What Gamma ($2B Unicorn) Learned that Most Founders Get Backwards | Grant Lee

Grant Lee, cofounder and CEO of Gamma, joins South Park Commons General Partner Jonathan Brebner to discuss how his AI storytelling platform is taking on PowerPoint and Google Slides. Grant shares how Gamma survived the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, how they stayed lean while scaling to a $2B valuation, and why he believes “different beats better” when competing against entrenched incumbents. He also gets into the role of storytelling in product, hiring, and growth—and why publishing content (and pushing through "cringe valley") might be the most underrated thing a founder can do.

1. Grant Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantslee/ 
2. Jonathan Brebner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-brebner/
3. South Park Commons: https://www.linkedin.com/company/southparkcommons/

Apply to SPC: https://www.southparkcommons.com/apply

Chapters:

(00:00:00) - Intro

(00:02:41) - The Frustration With Slides That Sparked Gamma

(00:04:02) - Reuniting With Co-Founders From Optimizely

(00:08:46) - The Real Competition: Behavior Change

(00:10:37) - The ‘Bet the Company’ Moment and the SVB Crisis

(00:14:43) - Why Gamma Built a Lean Team and Hires Slowly

(00:17:49) - Why Storytelling Is a Core Founder Skill

(00:20:51) - How Gamma Balances AI Automation With Human Creativity

(00:23:40) - Why Founders Must Survive “Cringe Valley”

(00:31:17) - Building Gamma for Prosumer and Enterprise Growth