How a College Entrepreneur Raised $2M for AI Robotics | Sean Wu | Still Human
Sean Wu, co-founder of robotics startup Symphony, talks with Still Human Podcast host Perkin about building a company while at Santa Clara University, learning through wrestling and experimentation, and deciding where AI should and should not be trusted.
In this talk
- 4:21
Wrestling shaped how Wu handles failure
Wu describes mentally rehearsing matches and balancing calculated moves with intensity. Wrestling taught him to take responsibility for outcomes and keep trying after setbacks. He connects that mindset to failing two classes while overcommitting to extracurriculars, a difficult period he still valued because he had pushed himself hard.
- 10:05
Youth and access help open doors
Wu says being a young student can make executives more willing to offer time, advice, and resources. He recommends making direct asks and sharing an ambitious goal; he raised $40,000 in sponsorship for the AI Collaborate student club. He also says student status helped his cold emails get more replies, and describes approaching Zoom co-founder Nick after a campus talk to ask to learn from him.
- 15:44
Symphony tackles the gap between simulation and reality
Wu explains that robotics teams use virtual environments to generate training data because collecting data on physical robots is expensive. Since simulated physics are imperfect, a robot can perform well in simulation and still struggle in the real world. He says simulations are useful for safety checks and fast experiments, while the team learns about changing bottlenecks from robotics customers and researchers.
- 20:08
Build AI as a tool with human oversight
Wu says an earlier retrieval system helped bank staff review compliance documents faster than a manual process that could take hours. People could trace its outputs and check them, so it sped up work without making decisions on its own. He says major decisions with real-world consequences, such as the use of nuclear weapons, should not be left to AI.
- 25:43
Experiment toward a mission and a team
Wu moved on from a prompt-based product that reached $10,000 a month because selling it became a bottleneck and he wanted to grow in other ways. He chose robotics after an NVIDIA hackathon connected Symphony with customers and a broader reindustrialization mission. His advice to students is to try projects with useful potential, invest in learning, and seek people who challenge them.
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