Best George Pu Podcasts (2025)

1
E46: Why Liquidation Preferences Are Founder Slavery (And What to Do Instead) 36:59

Play Pause

1M ago36:59

36:59

The $5M Exit That Paid $140K (Why Liquidation Preferences Are Founder Slavery) Episode Summary George 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. G…

1
E45: The Three C's That Actually Matter in 2025 (And Why "Machine, Platform, Crowd" is Dead) 31:44

1M ago31:44

31:44

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 h…

1
E44: I Failed 6 Times This Morning (And Finally Learned React) 32:49

1M ago32:49

32:49

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 …

1
E43: How I Lost 80% of My Revenue Twice (And What I'm Building Instead) 32:12

2M ago32:12

32:12

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: …

1
E42: Why I Can't Read Business Books Anymore (And Why That's Actually Good) 29:09

2M ago29:09

29:09

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 t…

1
E41: The VC Market Has Split Into Two Different Games (And Most Founders Are Playing The Wrong One) 28:27

2M ago28:27

28:27

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 A Chec…

1
E40: I Wasted 6 Years Building in Stealth Mode (Here's Why You Should Start Creating Content Today) 26:10

2M ago26:10

26:10

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…

1
E39: Why Learning How to Learn Is Your Only Competitive Advantage Left (And My 5-Step Framework) 34:19

2M ago34:19

34:19

Why Learning How to Learn Is Your Only Competitive Advantage Left 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 the same frameworks from 2010. In an AI-first world where anyone can bui…

1
E38: My Worst Hires Almost Destroyed Us (Here's What I Learned About Building Teams in 2025) 34:28

2M ago34:28

34:28

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 t…

1
E37: Why I Changed My Mind About Multiple Products (And You Should Too) 25:30

2M ago25:30

25:30

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 pr…

1
E36: The AI Exercise That Almost Destroyed Me (In the Best Way Possible) 34:54

2M ago34:54

34:54

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…

1
E35: When to Stop Consulting and Build a Product: The $200M Basecamp Question 22:41

2M ago22:41

22:41

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

1
E34: Three Expensive Lessons About Money That Changed How I Think About Wealth 33:47

2M ago33:47

33:47

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

1
E33: Why Everyone's Chasing the Wrong Thing (And It's Making Them Replaceable) 31:10

2M ago31:10

31:10

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 vali…

1
E32: Why I Wrote a 350-Page Free Ebook Against Everything Silicon Valley Teaches 40:49

2M ago40:49

40:49

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 o…

1
E31: 3 Thoughts That Changed How I Run My Companies 24:29

2M ago24:29

24:29

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 v…

1
E30: How to Know When to Pivot vs. Shut Down Your Startup (The 8am Text That Saved My Company) 31:48

3M ago31:48

31:48

The 8AM Text That Saved My Company: When to Pivot vs. Sunset" Episode Summary George 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 betwee…

1
E29: The AI Performance Gap Is About to Become Permanent. Here's Which Side You're On 43:48

3M ago43:48

43:48

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 …

1
E28: Infrastructure Owners Are Killing Middlemen. Here's How to Know If You're Next. 33:14

3M ago33:14

33:14

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 o…

1
E27: Junior Jobs Are Disappearing and Nobody's Talking About It. 38:15

3M ago38:15

38:15

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 cycle Stanford repor…

1
E26: Governments Are Giving Away ChatGPT for Free (Your Startup Should Too) 33:39

3M ago33:39

33:39

Governments are giving away ChatGPT Plus subscriptions for free to entire populations. Private companies are bundling AI tools to close productivity gaps. If your startup isn't doing this for employees, you're already behind. Governments subsidizing AI access for citizens: UAE planning to give all citizens free ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) - tens of mi…

1
E25: AI Will Copy Your MVP in Three Weeks: Why I Never Build Single Product Companies Anymore 27:39

3M ago27:39

27:39

AI will copy your MVP in three weeks (maybe less). This is why I never build single product companies anymore. Revenue diversification beats revenue projection - here's the ecosystem model that actually survives. The new brutal reality of building software: Claude 4.5 Sonnet just dropped - experienced developers rebuild 80% of products in days, not…

1
E24: Why My Friends Making $500K at Google Regret Their Careers (And What I Learned About Freedom) 21:53

3M ago21:53

21:53

I have a friend who makes $500K at Google. He's worked there 15 years, made Managing Director, and he told me: "I've basically given up and I'm just collecting my paycheck." This is what happens when you trade freedom for money. The pattern I keep seeing across industries and countries: Waterloo classmate at Microsoft making $250K base - quit becau…

1
E23: The Startup Playbook Just Changed: Three Stories That Reveal How to Build in 2025 28:45

3M ago28:45

28:45

Three stories from this week reveal something fundamental changing about how you build businesses in 2025. The old VC playbook is dead - here's what's actually working now. Story 1: Founders walking away from traditional VC (and it's strategic, not desperate): Mercury surveyed 1,500 early-stage startups about funding in 2025 66% of founders changed…

1
E22: The $60 Million GitHub Move That Just Killed Startups (And Why That's Perfect for Bootstrap Founders) 23:35

3M ago23:35

23:35

While everyone argues about which AI model is best, the smart money is building connectors that work with ALL of them. This week GitHub and Microsoft just made this approach inevitable - and if you're still building custom integrations for every AI tool, you're about to feel very stupid. What is MCP and why the scary name doesn't matter: MCP = Mode…

1
E21: Zero Meetings: How I Run Two Companies Without a Single Recurring Meeting 19:51

3M ago19:51

19:51

I looked at my calendar this week: zero meetings. Last week: zero meetings. Most founders think this is impossible, but here's what six years taught me - meetings don't make you productive, they make you FEEL productive. The meeting theater that's killing startups: Pre-COVID: Weekly all-hands, daily standups, planning meetings felt "professional" P…

1
E20: Why I Ignored 60% of My Customers for 5 Years (Why Every Startup Should Go Global from Day One) 21:37

3M ago21:37

21:37

For 5 years building SimpleDirect, 45-50% of our blog traffic came from UK, Germany, France, and South America. I turned away all those paying customers because I thought "global" meant "complex." I was dead wrong. Every founder should build globally from day one - it's easier than perfecting a single local market. The "focus" trap that costs milli…

1
E19: How I Learned to Learn (And Why It's Your Best Business Skill) 23:52

3M ago23:52

23:52

A year ago I ordered takeout daily, couldn't speak French, and avoided the gym. Today I cook my own meals, read French business newspapers, and work out every day. The secret wasn't willpower or dramatic changes - it was discovering that learning how to learn is the ultimate founder superpower. The learning misconception that kills progress: We thi…

1
E18: Why I'm Shutting Down My 5-Year Startup (Hard-Learned Lessons for Founders) 18:05

3M ago18:05

18:05

After 5 years building SimpleDirect Financing from my university dorm to today, I'm shutting it down. This isn't about failure - it's about the brutal lessons every founder needs to learn about attachment, external dependencies, and why starting with principles beats chasing opportunities. The real cost of founder attachment: Spent 5 years attached…

1
E17: Why I Stopped Checking My Metrics 20 Times a Day (And Everything Started Working) 14:12

4M ago14:12

14:12

A few years ago I checked my Y Combinator application 20+ times a day. Last month I was obsessively refreshing Twitter analytics every few hours. Then I stopped caring about numbers completely - and everything started working better. The brutal reality of metric obsession: Checked YC application status obsessively after 2021/2022 interviews - made …

1
E16: Why I'm Worried About My Friends' "Successful" Acquisitions 20:58

4M ago20:58

20:58

Why undisclosed acquisition prices should worry you. A bootstrap founder's analysis of the "successful" startup exits that may not be so successful - and why starting over in your thirties isn't a winning strategy. The pattern that's making me worried: Two friends' startups acquired in past two months, five in past two years All labeled "successful…

1
E15: Stop Taking Advice From VCs Who've Never Built Anything 17:59

4M ago17:59

17:59

Why Silicon Valley VCs giving location advice to founders is complete BS. A technical founder's contrarian take on the "move to SF to maximize luck" myth that's costing bootstrap companies millions. The cringe-worthy VC advice that sparked this rant: Well-known Silicon Valley VC telling founders to "move back to SF" Claims "being successful as a fo…

1
E14: How Guaranteed Payment Turned My Best Partner Into My Worst Nightmare 15:55

4M ago15:55

15:55

How guaranteed payment turned my best partner into my worst nightmare. A five-year partnership destroyed in 12 weeks - and the expensive systems lesson every founder needs to learn. The brutal reality of incentive misalignment: Had a 5-year partnership with David, splitting revenue 60/40 (he kept 60%) Performance-based system worked perfectly - he …

1
E13: The Three Stages of Founder Loneliness (And Why Stage Two Almost Broke Me) 19:14

4M ago19:14

19:14

Three years ago I was so desperate I asked a successful founder friend for a job. He said no - and saved my entrepreneurial career. Here's why the loneliness stage almost broke me and how I got through it. The brutal reality of choosing a different path: While friends got $60K-120K jobs with benefits, I was making what they earned in 1-2 months Dat…

1
E12: Why Your Health is Your Most Important Business Asset (And How a Mentor's Passing Changed Everything) 21:53

4M ago21:53

21:53

Taking care of your health isn't selfish when you're building a company - it's the most important business decision you'll ever make. Here's why I completely changed my approach after losing my mentor. The wake-up call that changed everything: Lost my mentor Rob unexpectedly at 60 - two weeks after he said he'd be back from a trip Family member dia…

1
E11: Why I Built a Business That Can't Scale (My $500K Distribution Mistake) 19:42

4M ago19:42

19:42

Most founders obsess over product-market fit while completely ignoring audience-market fit - and it's killing their businesses before they even start. I spent 5 years building SimpleDirect into a profitable company serving contractors, only to realize I'd chosen the worst possible audience for sustainable growth. Every customer had to be personally…

1
E10: Why I 'Fired' 9 People and Made More Money (The Small Team Advantage) 18:06

4M ago18:06

18:06

I went from 14 employees down to 5 people two years ago. It was the best business decision I've ever made. We're more profitable, faster, and I actually enjoy work again. The brutal reality of scaling too fast: 14 people = 7 hours monthly just doing one-on-ones Communication paths explode exponentially with team size You start "finding tasks" for p…

1
E9: Why Distribution is the Only Moat Left in the AI-First World (And How to Build It) 23:24

4M ago23:24

23:24

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 - your crowd is. The brutal reality I'm seeing as a software founder since 2019: My first MVP took 8 months to build (April 2019 → January 2020). Today? That same product could be built in a wee…

1
E8: Building in Public vs. Building in Private (The Truth About Transparency) 28:01

4M ago28:01

28:01

Everyone's telling you to build in public. Share your revenue, your struggles, your team changes. Document everything. I'm calling BS. Most "building in public" is just startup theater with better marketing. Here's why - using my own expensive lessons about what to share, when to share it, and why most founders get transparency completely backwards…

1
E7: Stop Learning About Startups and Just Start One (Why I Failed 3 Times Before SimpleDirect) 22:10

4M ago22:10

22:10

I failed at 3 startups before SimpleDirect worked. A ride-sharing app that got destroyed at pitch competitions. A travel planning app that went nowhere. A cashback app that hit #2 on Product Hunt but still died. Each failure taught me more than years of reading startup books ever could. The biggest barrier to founder success isn't lack of knowledge…

1
E6: I Tried Vibe Coding for 6 Months and Nearly Destroyed My Products (Why AI-Assisted Development Is Not What You Think) 20:11

4M ago20:11

20:11

I fell hard for "vibe coding" - using AI to build apps based on vibes rather than understanding. Spent 6 months with Cursor and Claude, paying $200/month. Built 3 projects. One succeeded, two failed spectacularly. - Project 1 (Success): Rebuilt our dormant mobile app in 2 days using Figma designs and Claude. Looked perfect, worked great, solved a r…

1
E5: Why Simple Always Beats Sophisticated (And How I Wasted 2 Years Building Complex BS) 24:00

4M ago24:00

24:00

I spent 2 years and hundreds of thousands building a sophisticated quant trading firm. Hired 5 engineers. Built complex algorithms. Backtested everything. Result? Couldn't beat the S&P 500. Then I discovered Bogleheads on Reddit. Bought 8-10 simple index funds and household names in May. It's August now. I'm up 5.5% in 3 months doing absolutely not…

1
B1: Weekend Bonus: Hit 25K Followers (And Why I Barely Try) 10:54

5M ago10:54

10:54

Weekend rambling thoughts - no script, just real talk. Hit 25,000 Twitter followers this week. Feels surreal because I barely put any time into it. I don't even have Twitter on my phone. Have an extension that blocks it so I don't get addicted. Only check it on desktop once in a while. The weird thing: Sometimes what you don't focus on performs bet…

1
E4: Work Shouldn't Feel Like Work (And Why I Just Said No to $5 Million) 25:01

5M ago25:01

25:01

I just said no to $3-5 million. Partnership came in last week. Two years of work for life-changing money. My spreadsheet said yes. My gut said absolutely not. For the first time ever, I listened to my gut. Here's the thing everyone gets wrong: If it consistently feels like work, you're probably doing it wrong. Y Combinator says "do things that don'…

1
E3: Why Remote Work is Killing Your Startup (And Your Sanity) 24:49

5M ago24:49

24:49

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 life, "the future is distributed." Here's my controversial take: Remote work might be killing your tech startup. I started my career working remotely in 2018 - before it was cool. Had teammates in…

1
E2: Why Co-founders Are Overrated (And AI Changes Everything) 19:56

5M ago19:56

19:56

Everyone says you need a co-founder. Y Combinator barely backs solo founders. VCs prefer teams. But what if the conventional wisdom is wrong? I went from 5 co-founders and 14 team members to running two companies with just 5 people total. We almost went bankrupt in 2023. Four co-founders left. Now we're stronger than ever. The controversial truth: …

1
E1: Why I'm Starting This Podcast (And Why Most Founder Content is BS) 17:55

5M ago17:55

17:55

Lost a major partnership at 8pm. Pivoted our entire strategy by morning. This is founder reality - not the highlight reel you see on LinkedIn. I'm tired of the founder content circus. VCs who've never run companies teaching startup strategy. Consultants giving entrepreneurship advice who've never taken real risk. It's all startup theater. In this f…

1
AI Hype Cycle or Revolution? Why We're Still in the Early Days 35:25

6M ago35:25

35:25

After 2.5 years of ChatGPT dominating headlines, Matt, Soham and George dive deep into the biggest question in tech: Are we witnessing the next revolutionary technology or heading for another dot-com style crash? What We Cover: The AI Bubble Debate Why OpenAI makes $10B in revenue but still isn't profitable Johnny Ive's mysterious $6.8B device deal…

1
Bitcoin Vegas Exposed the Truth: Young People Can't Win in This Economy 48:11

6M ago48:11

48:11

Matt returns from the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas with a sobering reality check: the financial system is rigged against young people, and most don't even realize it. In this raw conversation, the co-hosts: Soham Mehta, Matthew Black, and George Pu break down why traditional wealth-building advice no longer works and what young people can actual…

1
Why Social Media is Killing Young People's Wealth (And How to Fight Back) 29:28

7M ago29:28

29:28

Episode Description Social media is rewiring young brains to crave instant gratification over long-term wealth building. In this eye-opening conversation, George and Soham dive deep into why frugality has become nearly impossible for today's youth and what it's really costing them. What We Cover: The Death of Frugality Why multimillionaires wear th…