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PODCAST

Founder Reality

Founder Reality with George Pu AI is eating jobs, companies, and entire industries. Most people are watching it happen. This show is for the ones who refuse to. Every week, George and his team break down what"s actually changing - from the $285B market selloffs to the career decisions nobody"s talking about - with unfiltered takes from someone who"s built a $10M+ portfolio with zero VC and zero exits. No startup theater. No productivity hacks. Just the real decisions behind building businesses

business entrepreneurship

All Episodes

36:59

E46: Why Liquidation Preferences Are Founder Slavery...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/24

The $5M Exit That Paid $140K (Why Liquidation Preferences Are Founder Slavery)Episode SummaryGeorge shares the shocking story of a friend who sold his company for $5 million but only walked away with $140,000 after four years of work. This episode exposes the brutal math of liquidation preferences and why the VC game is rigged against founders. George breaks down the five-phase VC trap, explains why AI has changed everything, and offers three alternative paths to building wealth without

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31:44

E45: The Three C's That Actually Matter in 2025 (And...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/19

The "Machine, Platform, Crowd" framework that dominated tech thinking for years is dead. In this episode, George shares the new framework that's actually driving success in the AI-first world: Capital, Code, and Audience - but not in the way you think.Running two companies from Toronto with just 5 people (no VC, no SF office), George breaks down how small teams can outcompete 50+ person companies with millions in funding. This isn't theory - it's the exact playbook he's used to build

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32:49

E44: I Failed 6 Times This Morning (And Finally...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/18

After months of failing to learn React from books and courses, I discovered a method that worked in 15 minutes. Failed 6 times debugging code with AI this morning, finally understood on attempt 7. Why traditional education is broken for builders and the daily practice system that actually works.The 6 failures that changed everything:This morning on subway: failed 6 times debugging React code with ChatGPTFelt embarrassed even though just talking to AI, no one judging meEach time: "George,

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32:12

E43: How I Lost 80% of My Revenue Twice (And What I'm...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/14

How 80% of my revenue disappeared twice in 60 days because I built on someone else's infrastructure. The brutal lessons about middleman businesses, the four principles for building anti-fragile companies, and the three-question audit that reveals if you're one policy change away from disaster.The double shock that almost crippled both businesses:Two massive shocks hit SimpleDirect and ANC within 60 days80% of inbound leads vanished for both businesses simultaneouslyNot because products got

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29:09

E42: Why I Can't Read Business Books Anymore (And Why...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/12

After 10 years of reading business books, I finally figured out why most of them waste your time. The uncomfortable truth about performance reading, why AI summaries work better than cover-to-cover consumption, and the builder's system for actually learning instead of just feeling productive.The bookstore experience that changed everything:Went to bookstore yesterday, couldn't get past chapter one of ANY book40 pages of backstory before frameworks, entire chapters that could be one

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28:27

E41: The VC Market Has Split Into Two Different Games...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/11

The VC market deployed $97 billion in Q3 2025, yet 84% of 2022 seed companies still haven't raised Series A. How both things are true, why the market split into two different games, and what founders should do about it.The paradox that made me investigate:Three years ago I was raising capital, met incredible founders who raised seed/Series AChecked in last week - only handful raised additional rounds since 2021Meanwhile VCs on Twitter celebrating record fundraises, expanding, thrivingHow

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26:10

E40: I Wasted 6 Years Building in Stealth Mode...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/07

I Wasted 6 Years Building in Stealth Mode (Why Content Is Your Only Moat Left)For six years, I thought being public about my business meant sacrificing privacy and competitive advantage. I thought I needed VC funding to earn the right to talk. I thought competitors were winning because they stayed stealth, so I should too.I was wrong on all three counts. That mistake cost me 2-3 years of growth.This episode breaks down why content isn't about becoming an influencer—it's about using content

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34:19

E39: Why Learning How to Learn Is Your Only...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/05

Why Learning How to Learn Is Your Only Competitive Advantage LeftI 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 the same frameworks from 2010. In an AI-first world where anyone can build the same software, your ability to learn faster than competition is your only moat left.This episode breaks down my 5-step learning framework,

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34:28

E38: My Worst Hires Almost Destroyed Us (Here's What...

Founder Reality ·

2025/11/04

My Worst Hires Almost Destroyed Us (Here's What I Learned)After scaling from 15 people down to 4, then back to 5, I've never shared my actual hiring criteria. Today I'm telling you about the engineer who took unlimited PTO during his wedding while our engineering delivery collapsed, the sales guy who learned to sell to us, and the contractor who treated us like an ATM.These aren't hypotheticals - these are real people who worked with us. Here's what I learned about the two types of bad

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25:30

E37: Why I Changed My Mind About Multiple Products...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/31

Why I Changed My Mind About Multiple Products (And You Should Too)For years, I preached single product focus. "Build one thing really well," I'd tell founders. Today, I'm running SimpleDirect with four product lines and ANC with three consulting verticals.What changed? Everything. This episode breaks down why the season has shifted from single product focus to integrated ecosystems, and how AI fundamentally changed the competitive landscape.Key Topics CoveredThe Basecamp Revelation

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34:54

E37: The AI Exercise That Almost Destroyed Me (In the...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/29

Founder Reality Podcast - Episode [#]: The AI Exercise That Almost Destroyed Me (In the Best Way Possible)Last night, I asked Claude to tell me something I don't know about myself - good or bad, brutally honest. What came back almost destroyed me in the best way possible.As founders, we have blind spots we can't see. We're running the show, making decisions, often surrounded by people who won't tell us hard truths. This episode reveals the three blind spots AI called me out on and the

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22:41

E35: When to Stop Consulting and Build a Product: The...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/28

When to Stop Consulting and Build a Product - The $200M Basecamp QuestionThe question I get most since publishing "The Anti-Unicorn": "George, I've built a successful consulting business. When do I stop consulting and actually build a product?"After three years building consulting revenue while almost killing SimpleDirect twice, I have some hard-earned answers. This episode breaks down the exact three-stage framework for transitioning from services to products without going broke in the

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33:47

E34: Three Expensive Lessons About Money That Changed...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/24

Founder Reality Podcast - Episode [#]: Three Expensive Lessons About Money That Changed How I Think About WealthI just finished Morgan Housel's "The Art of Spending Money" and it completely changed how I think about wealth. Five years ago when I was broke, his first book "The Psychology of Money" transformed how I thought about earning. Now with two profitable companies, I realized I had zero framework for spending decisions.In this episode, I break down the three lessons that hit hardest

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31:10

E33: Why Everyone's Chasing the Wrong Thing (And It's...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/22

Why Everyone's Chasing the Wrong Thing (And It's Making Them Replaceable)I walked away from a $3-5 million partnership deal two months ago. Not because the numbers were bad, but because something in my gut said "this feels like work." Most founders would call me crazy, but here's what I've learned: the moment you start optimizing for external validation instead of what actually works, you become replaceable.In this episode, I share the expensive lessons from building two companies, why AI

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40:49

E32: Why I Wrote a 350-Page Free Ebook Against...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/21

Why I wrote a 350-page free ebook that goes against everything Silicon Valley teaches about startups. The consulting-first model that works for the 99.95% of founders who will never raise VC - and why the traditional advice is poisoning young entrepreneurs.The brutal reality nobody talks about:Only 0.05% of startups ever raise VC funding (5 out of 10,000)Yet 100% of startup advice assumes you will raise millions3 out of 4 VC-backed startups never return cash to investors75% of US VC money

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24:29

E31: 3 Thoughts That Changed How I Run My Companies

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/17

Three interconnected insights that fundamentally changed how I run SimpleDirect and ANC. Why finding balance beats going to extremes, measuring the right things determines your destination, and building systems creates compound leverage.Thought #1: Why LinkedIn makes me cringe (and why I was wrong too):LinkedIn is 50% performance theater - fake vulnerability, motivational quotes, "crushed this meeting" postsI went to opposite extreme for years - built in silence, posted nothing from

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31:48

E30: How to Know When to Pivot vs. Shut Down Your...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/15

The 8AM Text That Saved My Company: When to Pivot vs. Sunset"Episode SummaryGeorge shares the raw, unfiltered story of almost shutting down SimpleDirect Financing last week - and how an 8am customer text changed everything. This is a deep dive into the emotional rollercoaster of deciding whether to sunset or pivot a product, the difference between burnout and bad business, and the framework that helped him make the right call.Bottom Line: Burnout and bad business aren't the same thing

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43:48

E29: The AI Performance Gap Is About to Become...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/14

Wall Street Journal just proved what every founder already knows: AI isn't leveling the playing field - it's making superstars 10x better while average performers fall further behind. You have 18 months before this gap becomes permanent.Story 1: AI is widening the performance gap (not closing it):Wall Street Journal research: AI makes superstars even MORE super, not helping average performers catch upSuperstars master tools faster, have domain expertise for better prompts, use AI

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33:14

E28: Infrastructure Owners Are Killing Middlemen....

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/10

FICO changed their licensing model and two public companies lost 10-20% in a single day. ChatGPT launched shopping with Shopify. European founders are fleeing to San Francisco. These look unrelated - but they're all the same story: Infrastructure owners are systematically eliminating middlemen.Story 1: How FICO destroyed $5 billion in market cap overnight:FICO launched "Mortgage Direct License Program" - boring name, brutal market reactionEquifax stock dropped 8.4%, TransUnion crashed 10.1%

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38:15

E27: Junior Jobs Are Disappearing and Nobody's...

Founder Reality ·

2025/10/08

Yale says AI isn't displacing jobs. Stanford says it's destroying junior roles. Here's why they're both right - and what it means if you're young, building a company, or hiring right now.The AI job displacement debate - Yale vs Stanford:Yale report (33 months of labor data): No proof AI is displacing jobs, we're very early in cycleStanford report: AI destroying junior jobs specifically - entry-level software dev employment down 20% from 2022 peakBoth are right - looking at different things

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47 results

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