From the field · Essays

Essays

Candid accounts of building, closing and rebuilding companies. Decisions, mistakes and changing beliefs, alongside essays on ownership and technological change.

George Pu
George Pu
Founder of SimpleDirect, an independent Canadian AI lab.
Why Portfolio Strategy Beats 'Focus' for Early-Stage Founders

Why Portfolio Strategy Beats 'Focus' for Early-Stage Founders

This article is an extended take from my earlier take on shutting down my 5-year-old startup. The startup world worships focus. Here's why they're wrong. There's a piece of startup advice that gets repeated so often it's become gospel: 'Focus. Do one thing and do it well.' Paul Graham wrote about it. Steve Jobs preached it. Every successful founder seems to credit their success to ruthless focus. And for five years, I felt gui

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

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 never build single product companies anymore. Revenue diversification beats revenue projection." Let me expand on this, because it'

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Why I'm Shutting Down My 5-Year Startup (Hard-Learned Lessons for Founders)

Why I'm Shutting Down My 5-Year Startup (Hard-Learned Lessons for Founders)

Don't let attachment blind you to reality.

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Why I Stopped Checking My Metrics 20 Times a Day (And Everything Started Working)

Why I Stopped Checking My Metrics 20 Times a Day (And Everything Started Working)

Stop checking. Start building. The numbers will follow.

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Zero Meetings: How I Run Two Companies Without a Single Recurring Meeting

Zero Meetings: How I Run Two Companies Without a Single Recurring Meeting

Stop performing productivity. Start actually being productive.

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How I Learned to Learn (And Why It's Your Best Business Skill)

How I Learned to Learn (And Why It's Your Best Business Skill)

The world will look completely different in 10 years.

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Stop Taking Advice From VCs Who've Never Built Anything

Stop Taking Advice From VCs Who've Never Built Anything

Stop following VCs who think they know better than founders. Follow the best builders instead. Learn from people who've walked the path you're on.

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

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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My Continued Disappointment with Vibe Coding

My Continued Disappointment with Vibe Coding

September 4, 2025 | George Pu I've been lying to myself for months. Not intentionally. But lying nonetheless. I thought I was 'building fast' with AI coding tools. Cursor, Claude Code, Windsurf - the whole arsenal. Felt productive. Felt smart. Felt like I was leveraging the future. Reality check: I was moving backwards. What Actually Happened A few months ago, I decided to give the SimpleDirect App a new look. When my oth

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

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

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 into a profitable company serving contractors, only to realize I'd chosen the worst possible audience for sustainable grow

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

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 people. Today, I have 5. We're more profitable, we ship faster, and honestly? I actually enjoy going to work again. Here's the uncomfortable truth S

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