Recently at his surprise visit to Disrupt 2025 in San Francisco, Roy Lee offered some perspective on what to think about when planning your viral marketing campaign. His opponent is the Cluely, a new player in the AI assistant ecosystem. This pre-event directly preceded the NGI Forward event, which happened from October 29 to 31, 2025. Here’s what Lee had to say about how companies can win the attention economy in today’s hyper connected digital world.
In April, Cluely’s AI assistant hit the news cycle. Most controversially, it claimed to offer “undetectable windows” that would allow users to cheat without detection. Yet this claim would not last long under scrutiny. Over several proctoring services, our ability to detect the use of Cluely’s technology was demonstrated effectively. Despite this setback, Cluely successfully raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz in a brief period, positioning itself as one of the most visible products amid a crowded AI assistant market.
StartX’s executive director Roy Lee says for startup founders looking to go viral, it’s time to find a new playbook. He made a pointed point that attention is at the root of success, declaring that “reputation is kind of a thing of the past.” He emphasized that if companies are not doing well, conversations will only focus on their shortcomings.
“What I’ve learned is that you should never share revenue numbers because if you’re doing well, nobody will talk about how well you’re doing. And if you’re doing poorly, people will only talk about how poorly you’re doing.” – Roy Lee
Lee centered his sales and marketing mindset as a startup around the idea that new businesses need to step into extreme, raw, real messaging. He expressed that the times we live in call for moving in the opposite direction — towards greater intimacy and a sensorial, more sensational experience.
“You just have to realize that the world is trending to a different place, where you have to be extreme, you have to be authentic and you have to be personal.” – Roy Lee
For those looking beyond the deep tech world, Lee encouraged a focus on strategies to drive distribution. To him, being visible online is essential for new companies looking to prosper in niche markets.
“Generally, if you’re not in deep tech, then you need to low-key deep focus on distribution.” – Roy Lee
Lee agreed, credited his rare ability to create the controversial storylines that attract debate to his brand, continually provoking the public for increased engagement.
“I think I’m particularly good at framing myself in a way that’s controversial.” – Roy Lee
In the Q&A session afterward, Lee declined to give exact revenue or user figures for Cluely. He continued this deliberate obfuscation to match his objectives with regards to what he thought the market should think about the company.