"Cluely's AI assistant grew famous this April with a viral claim that its undetectable windows could "help you cheat on anything" - a claim that was quickly disproven when a string of proctoring services showed they could, in fact, detect use of the AI assistant. But in a matter of months, the company had raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz, becoming one of the most visible products in the crowded AI assistant space."
"If you're any good at engineering, you're probably not funny and you're probably not going to be a content creator because you don't have it in your blood. Realistically, most of these people have no chance of going viral."
""I think I'm particularly good at framing myself in a way that's controversial," he said onstage. "I do a lot of things that are different. And everything I do that's different, I frame it through the filter of my voice. And my voice is naturally just very enraging to a lot of people.""
Founders outside deep tech must prioritize distribution and viral strategies to grow. Cluely's AI assistant went viral in April after claiming its undetectable windows could "help you cheat on anything," a claim later disproven by proctoring services that detected the assistant. The company raised $15 million from Andreessen Horowitz within months and gained high visibility in the crowded AI assistant market. Viral success often stems from controversial, authentic personal voices that provoke anger and attention. Many engineers lack content-creator instincts and are unlikely to go viral, so deliberate distribution focus is critical for non-deep-tech startups.
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