Sherwin Lee

tech enthusiast, jack of all backend systems and world traveler- photographer guy

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Open $200 study for vehicle subscription services https://t.co/rdep0guAfP

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Sign up for Pre-launch Campaign! https://t.co/1X5BzscI6E

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Open $200 study for vehicle subscription services https://t.co/rdep0guAfP

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Radio alice I just entered to win an awesome prize! https://t.co/kdNCugAtXW

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Cause scheduled maintenace needs good comms via @SchdMaintenance

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

@guilleflorvs Founder

[Coffee with One 🇺🇸 @coffeewithone]

I'm 24, dropped out of Duke, joined YC, and bet everything on a startup. Here's what actually happens when you go all-in:

1. Your co-founder relationship matters more than your product:
You can pivot products. You can't pivot people. Most startups die from founder breakups, not market failure. Choose your co-founder like you'd choose a spouse, you'll spend more time with them anyway.

2. Nobody cares about your startup except you:
Your friends are being polite. Your family doesn't understand it. Even your customers barely think about you. You're obsessed. Everyone else has their own life. This loneliness is the actual job.

3. Runway is a countdown to your personal failure:
Every month that clock ticks down isn't just money. it's proof you haven't figured it out yet. The stress is less about going broke and more about confronting whether you're actually good enough.

4. Your first 10 customers will lie to you:
They'll say they love it. They'll promise to pay more. They'll ghost you next month. Early customers are either friends doing you a favor or tire-kickers. Real validation doesn't come until customer 50.

5. Hiring too fast kills more startups than hiring too slow:
You panic, hire someone mediocre, spend 6 months managing them poorly, fire them awkwardly, and burn $100K+ in the process. Better to be understaffed and stressed than overstaffed and broke.

6. Your burn rate is the only number that matters:
Revenue is vanity. Profit is sanity. Runway is reality. You can survive slow growth. You can't survive running out of money. Every dollar you spend is oxygen you just burned.

7. The best features are the ones you don't build:
Every feature is debt. Support debt. Maintenance debt. Complexity debt. The companies that win aren't the ones with the most features, they're the ones that said no to everything except the one thing that matters.

8.Profitability is a choice, not a milestone:
You can be profitable at $50K ARR if you want to be. Most founders choose to burn cash chasing growth because it feels like progress. It's not. It's just expensive.

9. Your competition doesn't matter until it does:
You'll obsess over competitors daily. Then realize customers don't even know they exist. Then one day a competitor will eat your biggest deal and you'll realize you were unprepared. There's no winning, just different kinds of paranoia.

10. The day you launch is the least important day:
You'll spend months planning launch day. It'll come and go. You'll get some Twitter engagement. Then nothing changes. Building a company is 1,000 boring Tuesdays, not one epic launch.

11. Every advisor will give you contradictory advice:
"Move fast" vs "be strategic." "Focus" vs "diversify." "Raise money" vs "bootstrap." They're all right. They're all wrong. Nobody knows. Including you. Especially you.

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

@ysl_serena What secrets

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Look what I received from Caroline at SAP! #PoweredByPostal https://t.co/aMU2HMvygX

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

#armisCyberBear cool protection bear

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

I just bought tickets to Symphonic Finale with Festival Orchestra Napa - Sunday, July 20 ~ 6:30 PM, at @napafest https://t.co/xwlZOSdgSC

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Ready for databricks https://t.co/ivXPK7N41F

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Foundation for Filipina Women's Network - RSVP & Sponsorship: Confirmation Ceremony of Mariquita Yeung, FWN Ambassador for Cebu & DISRUPTing Cebu D5.0 Book Launch https://t.co/TFuB1excSH

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Win tickets to NVIDIA GTC 2025. Worth $2,295! https://t.co/PDa1HLbL5v

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Great meeting UFC champ and wishing him a win for his next match #SansuiCES

[Victor Elmann @victorelmann]

🥊 Win Signed Gloves from Aljamain Sterling! 🥊

Want to own autographed gloves from the former UFC champ? Here’s how:
1️⃣ Follow us
2️⃣ Repost any of our CES posts OR post your own picture at our booth with #SansuiCES

Start sharing now for your chance to win!

#SansuiCES #CES2025 #aljamainsterling #giveaway

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

@jesselyu @elonmusk Are the metro trains supervised with driver or is there collision avoidance tech on the trains? if amtrak I'd be much more afraid.

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

Great music stream. SF Music Day 2024 - Herbst Theatre Performances https://t.co/rw4ScRfNiD via @YouTube

[Sherwin Lee @surewinlee]

@kellyhyu @atomtickets @kellyhyu #atomsweeps @atomtickets yay new hp film

[litquidity @litcapital]

This October, I’m helping bring Tech Week to CA. To kick things off, we’re giving away 100 limited-edition Lit x Tech Week sweaters and a few invites for exclusive events

To enter:
- like this post
- retweet
- follow both @litcapital and @Techweek_

See you there 🤝