Real talk from a technical founder building AI-powered businesses
Published November 05, 2025 • Based on Founder Reality Episode 39
Also available on: Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube
I sat in that accelerator orientation, listening to them brag about mentors who'd been teaching entrepreneurship for 15+ years. Everyone clapped. I was terrified.
These were people with employee mindsets teaching entrepreneurs how to build companies. They'd learned their skills in their 20s and been teaching the same frameworks, the same SEO tactics, the same business development strategies for 15 years. The same song on repeat.
I was learning advice from 2010. While the world moved to AI-first everything.
That day I realized something brutal: most people learn a skill, get good at it, then coast for 30 years. Their brains get stuck in their twenties and never evolve. In 2025, that's a death sentence.
Here's what I've learned about making learning your competitive advantage—and the exact framework I use to master new skills in months, not years.
The Brutal Truth About Learning in 2025
In an AI-first world where anyone can build the same software, write the same code, generate the same content, your ability to learn faster than the competition is probably your only moat left.
I've talked about why distribution is critical. Now I'm adding another one: the speed and ability of learning how to learn.
The old competitive advantages:
- Technical skills (AI can code)
- Domain expertise (AI knows every industry)
- Networks (LinkedIn gives you access to everyone)
What's left: How fast you can learn and adapt.
Think about it. SEO worked one way for 10 years. ChatGPT launches, articles flood Google, algorithm changes overnight. Everything you learned for a decade becomes obsolete.
For people stuck in their mental frameworks from their twenties, it's impossible to change. Only people capable of learning to learn can experiment, fail, adapt, and avoid becoming obsolete.
If you're not learning constantly, you're dying slowly.
How I Was Forced to Learn (And Why It Worked)
Early in my journey, I had no choice but to learn. It was 2019, still in college, knew nothing about startups. For me to survive, I had to learn or my company would die.
I needed to learn frontend development or we couldn't launch a website. So I learned HTML, CSS, JavaScript quickly and built something simple.
I needed to learn sales or we'd have no revenue. Even though we were scrappy, I read sales books, cold called customers, made deals happen.
I needed to learn hiring, managing, product development, marketing—basically become a generalist with no money to hire experts, no co-founders to fill gaps, no accelerator teaching what I actually needed.
I learned through desperation. And here's what I discovered: forced learning isn't pleasant, but it's one of the best ways to learn.
When you have something to lose—when you have to learn something or your business dies—you learn it fast.
The French Test That Changed Everything
Let me give you a recent example. I have a friend in Canada from an international background. To become a permanent resident, he had to learn French. No French, no permanent residence. That ruthless.
He stressed himself into learning French. In one year, someone who didn't speak a word became fluent in speaking, listening, writing. Watching him develop those skills under pressure was inspiring.
I started learning French a few months ago. Ten minutes daily on Duolingo. Asked AI to correct my grammar. Used OpenAI voice mode for practice. Humble experience—when people didn't understand in France, I switched to English and tried to overcompensate.
Last Friday, I took the government of Canada's French test (CLIC test). Scored 4,4,4,4 out of 12. For someone learning 10 minutes a day, that's pretty good.
Why did it work?
- I had an actual reason to learn. Canada is bilingual. French opens doors, it's genuinely useful here.
- I made it consistent. Ten minutes daily beats two hours weekly. Muscle memory every day.
- I made it fun. Bought a huge French textbook, got bored, put it away (still collecting dust). Used gamified Duolingo instead. AI for real content consumption.
Key insight: Learning doesn't have to be painful. If you're opening a book and feeling bored, you're learning the wrong thing. If you dread it, you won't keep going.
Why Formal Education Is a Learning Trap
My university experience taught me what doesn't work. I picked computer science + business administration double degree because it sounded interesting. Big mistake.
Courses were predetermined. No choices, no electives. Five or six fixed classes every term. I was bored out of my mind, didn't read, mind was never in class, grades weren't great, copied assignments from friends.
For the longest time, I thought I wasn't a good student. Then I started SimpleDirect and learned more in two years than four years of college.
I'm not bad at learning. I'm bad at being told what to learn when I have no motivation for it.
Three reasons formal education is a trap:
- It's Outdated
Colleges teaching AI courses with textbooks from 2015. Computer science using tech from 2010s. (I learned a language called "racket"—never heard of it in real programming.) Business courses teaching frameworks from the 80s and 90s.
The world moves faster than curriculum committees.
- No Choice, No Personalization
Pre-AI, you sit with 40 or 400 people, everyone learns the same thing, same pace, same format. Professor writes, everyone copies. I always wondered why I couldn't just get notes from friends instead of sitting there writing.
College misses that everyone learns differently. Some need hands-on, some theory-first, some learn from examples. Cookie-cutter education never works.
- Performance Over Passion
You're learning to pass tests, get grades, get degrees. Not because you're genuinely curious. Learning for performance is hollow—you forget it the moment the exam ends.
Ask yourself: Do you remember what you learned in school? I remember people I met and what we did together. Not what classes taught me.
My 5-Step Learning Framework
After realizing distribution was my only moat, I became curious about content creation. Here's the framework I used to learn content strategy in months:
Step 1: Learn the High Level (10-30 minutes)
Ask AI: "What are the main components of content strategy for tech founders?"
Don't dive deep yet. Get the 10,000-foot view. Understand the pieces.
I learned about lead magnets, conversions, that consistency matters more than perfection. Basic framework in 20 minutes.
Step 2: Do It Immediately
Put it into practice right away. Based on what I learned, I made a plan:
- Ramped up Twitter from once daily to 4-5 times daily
- Started recording podcasts consistently
- Began writing blog posts
Was it good? Absolutely not. Go listen to my first episode—completely different vibe. Did I know what I was doing? Not really. But I was learning.
Step 3: Make Mistakes and Iterate
This is where most people quit. They try something, it doesn't work, they think they failed. But mistakes are the point.
First few weeks of podcast: one download, two downloads, three downloads. Brutal. Friends tried Twitter, got no likes, felt heartbroken, quit.
But from my initial research, I knew this was expected. You're shouting in mountains where no one hears you for months. That's normal.
Each time something didn't work: What didn't work? Why? What can I do differently?
Key insight: Learning isn't linear. Start slow, form habits, then learn practically by doing.
Step 4: Study Case Studies
I studied Pieter Levels (700K Twitter followers), Nathan Barry from ConvertKit, others who succeeded. Not to copy them, but to find themes and patterns.
AI can help: "Find me examples of people who successfully learned [skill]. What patterns made them successful?"
Step 5: Regular Retrospectives
Every week/month, ask: "What did I miss?" Go back to framework, compare to goals.
I realized I was creating content but not engaging. Publishing but not distributing. So I learned about community building, engagement tactics, content multiplication.
Repeat the cycle.
Why This Framework Works (And College Doesn't)
The difference: You're learning because you need to survive or achieve something specific, not because someone told you to.
Key principles:
- Consistency over intensity: 10 minutes daily beats 2 hours weekly
- Practice over theory: Do it badly rather than study it perfectly
- Motivation over obligation: Pick things you actually want to learn
- Fast feedback over delayed grades: See results immediately
AI removes all excuses. Free tiers on Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini. Instant answers. No more Stack Overflow sarcasm or waiting for course responses.
Learning as Competitive Advantage
Pre-AI, competitive advantages were technical skills, domain expertise, networks. All being commoditized.
What's left: How fast you can learn.
When my team is tied up, I read Node.js documentation, practice myself, make commits (they review and correct). When I needed content strategy, I learned it myself rather than hiring experts.
None of this would be possible without learning fast.
The compounding effect: Learn 1% faster than competition daily. In 30 years, you're exponentially ahead because learning compounds.
Content strategy helps you build audiences, understand customers, build better products, hire better people. Each skill amplifies others.
The ultimate insurance: If you get thrown into any situation anywhere in the world, you can start over because you can learn.
Your Action Plan
Pick one skill you need right now. Not something that might be useful someday. Something relevant immediately.
For me: content (relevant to distribution). For you: might be sales, cursor, Claude code, whatever. Just pick one.
Learn the high-level framework. Ask AI: "What are the core components of [skill]? Break it down for me." Spend 10-20 minutes understanding the landscape.
Start doing it today. Not tomorrow, not next week. Build something small, ship something imperfect, try something that might fail. That's exactly okay.
Make mistakes publicly. Post attempts, share failures, ask for feedback. You'll learn faster with accountability.
Use AI to fill gaps. Every time you get stuck, ask AI. Don't spend hours Googling or waiting for courses.
Study case studies. Find people who succeeded learning the same skill. What did they do? Any shortcuts? Any patterns?
Weekly retrospectives. Every Sunday: "What did I learn this week? What will I learn next week?"
The Bottom Line
Learning is not optional anymore. It's not something you do in your twenties then coast on for 30 years.
It's the only sustainable competitive advantage you can have—whether you're a founder, employee, or student. Non-negotiable in an AI world.
The founders who win in the next 10 years won't be the ones with the most capital, biggest teams, or best initial ideas.
They'll be the ones who can learn fastest. Adapt fastest. Iterate fastest.
Stop waiting to be ready. Stop planning to learn. Pick one thing, learn the basics, try today, fail, adjust, try again.
That's the whole game.
If you learn just 1% faster than your competition every day, in 30 years you're exponentially ahead. Because learning compounds, and compounding is the most powerful force in business and life.
The choice is yours: keep using playbooks from 2015, or become someone who can learn anything, anytime, anywhere.
I know which one I'm choosing.
Want more frameworks for building in the AI era? Get my free ebook "The Anti-Unicorn" at founderreality.com and join the weekly newsletter for insights you won't find anywhere else.
