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Grant Lee - How to Build a $2 Billion AI Startup
Grant Lee is the CEO and Co-founder of Gamma, an powerful AI tool to design presentations, websites and more. In November of 2025, Gamma raised $68 million at a valuation of $2.1 billion. With a team of less than 50 people, they were generating over $100 million in annualized revenue with over 70 million users. They have continued to grow their revenue and customer base, because people love their product.
In this episode of Hyphen Nation, I sit down with my friend Grant Lee, founder and CEO of Gamma, the AI-powered platform reinventing presentations, documents, and storytelling. Grant shares his journey from growing up in Pleasanton, California, in a family that ran restaurants and worked at the post office, to Stanford, Optimizely, and ultimately founding one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world.
We talk about:
- Growing up as one of the few Asian Americans in his hometown
- The sacrifices his immigrant parents made and the entrepreneurial lessons he learned from them
- Why he walked away from a traditional engineering career
- The power of relationships, mentorship, and playing the long game with your network
- How to discover work that genuinely energizes you
- Why too many people stay on the "default path" instead of pursuing what they truly want
- The early struggles of Gamma and the lessons learned when growth stalled
- Building conviction as a founder when everyone doubts your idea
- Leadership, storytelling, and what Asian American professionals can learn from leaders like Jensen Huang
- Why it's never too late to reinvent yourself and pursue your life's work
Grant's story is a powerful reminder that success isn't about following someone else's definition of achievement. It's about finding the work that gives you energy, having the courage to leave your comfort zone, and taking ownership of your own path.
Whether you're a founder, creator, aspiring entrepreneur, or simply wondering if there's more to your career than the path you're currently on, this conversation will challenge you to think bigger about what's possible.
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By Dave LuGrant Lee is the CEO and Co-founder of Gamma, an powerful AI tool to design presentations, websites and more. In November of 2025, Gamma raised $68 million at a valuation of $2.1 billion. With a team of less than 50 people, they were generating over $100 million in annualized revenue with over 70 million users. They have continued to grow their revenue and customer base, because people love their product.
In this episode of Hyphen Nation, I sit down with my friend Grant Lee, founder and CEO of Gamma, the AI-powered platform reinventing presentations, documents, and storytelling. Grant shares his journey from growing up in Pleasanton, California, in a family that ran restaurants and worked at the post office, to Stanford, Optimizely, and ultimately founding one of the fastest-growing AI companies in the world.
We talk about:
- Growing up as one of the few Asian Americans in his hometown
- The sacrifices his immigrant parents made and the entrepreneurial lessons he learned from them
- Why he walked away from a traditional engineering career
- The power of relationships, mentorship, and playing the long game with your network
- How to discover work that genuinely energizes you
- Why too many people stay on the "default path" instead of pursuing what they truly want
- The early struggles of Gamma and the lessons learned when growth stalled
- Building conviction as a founder when everyone doubts your idea
- Leadership, storytelling, and what Asian American professionals can learn from leaders like Jensen Huang
- Why it's never too late to reinvent yourself and pursue your life's work
Grant's story is a powerful reminder that success isn't about following someone else's definition of achievement. It's about finding the work that gives you energy, having the courage to leave your comfort zone, and taking ownership of your own path.
Whether you're a founder, creator, aspiring entrepreneur, or simply wondering if there's more to your career than the path you're currently on, this conversation will challenge you to think bigger about what's possible.