The ‘Cheating App’ Founder Explains How to Rage Bait Your Startup to Success

AI assistant Cluely claimed in April that its undetectable windows could help you “cheat on everything.” The boast was disproven, but Cluely went viral and raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz, setting itself apart in the oversaturated world of AI products.

CEO Roy Lee says he was purposefully using provocative language as a marketing technique, and it seems to have worked. The statement blew up, with several companies firing back. San Francisco-based startup Validia went so far to disprove Lee as to launch “Truely,” a free software it says sends an alert when it catches someone using AI assistants like Cluely during online interviews. But that was the sort of response Lee wanted.

“I think I’m particularly good at framing myself in a way that’s controversial,” Lee said at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 on Thursday.

Last spring, Lee was suspended from Columbia University after publicizing that he used an earlier version of Cluely, Interview Coder, to pass online job interviews and receive offers from Meta, TikTok, and Amazon. He later posted the whole story to LinkedIn, writing, “I just got kicked out of Columbia for taking a stand against Leetcode interviews.” The post has received over 3,000 comments. 

Controversial campaigns, like American Apparel’s “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans” ad, have proliferated recently. Lee says brands today have to be authentic and extreme.

“Reputation is sort of a thing of the past,” Lee says. “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 bats— crazy.” 

According to Lee, distribution, in the form of viral marketing, is key. While his online success is apparent, he hasn’t disclosed the company’s financial gains.

“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,” he says. “And if you’re doing poorly, people will only talk about how poorly you’re doing. I’ll say that we’re doing better than I expected, but it’s not the fastest growing company of all time.