "Successful" Acquisitions

I'm genuinely happy for my friends who got acquired. I hope their deals were better than I fear.

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Episodes

The Three Stages of Founder Loneliness (And Why Stage Two Almost Broke Me)

The loneliness you feel today is building the independence you'll treasure tomorrow.

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Episodes

Why Your Health is Your Most Important Business Asset (And How a Mentor's Passing Changed Everything)

Real talk from someone who learned this lesson the hard way

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Episodes

Why I Built a Business That Can't Scale (My $500K Distribution Mistake)

Published September 1, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 11 Most founders obsess over product-market fit while completely ignoring audience-market fit - and it's killing their businesses before they even start. I've been thinking about this a lot lately because I spent 5 years building SimpleDirect

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Episodes

Why I Went From 14 People to 5 and Made More Money

Published August 29th, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 10 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I need to tell you about the most counterintuitive business decision I've ever made - and why it saved my company. Two years ago, I was running a team of 14

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Episodes

Why Distribution is the Only Moat Left in the AI-First World (And How to Build It)

Published August 27th, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 9 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Listen to the full episode: AI has killed every competitive advantage for software founders except one: distribution. If anyone can build your app in a week, your code isn't your moat

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Episodes

Building in Public vs. Building in Private (The Truth About Transparency)

Published August 24th, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 8 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Everyone's telling you to build in public. Share your revenue, your struggles, your team changes. Document everything. I'm calling bullshit. Most "building in public" is just startup

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Episodes

Stop Learning About Startups and Just Start One

Published August 22nd, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 7 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I need to tell you about my three spectacular startup failures - and why they were worth more than every business book I've ever read. Before SimpleDirect worked, I failed three

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Episodes

I Tried Vibe Coding for 6 Months and Nearly Destroyed My Products

Published August 21st, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 6 Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Today I'm going to tell you about one of my most expensive mistakes this year - and why it might save your business from a similar disaster. I fell hard for

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Episodes

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

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Episodes

Work Shouldn't Feel Like Work (And Why I Just Said No to $5 Million)

Published August 15th, 2025 • 25 minutes Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube I just said no to $3-5 million. Partnership came in last week. Legitimate opportunity. Two years of 'some grinding and minimum work' for life-changing money. My spreadsheet said yes. My gut said absolutely not. For

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Episodes

Why Remote Work is Killing Your Startup (And Your Sanity)

Published August 13th, 2025 • 24 minutes Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube The Remote Work Obsession Has Gone Too Far San Francisco real estate is back. New York City is back. But the tech community is still obsessed with remote work - "work from anywhere," digital nomad

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Episodes

Why Co-founders Are Overrated (And AI Changes Everything)

Published August 11th, 2025 • 19 minutes Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Key Takeaways 1. Co-founders create coordination overhead that can kill startups 2. AI tools eliminate most traditional reasons for needing co-founders 3. Speed of execution is your biggest advantage in 2025 4. Equal equity rarely reflects equal

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Episodes

Why I'm Starting The Founder Reality Podcast (And Why Most Founder Content is BS)

Published August 9th, 2025 • 17 minutes Lost a major partnership at 8pm. Pivoted our entire strategy by morning. This is founder reality - not the highlight reel you see on LinkedIn. Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube Main Arguments * Most founder advice comes from people who've never

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