Chris Lee built Solgen Power into a company that sold for nine figures, but the road there ran through a bankruptcy and a drunk-driving accident that nearly killed him. When Chris Lee sat down with Sean Kelly on the Digital Social Hour, he walked through both the business story and the near-death experience that reshaped how he sees success.
The conversation moves quickly from crisis to comeback: how a man who once filed for bankruptcy ended up building one of the more talked-about exits in the solar industry, and why he now talks more about family and community than the deal itself.
About Chris Lee
Chris Lee is the founder of Solgen Power, a solar company he built into one of the industry's standout success stories before selling it in a nine-figure deal. Getting there wasn't a straight line: he had already survived a bankruptcy earlier in his career, a setback that ends the story for many entrepreneurs but became a turning point instead.
He's also open about surviving a serious drunk-driving accident that, by his account, changed how he thinks about what actually matters. These days, Chris Lee talks as much about family and community as he does about the deal that made headlines.
What Chris Lee and Sean Kelly Talked About
- Surviving an earlier bankruptcy and what it taught Chris Lee about resilience
- The near-fatal drunk-driving accident that changed how he defines success
- Building Solgen Power into a company that sold for nine figures
- What actually goes into an exit at that scale, beyond the headline number
- Why he now centers family as the real measure of success after wealth
- How community and relationships shaped his comeback from financial collapse
- The mindset that carried him from bankruptcy to a nine-figure sale
- What he wants other entrepreneurs to prioritize before chasing an exit
Why This Conversation Matters
Chris Lee's story is a reminder that headline exits rarely tell the whole story. Between a bankruptcy and a near-fatal accident, his path to a nine-figure sale says as much about what he survived as what he built, and why he now measures success by family and community rather than the deal alone.
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube
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About Sean Kelly & the Digital Social Hour
Sean Kelly is an entrepreneur and the host of the Digital Social Hour, one of the fastest-growing interview podcasts in the world, where he sits down with entrepreneurs, athletes, creators, and cultural voices for candid, long-form conversations. The show draws over 100 million views a month across platforms. Explore more guest features on SeanKelly.io.
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