Cluely, a Baltimore-based tech startup formerly known as Interview Coder, recently raised $15 million in Series A funding. This monumental bet follows on the heels of Andreessen Horowitz. This investment is a major step forward for the company. Since its release, it has changed decks on its marketing approach, retreating somewhat from branding itself as the ‘cheaters’ tool’ to now marketing itself as ChatGPT’s biggest competitor. Co-founder Roy Lee describes an ambitious future where users come to Cluely for their AI needs rather than going to Microsoft or Google.
Lee’s comments come on the heels of Cluely’s eye popping growth. The company’s reported annual recurring revenue has more than doubled in just one week to $7 million. The startup initially turned heads with its incendiary slogan, “cheat on your homework.” Now, after pulling all the pieces together, it’s repositioned its brand with a simple tagline – “Everything You Need.” This amendment is indicative of their new leadership’s turn towards promoting transparency to its users.
Ironically, one of the main villains of the story drew suspicion himself. He was banned from Columbia University for stating that he used Cluely to “cheat” on a coding test for a developer role at Amazon. Given this background, one might expect him to be discouraged by the issues raised by future cheating detection technologies.
“We don’t care if we’re able to be detected or not,” – Lee
Cluely’s marketing tactics have been known as rage-bait marketing, but Lee feels above all, transparency is the most important thing going forward. He stated that the platform “will likely start prompting our users to be much more transparent about usage.” It seems that this transition is an attempt to be more in line with ethical practices, while still keeping users’ attention.
It’s not too late, the competitive landscape is getting fierce! Get ready, Patrick Shen, an Ivy League student from Columbia University just posted on X about creating Truely, a tool for spotting users who are likely cheating on Cluely. Lee’s affirmative reaction to Shen’s entrepreneurial efforts showed a readiness to spar with would-be market competitors rather than ignore them or ridicule them into submission.
“Every time you would reach for chatgpt.com, our goal is to create a world where you instead reach for Cluely. Cluely does functionally the same thing as ChatGPT. The only difference is that it also knows what’s on your screen and hears what’s going on in your audio,” – Lee
Besides its recent Series A round, Cluely had raised a total of $5.3 million before entering into Series A. The company’s quick growth and move away from its former branding serves as an example of a shrewd play to reestablish carve out its competitive landscape.
Lee went on to demonstrate how some aspects of Cluely can deliver anonymity. Yet, a higher number of enterprises choose to shut these options down entirely due to implications. This decision highlights the company’s determination to remain on the right side of ethical lines, even as they seek to be at the cutting edge of AI development.
Marina Temkin, a reporter on venture capital and startups for TechCrunch, noted Cluely’s lofty new path. She highlighted its potential to significantly shape AI’s long-term trajectory. The business is growing and changing at a pretty fast pace. Roy Lee and his team are committed to making Cluely a serious competitor to other platforms like ChatGPT.