The 50K → 250K Algo Challenge

I’ve reached a point where ideas on their own don’t mean much to me anymore. I want to put them to the test and see how they actually behave. Pressure has a way of revealing whether what you believe actually holds when capital is on the line.

That’s where this challenge comes from.

I’m starting with R50,000. The target is R250,000. The rules are simple: no manual trading, no discretion, no interference. Every decision will be expressed through automation, algorithms and portfolio structure. My role is not to trade - it’s to design, allocate and let time do what it always does.

Over the years, my relationship with markets has changed. I used to think progress came from being sharper, faster, more reactive. Now I see it differently. Progress comes from removing yourself from the parts of the process you’re worst at (emotion, impatience, overconfidence) and of course building systems that don’t care how you feel on a given day.

This challenge is my way of leaning fully into that belief.

What I’m opening to the public isn’t a strategy. It’s a portfolio. A living structure made up of different automated systems, each doing a very specific job. Some are designed to push growth. Others exist purely to protect capital. None of them need my opinion once they’re live.

And that’s the point.

I’m not trying to prove that algorithms are perfect. They aren’t. Drawdowns will happen. There will be uncomfortable periods. Anyone who’s spent enough time in markets knows that smooth equity curves only exist in hindsight. What I am interested in though is how a well-constructed portfolio behaves when it’s left alone long enough to express its edge.

There’s something strangely humbling about watching the capital move without your permission. You stop attaching your identity to every tick. You stop confusing activity with progress. You're forced to let strategies play our based on backtested data.

That shift, from trader to capital allocator, has been one of the most important changes in my life. Dont get me wrong, I still love my manual, systematic day trading, but my performance is limited to certain markets, certain trading accounts and of course my biggest competition, my own mind.

AI plays a quiet role in all of this. Not as some futuristic promise, but as infrastructure. Machines don’t hesitate. They don’t second-guess themselves. They execute exactly as designed, over and over again. In a world where consistency is the rarest skill, that alone changes everything.

This challenge isn’t about proving AI is the future. It’s about showing what happens when humans stop trying to outwork systems and start designing them instead.

I’m documenting this publicly because I believe transparency sharpens thinking. When your decisions are visible, you can’t lie to yourself. You’re forced to slow down, to justify allocation, to respect risk. 

And if along the way someone sees that investing doesn’t have to be chaotic, emotional, or all-consuming, then the experiment has already done its job.

This isn’t financial advice. It’s not an offer. It’s not a promise. It’s simply me, opening a portfolio and letting it run while I document what it teaches me.

I’ve always liked challenges. They keep me honest. They remind me that conviction only matters when it’s tested.

If you want to follow the journey, I’ll be sharing updates, thoughts, and reflections inside my private Discord. The link’s in my bio.

— Zack Rens
The Young Founders Report