Cluey is an AI assistant developed by Roy Lee, a 21-year-old entrepreneur. It stands out from traditional AI models like ChatGPT by being a "10x version" that offers live, context-aware assistance without requiring explicit prompts. Unlike ChatGPT, which relies solely on typed questions, Cluey continuously monitors what's on a user's screen and listens to audio, allowing it to "see what you see, hear what you hear." This constant observation and real-time reasoning enable Cluey to proactively offer relevant information or suggestions in various scenarios, such as meetings, sales calls, or interviews. Its "invisible to screen share" feature further enhances its utility, allowing users to leverage AI discreetly. Essentially, Cluey aims to provide a more intuitive and integrated AI experience by eliminating the need for constant, manual prompting and instead acting as a seamless, always-on assistant.

Roy Lee's path to creating Cluey is unconventional and marked by significant challenges. Initially accepted into Harvard, his offer was rescinded after he was suspended from high school for sneaking out. This event led to a year of self-imposed isolation, intense programming, and a strong desire to prove himself. He then attended community college in the Bay Area, transferred to Columbia, and actively sought a co-founder, eventually partnering with Neil. Their first significant project was "Interview Coder," a tool designed to help users solve technical interviews by providing AI-generated code solutions that were undetectable by screen sharing.

The controversy surrounding Interview Coder, including Roy's public demonstration of using it to get an Amazon job offer and his subsequent suspension from Columbia (due to Amazon's complaint), paradoxically generated immense hype. This virality attracted significant investor interest, allowing him to raise $5 million. Through this process, Roy realized the broader potential of their "invisible AI" technology beyond just assisting in interviews, recognizing its applicability to various professional and personal contexts, leading to the pivot and development of Cluey.

Cluey's primary marketing strategy is centered around becoming a "distribution first company" that leverages "mass short-form UGC" (User-Generated Content) and controversial scenarios to gain "mind share." The core thesis is that if a company can consistently achieve billions of views a month through engaging content, sales will naturally follow, regardless of the product itself. This approach capitalizes on the current "gigantic delta" in the market where there's an overwhelming demand for short-form content, but not enough creators to supply it.

"Mind share" is a concept that goes beyond mere brand awareness or passive consumption. While a product might get millions of views, like a "Subway Surfer clip," it might not be discussed or remembered in daily conversations. Mind share, in Cluey's context, means generating strong emotional reactions and conversations around the brand, making it a topic of discussion among people. This is achieved through highly controversial, often absurd, and cinematic marketing stunts that aim to evoke strong reactions, making the brand "sticky" and memorable, rather than just visually present. The goal is to make people actively talk about Cluey, even if they don't fully understand the product yet.

Cluey intentionally engineers controversial marketing stunts to gain mind share. Roy Lee believes that "the algorithm rewards extremely controversial things," especially on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) where the humor and cultural understanding haven't caught up to platforms like Instagram. The strategy involves creating situations that are absurd or seemingly inappropriate to provoke strong reactions and generate widespread discussion.

Key examples include:

• The Interview Coder Saga: Publicly demonstrating assistance in an interview and facing academic consequences, all while live-tweeting the process, generated immense early virality and investor interest.
• The Launch Video: Instead of a typical product demo, Cluey's launch video showed a "Black Mirror-esque" scenario of Roy on a date, using the concept of subtle assistance, which was visually provocative and designed to be controversial, even though the app isn't explicitly for unethical use. The goal was to shock and grab attention.
• The "50 Interns" Video: A staged announcement that Cluey was "hiring 50 interns" in San Francisco, which was designed to be ambiguous and evoke a "What's going on?" reaction. In reality, it was a content creation play, hiring a few managers and many content creators, but framed controversially to capture attention.
• The "Dancer" Incident: A behind-the-scenes clip from a planned "Cluey universe" skit showed Roy receiving a lap dance in the office. This unscripted virality on Twitter, due to its absurdity and unprofessional appearance, became a major topic of discussion, further cementing Cluey's controversial image.

These stunts often involve cinematic quality and provocative language ("assist in everything") to ensure they are "scroll stoppers" and generate conversation, regardless of whether they directly convert users immediately.

Roy Lee believes that in today's digital landscape, founders should be "real" and their personal brand should directly embody the company's audience and voice. He argues that people are "starving to see something real" and are tired of "corporate and professional" content that lacks authenticity. For him, founder marketing means openly sharing controversial takes and personality, even if it might alienate some. He contends that companies rarely fail due to a founder being too controversial; rather, they fail from a lack of traction or money.

His approach is rooted in the belief that taking big risks and being transparent with one's public image is essential for achieving "escape velocity" and becoming a "generational company." He dismisses the fear of backlash, noting that online negativity rarely translates to real-world negative impact. He actively tweets controversial opinions and promotes an unfiltered company voice that mirrors his own, ensuring that Cluey's brand is distinctive and memorable. This strategy aims to build a strong, loyal audience that resonates with the founder's authentic personality, even if it means some people "disagree with every take."

Cluey employs a highly organized and intentional approach to managing its large-scale User-Generated Content (UGC) efforts, primarily for short-form platforms like Instagram Reels. Roy Lee identified a market inefficiency where many influencers, despite having significant reach, are "underpaid." Cluey leverages this by recruiting a large in-house team of content creators.

The recruitment strategy involves actively seeking out individuals with "hot algorithm pull" – those whose content is trending on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, often young Asian creators in the tech space. The marketing team itself is literally a "timeline in person," composed of people whose content Roy and his team have observed going viral.

Cluey's payment model for these creators is based on a flat fee per video (typically $25-$40) plus performance bonuses tied to views (e.g., $500 for 500,000 views, $1,000 for 1 million views). This "pay after views are generated" model makes it cost-effective. Creators are given simple briefs, such as "make a post that has Cluey mentions Cluey in some way," allowing for creative freedom within a broad framework. The company manages these creators through group DMs (with plans to move to Discord) and emphasizes recruiting individuals who have already overcome the initial discomfort of posting content, even if they only have a few videos. This mass short-form UGC strategy is considered Cluey's "performance engine," designed for scale and conversion by visually demonstrating the product's use cases.

Roy Lee believes that while AI content creation is advancing rapidly, it currently lacks the "final 10%" that makes human-generated content truly "feel real." He notes that AI-generated videos, despite technical improvements (like V3's voice capabilities), often appear "soulless" and struggle to provoke genuine emotional responses or controversy. He states that the Instagram algorithm, for instance, heavily rewards content that feels authentic, leading to significant differences in viewership compared to AI-generated content that doesn't quite hit the mark. Cluey has tested AI content generation but finds that a "human in the loop" is still necessary for the nuanced "feeling" that drives virality.

Regarding the balance of power between technical engineers and creators in the age of AI, Roy strongly bets on the creator. He argues that AI has "democratized" the ability to build functional software, making MVPs easier to create without requiring genius-level coding skills. Consequently, the bottleneck has shifted from technical expertise to "the understanding of what goes viral and the agency to act on that." He asserts that "distribution is more important than product" right now because products are becoming increasingly easy to build with AI. Therefore, the most valuable individuals in the coming years will be those who possess exceptional marketing instincts and the ability to capture attention, rather than just technical prowess.

Roy Lee's journey with Cluey has shaped several core philosophies:

• Take Big Risks: He strongly advocates for taking "the biggest risks possible" and "swinging big" at every opportunity. He believes that true success comes from venturing into areas where competition is minimal because few are willing to take such bold steps. His own story of intentionally facing academic consequences to generate hype exemplifies this.
• Fundraise Aggressively: When fundraising, his advice is to "fundraise the most amount you can when you don't need it" at the highest possible valuation. He dismisses conservative approaches, arguing that a strong belief in one's company justifies aiming for massive capital raises.
• Authenticity Over Professionalism: Companies should embrace authenticity and align their brand voice with the founder's genuine personality, rather than adhering to outdated corporate professionalism. People crave realness, and a distinctive, even controversial, brand voice is key to capturing attention.
• Embrace AI in Learning: Contrary to some senior developers, Roy believes using AI to learn coding makes engineers better by exposing them to a wider range of problems. He compares it to using a calculator; it handles routine tasks, allowing humans to tackle more complex, unsolved challenges.
• Personal Life and Productivity: He suggests that a stable personal life, particularly having a partner, is crucial for productivity and mental health, arguing that it prevents unproductive "grind culture" and allows for a healthy balance.
• Reputation is Secondary (until Scale): For early-stage startups not yet at "escape velocity," reputation and public perception are irrelevant. The sole focus should be growth, even if it means generating controversy or being perceived as unconventional.