About George

I'm George Pu. I run ANC — a small advisory practice for founders and operators navigating transition. I also run SimpleDirect (AI infrastructure), Founder Reality (free tools and content), and a portfolio of digital businesses.

The portfolio generates $10M+ collectively. I built all of it without venture capital, without a large team, and on roughly 20 hours a week. Not because I'm lazy — because I designed it that way. Constraint-first. Ownership-first. Freedom-first.

Before this, I applied to Y Combinator five times. Got three interviews. Zero acceptances. It was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it forced me to build something real instead of something fundable. I stopped optimizing for investors and started optimizing for cash flow, ownership, and time.

Now I work with a small number of people each year — founders at inflection points, operators leaving jobs, people rebuilding after something didn't work. I don't take equity. I don't sit on boards. I charge for my time and attention directly. The alignment is clean.

I'm based in Toronto. I write at founderreality.com, build tools at getsimpledirect.com, and advise here.