A post-2000 entrepreneur secured 100 million yuan in financing in 15 minutes.

A meeting lasting 15 minutes secured $15 million in financing (equivalent to approximately 107 million RMB).

Recently, top Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led a high - profile Series A financing round for Cluely, with a total investment of up to $15 million, directly pushing the company's valuation to $120 million. There was no business plan presentation and no repeated face - to - face interviews. The entire investment process was completed during a Zoom meeting. After the 15 - minute meeting, a16z made the decision: "We're investing," and then the funds were transferred.

Cluely's product is an AI - powered desktop assistant that claims to provide real - time, proactive, and multi - modal intelligent support in scenarios such as job interviews, meetings, and sales calls. Cluely has always advocated the idea of "cheating in everything." The product description on its official website reads, "An undetectable artificial intelligence that can view your screen in real - time, listen to your calls, and provide answers for you."

The founders, Roy Lee and Neel Shanmugam, are both post - 2000s. They co - founded the company at the beginning of this year. Since its establishment, Cluely has faced a lot of criticism and doubts. After all, there aren't many companies that so openly promote cheating.

Roy Lee himself is also a master at creating hot topics. He and Neel Shanmugam once developed an AI tool for cheating in job interviews and used it to get an internship at Amazon. As a result, he was suspended from Columbia University. In April this year, Roy Lee also posted another "deceptive" video. When dating a woman at a high - end restaurant, he used a hidden AI assistant to lie about his personal information to her, which sparked another controversy.

However, being controversial also means getting attention. Cluely didn't need to run ads or reach out to the media for coverage, yet it still attracted everyone's attention. The company achieved profitability just a few months after its establishment. Two months ago, Cluely received $5.3 million in seed - round financing, led by Abstract Ventures and Susa Ventures.

Putting aside the controversy, who can say that Cluely isn't successful?

"Everything can be cheated"

Using AI to assist in interviews isn't something new. Some domestic AI interview tools like DuoMianE and MianDaXing can generate real - time response ideas based on the interviewer's questions and support multi - language interview scenarios. There are also many tools that can transcribe meeting content in real - time. Compared with these tools, Cluely's advantage lies in its ability to meet multi - scenario needs, whether it's job hunting, meetings, customer support calls, project brainstorming sessions, or collaborative tasks. At the same time, it has strong privacy features. It can run silently on the desktop and won't appear in shared screens, recorded files, or external meeting tools. No one can see it except the user.

Roy Lee once asked a question in an interview: "How many times a day do you copy and paste a screenshot or a paragraph into Chat GPT/DeepSeek to ask questions?" This is another advantage of Cluely - convenience. "You just need to press a key, and Cluely knows what you're doing and will give an accurate response. There's no need to switch tabs or guess." It's like having an invisible personal assistant. Currently, users can use Cluely for free. If they want to use the professional version, it costs $20 per month.

Some people think it's cheating and believe that using it in academic exams or job interviews goes against the concept of fair competition. The company's official website doesn't shy away from this: "We want to cheat at everything." Cluely's philosophy is that artificial intelligence will redefine how our world works. Why remember facts, write code, or research anything when the model can do it in seconds? Whether it's support or opposition, this controversy has brought high exposure to the company.

Besides the product itself, the experiences of the two founders are also quite rebellious. Roy Lee and Neel Shanmugam are 21 years old. They were both students at Columbia University and jointly developed an AI tool called "Interview Coder" specifically for helping job seekers cheat in online interviews. Roy Lee used this tool to successfully pass interviews at major companies like Amazon, Meta, TikTok, and Capital One and posted the whole process of passing the Amazon interview on YouTube to promote the tool. After the video was posted, Columbia University initiated a disciplinary hearing and finally suspended him. This way of leaving school wasn't very honorable, but in the long run, it paved the way for his subsequent entrepreneurial journey.

Cluely's marketing style is similar to that of its founders. The seven - person growth team at Cluely each has over 100,000 followers. They create content to increase the brand's visibility and influence. The company has also recruited 50 interns as UGC creators, and each of them produces four pieces of content per day, which are posted on platforms like TikTok and Instagram to create topics and attract attention. Creators with high - view content are rewarded with bonuses. Roy Lee's goal is simple: not to make users understand their product but to make them remember Cluely.

a16z believes that although Roy Lee's bold actions may seem controversial on the surface, behind the scenes, his actions are rooted in well - thought - out strategies and intentions.

The market has indeed given positive feedback. Cluely's viral marketing has attracted a large number of users' attention, and the feedback is real and positive. Since its establishment at the beginning of the year, it has won important contracts from several enterprises. According to Lee's disclosure on the X platform, the company has achieved profitability, and its Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) has exceeded $3 million.

To put it simply, in the increasingly competitive AI field, companies are shifting from "competing on functions" to "grabbing users' attention" because currently, attention is a scarce resource.

"Whoever catches attention first, strikes first"

a16z says that Cluely is what AI should be like: contextual, environment - aware, and proactive - fitting right into your workflow.

As a globally well - known venture capital firm, a16z has been famous for its unique vision and willingness to bet on innovation since its establishment in 2009. It focuses on areas such as social media, gaming, cryptocurrencies, and fintech. In its past investment cases, it has discovered and nurtured several industry giants, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Airbnb. In 2011, a16z invested $80 million in Twitter, becoming the first institution to hold stocks in four of the most highly valued social media companies at that time: Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, and Zynga.

Given a16z's current industry influence, every investment decision it makes attracts the attention of entrepreneurs and investors. Especially in this investment in Cluely, the entire investment process was very efficient. It only took 15 minutes from the start of the meeting to the confirmation of the investment intention. Roy Lee said that for top Silicon Valley investors like a16z, Cluely didn't win with a PPT but with his ability to create hype and spark discussions.

He emphasized in the meeting that from the very beginning, Cluely has regarded "catching attention" as part of its product because in the era of information explosion, entrepreneurship is an arena where "whoever catches attention first, strikes first."

Interestingly, a16z is also quite good at using social media for marketing. It has an investment news section and a podcast on its official website, making it look like a tech media website. Its founder, Marc Andreessen, is a marketing expert. He criticizes his peers on social media, claims to be among the top three VCs in Silicon Valley, and has made predictions like "software will eat the world," creating a lot of topics. Other executives of the company are also often active on social media or accept media interviews.

It seems that there is a sense of "heroes respecting heroes" between the two sides in terms of communication concepts and strategies. a16z highly praised the Cluely team, believing that they have precise strategic thinking, imaginative creativity, and lightning - fast execution speed, and have the strength to stand out in the highly competitive AI market.

It pointed out in the investment announcement that Cluely has pioneered a new category of "proactive multi - modal AI assistants." It first became popular among consumers through intense marketing campaigns and has now proven its value in the corporate environment (especially in the sales field) by quickly securing contracts and being deployed.

From a market perspective, Cluely has indeed grasped the huge potential of AI technology in improving efficiency and productivity. Whether it's individuals or enterprises, no one will reject an intelligent assistant that can help them achieve their goals. Now, Cluely is being used in various scenarios such as sales calls, meetings, and recruitment.

The ethical and moral controversies it has caused cannot be ignored. In the end, it's a conflict between traditional concepts and the development of modern technology. As AI develops, similar controversial products may continue to emerge. a16z's $15 million investment in Cluely is not just a simple capital injection but also a significant vote of confidence in the future development of AI tools.

This article is from the WeChat official account Touzhongwang. Author: Ji Jiawen. Republished by 36Kr with permission.