For years, we worshipped the single startup story.

The one big idea.
The bold founder who bet it all.
The unicorn that came out the other side.

It made for a good movie.

But today, that model feels… outdated. Slow.
Like trying to win the Indy 500 with a bullock cart.
(Well, that sounds weird!)

Here’s what I’ve been learning over the past few months… and especially last week, when I built and launched multiple working AI apps in 24 hours.

We’re not in the “build one thing and pray” era anymore.
We’re in the age of the portfolio founder.

And in this new era, speed, iteration, and taste beat planning, polish, and perfection.

Here are three lessons I learned by living this.

Lesson 1: Betting Everything on One Big Idea Is the Slowest Way to Win

Most people still believe their startup success depends on “the one.”

The one perfect idea.
The one co-founder with the perfect resume.
The one investor who says yes.

But in 2025, waiting for “the one” is the slowest way to get started (and the easiest way to get stuck.)

Because the game has changed.

Founders who win today don’t bet everything on one idea.
They build momentum.

They treat every idea like a prototype.
Every build like a hypothesis.
Every launch like a learning loop.

They don’t fall in love with their ideas… they fall in love with shipping.

Over the past month, I built tools like:

• A founder–startup matchmaking quiz (FounderMatchr)

• A weird idea validation engine (weirdstartupideas.com)

• A trend-spotting system powered by deep signal breakdowns

• A geo-temporal app for gig workers in India (Sanchaari)

Not because I’m trying to start four companies at once.
But because I’m chasing learning velocity.

Because every micro-bet sharpens my taste.
Every launch attracts signal.
And every weird experiment brings me closer to the next breakout.

This isn’t multitasking.
This is compounding.

Lesson 2: Small Bets Aren’t Just Safer. They’re Smarter

Here’s the thing:

The cost of building has collapsed.

What used to take a team of developers and 6 months of burn now takes…
A weekend.
A good prompt.
And a bold idea.

Tools like Bolt.new, Supabase, OpenAI, and ChatGPT have unlocked a new kind of founder.
Not technical.
Not VC-backed.
Not “in stealth.”

Just curious, creative, and fast.

These are the new portfolio founders.

They don’t spend weeks on Miro boards.
They don’t get stuck in Notion planning documents.
They build.
They ship.
They let the market decide.

Last weekend, I launched 3 working apps in 24 hours.
Rough edges? Plenty.
Bugs? Of course.
But the dopamine hit of learning from real users in real time?
Unmatched.

Teeny-tiny bets work because they’re:

• Low cost

• High signal

• Easy to kill or evolve

This approach de-risks the process without diluting the upside.

And over time?
You start stacking wins.

The trend-spotting tool teaches you how to think.
The quiz builds your email list.
The validation engine earns trust.
And they all feed your audience… who eventually feed your revenue.

That’s leverage.
That’s the loop.

Lesson 3: You Don’t Need to Be a Developer. You Need to Think Like a Tinkerer

Let me be clear:

I’m not a full-stack engineer.
I’m a storyteller, a ghostwriter, a founder.
But I build apps every week now.

Not because I learned to code.
But because I learned to tinker.

Tinkering means:

• Starting with a conversation

• Scratching your own itch

• Letting AI do the heavy lifting

• Learning in public

• Shipping fast

• Smiling through the bugs

When I built FounderMatchr, it wasn’t because I had a roadmap.
It was because I kept having the same convo with early-stage founders:

“I don’t know if this idea suits me.”

So I turned that into a quiz.
Then into an app.
Then into a system I could evolve.

And it worked.

The most exciting part of this new world is not that AI can build for you.
It’s that AI removes the friction between ideas and action.

You can now test 10 hypotheses in the time it once took to validate one.
You can remix your past experiments into new launches.
You can follow your energy instead of chasing TAM.

You’re not building a startup.
You’re building a portfolio.
You’re not looking for PMF (product market fit).
You’re building for PLF (personal leverage fit).

This isn’t a movement for developers.

It’s a movement for:

• Creators

• Coaches

• Writers

• Strategists

• VCs

• Indie hackers

• Consultants

• You

If you can dream it, you can test it.
If you can test it, you can launch it.
And if you can launch it, you can learn faster than 99% of the market.

So no, I’m not just building “random AI apps.”
I’m building reps.
I’m building taste.
I’m building momentum.
I’m building leverage.

This is the future.
Not one perfect startup.
But a portfolio of tiny bets.
Each one compounding.

The question isn’t “what should I build?”
The question is:
What can I test this weekend?

Go weird.
Go fast.
You’ll learn more in 48 hours than most do in 6 months.

See you on the other side.

Best,
Karthik
wEiRdO-In-Chief, One wEiRd Idea

P.S. If you’re interested in seeing how I build these apps, I’ll be excited to show you. Just reply with a ‘yes’ and we’ll pull in all the yeses into a Google Meet.

The Humor That Never Made It

Everyone’s building AI tools now.
You pitch an investor, and they go:
‘Is it AI?’
You say no, and they look at you like you just served soup without the spoon.

I mean, if your startup doesn’t use AI in 2025...
Is it even a startup? Or just a fancy spreadsheet with hopes?