Roy Lee, founder of Cluely, recently shared the story behind his tech startup’s explosive growth. The company has built a reputation for itself on the gauntlet of its head-turning marketing tactics. Cluely dazzled the tech scene in April with its audacious proclamation to help users “cheat on anything.” Its dubious marketing immediately drew a lot of attention for the app by offering users undetectable messages in their digital chats.
In June, Cluely secured $15 million in Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz, a testament to its potential in the competitive tech landscape. I have no doubt that Cluely will help us turn more of that attention into paying customers,” said Bryan Kim, a partner at a16z. Cluely’s annual recurring revenue (ARR) soared from $3 million to $7 million within just one week after the funding announcement, demonstrating the product’s immediate appeal.
Even with this success, Lee is the first to admit that viral hype is not going to guarantee years of sustained growth. In his view, brand enjoyment needs to be combined with functional usefulness to achieve long-term success. This epiphany honed Cluely’s focus. To support this shift, they rolled out a revamped website that rebrands their product as an essential AI-powered assistant to meetings, rather than just a supercharged tool for fibbing.
Just three weeks ago, the company announced its enterprise offering. This powerful use of innovation addresses several different use cases including sales calls, customer support and remote learning or tutoring. Lee still pointed out that each person who books a meeting or interview is actively trying out Cluely’s services. At the same time, he dodged questions on actual sales numbers and customer churn rates.
“What I’ve learned is you should never share revenue numbers.” – Roy Lee
Lee’s journey has not been without challenges. He was nearly suspended from Columbia University for developing a tool that ended up being used by students to cheat in coding job interviews. This background context introduces a new layer of complexity to Cluely’s narrative, and indeed their story raises some troubling questions about the ethical implications of their offerings.
Lee’s point, it seems, was to illustrate that Cluely is exceeding the odds. The bad news, he said, is that it is no longer the fastest-growing company in the sector. He remarked, “I’ll say we’re doing better than I expected, but it’s not the fastest growing company of all time.” He candidly reflected on the possibility of having launched too early, stating, “I can’t say if it’s a mistake, but maybe we launched too early.”
As Cluely fights to chart its own course in an increasingly competitive tech landscape, Lee expressed an admirable goal of long-term sustainability and success. He asserted that Cluely’s plan is “to become the best AI note taker, starting with the consumer.” This new vision is indicative of a broader move toward delivering more effective and practical answers that raise productivity in all sectors of the economy.