SimpleDirect

Self-serve tools for non-standard founders.

Bootstrap. Solo. International. Part-time.

You get the tools. You do the work.

Built by @TheGeorgePu

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Toronto Tech Week.

Caught Minister @EvanLSolomon on the sideline.

For a year I've said it here:

A G7 country shouldn't have to rent its own compute.

Canada's finally moving.

Rimouski sold out. Vancouver next.

Real GPUs. Real money. Canadian soil.

Early. But real.

Good to show up for the people building it.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

San Francisco peaked before ChatGPT.

Most people think the AI boom made the Valley.

The data says it ended it.

Here's what changed - and why Microsoft's 70-rule three weeks ago is the proof, not the cause:

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

OpenAI raised at $852B.

Secondary market: $880B.

A 3% premium.

Anthropic raised at $380B.

Secondary market: $1T.

A 165% premium.

Same market. Same buyers.

The market is pricing AI capex as a liability now.

The bigger you are, the more they're discounting you.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Blackstone manages $1.3 trillion and 250+ companies.

Today they co-founded a $1.5B venture with Anthropic.

To deploy Claude across the portfolio.

The portfolio companies didn't get a vote.

Their owner picked their AI.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Anthropic's Mythos is alarming Powell and Bessent.

They just summoned top CEOs to Washington.

Mythos can break into your phone, laptop, and bank.

It wasn't told to. It just found ways on its own.

A 27-year-old security flaw. Fixed in 10 minutes.

Another survived 5 million security checks intact.

Trump spent a year trying to fire Powell.

Today his Treasury Secretary called him for help.

This is the biggest AI story since ChatGPT.

We are not ready.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

UPDATE: Open-sourced it.

Ghost Narrator - self-hosted AI narration.

LLM rewrites your articles into scripts, voice model reads them. Runs on a Mac.

No API keys. No monthly bill. MIT license.

https://t.co/xOUzbaJp2c

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Everyone has access to the same AI now.

Same answers. Same analysis. Same execution.

The gap isn't who has the best tools.

It's who has the best thinking underneath.

Mental models can't be prompted.

They're earned.

- Years of reading what nobody else read.
- Seeing what nobody else saw.
- Sitting with ideas until they become how you think.

Most people will hand that process to AI.

They'll get faster answers and weaker judgment.

The last edge that can't be automated - isn't what you know.

It's how you see.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

4,000 people woke up employed this morning.

Jack Dorsey fired them one by one throughout today.

By market close, he was $2 billion richer.

Nobody called it theft. They called it innovation.

This is 2026.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

I used to brag about my 'optimized' SaaS stack.

$2,400/month. 'Essential tools'.

Then I did the 30-year math.

$890,546.

3 Lamborghinis.

- For software I'll never own.
- That'll be obsolete in 2 years.
- While I preach 'forever hold'.

Nobody does this math.

Built a free calculator so you can 👇

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

.@SimpleDirectHQ's landing page: 30 minutes.

Claude Opus 4.5 for structure.
Design team for brand polish.

Saved $5K on contractor wireframes.

This is AI-first ops.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

I run multiple businesses from Toronto with 5 people.

We compete with 50-person teams that raised millions.

No VC. No SF office. No fancy headquarters.

Here's the framework that makes it possible:

Capital, Code, Audience (The 3Cs)

And why most founders get all three wrong 👇

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

A VC posted: ‘You sold for $100M, what do you buy?’

500+ founders commented about Lambos.

Not one asked: ‘How much do I actually get?’

Here's what actually happens:

Mike Farley sold Tile for $205M in 2021.

$205M exit
-$141M raised (liquidation prefs)
-dilution
-taxes

= $800K/year for 10 years

Meta E6 (Staff Engineer): $800K/year. With weekends.

He built a product millions use daily.
Did everything the VC playbook says.

And barely beat a job.

This is why I stay profitable and own 100%.

[SimpleDirect @SimpleDirectHQ]

New @SimpleDirectHQ product coming soon!

Let us know how you want the product to be - with your vote!

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Building a tool that gives you a public update page.

You post changes, people subscribe.

What would you use it for?

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

To make $2M as a VC-backed founder:

You need a $50M+ exit.

To make $2M bootstrapped:

You need $200K/year for 10 years.

Which is easier?
I chose the math that actually works.

[SimpleDirect @SimpleDirectHQ]

VC-backed founders get:
- Investor intros
- Advisor networks  
- Portfolio company support

Everyone else gets... consultants by the hour.

SimpleDirect gives you the tools to build without the ecosystem tax.

No VC required.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

SimpleDirect Changelog launches this week.

Tools for founders who can't follow the default playbook.

Excited to finally ship this!

[SimpleDirect @SimpleDirectHQ]

We've been quiet.

Here's what we're building:

Self-serve tools for founders who can't follow the default playbook.

Bootstrap. Solo. International. Part-time.

You get the tools. You do the work.

First tool launching soon: Changelog 👀

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Competitor raised $50M.

Their founder told me: 'You can't compete without capital.'

We're still here. They're struggling.

I check their LinkedIn sometimes.

Not healthy. But honest.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Go to founder events.

- Everyone's pitching.
- Everyone's networking.
- Everyone's 'building something big.'

I leave exhausted.

Realized: I don't actually like most founders.

I like the 5% who are honest about struggling.

The rest feel like performance art.

[George Pu @TheGeorgePu]

Stop taking advice from people who've never done what you're trying to do.

Especially if they're charging you for it.