In April, Cluely’s AI assistant made news with an attention-grabbing claim. It advertised its otherwise undetectable windows as making them “cheat on anything,” which led to major backlash. Proctoring services were quick to rebut that claim by demonstrating their premature, yet impressive, ability to detect Cluely’s AI assistant. Their demonstration did an excellent job of proving the claim wrong. Cluely days soon recovered from the blast. Just a few months later, it had raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz and established itself as a significant player in the AI assistant startup shuffle.
Roy Lee, an ambassador for Cluely, gave a moving presentation at the last TechCrunch Disrupt hàckathon. The event is returning to San Francisco on October 27-29, 2025. During his address, he shared insights into his approach to viral marketing strategies and the importance of distribution for startups. Lee emphasized the importance of founders rethinking their approaches to marketing. In today’s hyper-connected world where people are constantly inundated with information, attention is the new currency.
“When 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. If you’re doing poorly, people will only talk about how poorly you’re doing,” said Lee, highlighting a common pitfall that many startups face.
Lee’s philosophy is all about making viral content that you know will elicit an extreme reaction. He noted, “I think I’m particularly good at framing myself in a way that’s controversial.” This tactic, though great for getting clicks and impressions, can often keep audiences from engaging in a meaningful way. Lee thinks that reputation is quickly becoming the designation of the past in this fast-paced digital world we live in.
Reputation is almost a relic at this point, he remarked. He further elaborated by stating, “You can try to be the New York Times and guard your ironclad reputation, but realistically you’ve got Sam Altman on the timeline talking about hot guys and you’ve got Elon Musk going batshit crazy.”
Lee also encouraged startup founders—as long as you’re not inherently in deep tech verticals—to think about distribution first. “Generally, if you’re not in deep tech, then you need to low-key deep focus on distribution,” he advised.
Cluely’s been riding high on recent success and visibility since it’s successful funding round. Roy Lee has not published any hard data on revenue or user adoption. Regardless of the outcome, his approach to marketing strategies has certainly gotten many of the other founders and industry watchers talking.