Cluely CEO admits to fabricating revenue figures

On Thursday, Roy Lee, the CEO and co-founder of Cluely, admitted to lying about revenue numbers, stating that the $7 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) he previously shared with TechCrunch was a lie. In a post on X, Roy Lee, the CEO and co-founder of Cluely, wrote that the fabricated figure “is the only blatantly dishonest thing i’ve said publicly online, so this is my formal retraction.” The admission marks a sharp turn for the founder, who had previously used the inflated metric to bolster the startup’s public profile.

In his public admission, Lee attempted to downplay the fabrication by misrepresenting how the interview occurred. He claimed on X that he had received a random cold call from a reporter asking about numbers and told her nonsense without expecting an article. However, internal records contradict this version of events. The interview was actually arranged by Cluely’s public relations representative. On Friday, Jun 27, 2025, Cluely’s PR representative emailed TechCrunch reporter Marina Temkin to offer an interview with Lee, suggesting it could cover the company’s next phase or his vision. Temkin agreed to the interview, and the PR representative subsequently shared Lee’s phone number and confirmed he was expecting the call.

Cluely has since rebranded from a “cheat-on-everything” tool to an AI-powered meeting note-taker. The startup originally gained notoriety after Lee was suspended from Columbia University for developing a tool designed to help software engineers cheat on job interviews. To commercialize the technology, the co-founders raised $5.3 million in seed funding—a term for early-stage investment—from Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures. In June, Cluely raised a $15 million Series A, which is a stage of venture capital financing, from Andreessen Horowitz. Throughout its growth, the company relied heavily on marketing stunts to drive viral engagement. At TechCrunch’s 2025 Disrupt event in October, Lee discussed the success of these rage-bait marketing tactics for acquiring early customers, though he also noted that he learned founders should never share revenue numbers.

Why it matters

The incident highlights the risks of “rage-bait” marketing strategies and the pressure on early-stage founders to inflate metrics, even when those fabrications eventually unravel.