The a16z Show25 Kesä 2025

Building Cluely: The Viral AI Startup that raised $15M in 10 Weeks

What if virality wasn’t a tactic — but the entire product?

In this episode, a16z General Partners Erik Torenberg and Bryan Kim sit down with Roy Lee, cofounder and CEO of Cluely, one of the most talked-about consumer AI startups of 2025. Cluely didn’t raise a mega round or drop a feature suite to get traction - it broke through by turning distribution into design: launching viral short-form videos, pushing polarizing product drops, and building in public with speed and spectacle.

We cover:

– Why virality is Cluely’s moat

– Building a brand-native AI interface

– The Gen Z founder mindset

– What most startups get wrong about attention

– Why creators are the new product managers

– Cluely’s long-term vision for ambient AI

Cluely is a glimpse at the next generation of startups, where the line between product and performance is disappearing.

Timecodes:

00:00 Introduction

01:07 Early Success

02:02 Roy's Journey: From College Kid to Tech Universe

04:37 The Turning Point: Harvard and Beyond

06:57 Building Cluey: The Early Days

08:27 The Viral Strategy: Mastering Algorithms

13:56 The 50 Interns Experiment

15:30 The Investment Journey: Roy and Bryan's Partnership

19:20 Momentum as a Moat: The Future of AI Companies

20:32 The Evolution of Product Strategy in the AI Era

21:19 The Importance of Speed and Adaptability

22:48 The Role of Distribution in Modern Startups

24:26 Roy's Journey and Product Development

25:25 The Power of User Data and Feedback

26:58 Innovative Marketing and Distribution Tactics

28:25 The Future of AI Integration and Translucent Overlays

32:15 Controversial Marketing and Authenticity

34:01 The Impact of Radical Transparency

36:42 The Changing Landscape of Professionalism

38:26 Concluding Thoughts and Future Vision

Resources:

Find Roy on X: https://x.com/im_roy_lee

Find Bryan on X: https://x.com/kirbyman01

Learn more about Cluely: http://cluely.com/

Stay Updated:

Let us know what you think: https://ratethispodcast.com/a16z

Find a16z on Twitter: https://twitter.com/a16z

Find a16z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/a16z

Subscribe on your favorite podcast app: https://a16z.simplecast.com/

Follow our host: https://x.com/eriktorenberg

Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures.

Stay Updated:

Find a16z on YouTube: YouTube

Find a16z on X

Find a16z on LinkedIn

Listen to the a16z Show on Spotify

Listen to the a16z Show on Apple Podcasts

Follow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(1000)

a16z Podcast: Sleep!

Sleep, productivity, and creatively are intimately linked, for better and for worse. And "we are living under a collective delusion that burnout is the way to succeed," observes Arianna Huffington, au...

6 Syys 201628min

a16z Podcast: All About Microservices

"Incremental change may be good theory, but in practice you have to have a big enough stick to hit everybody with to make everything move at once". So shares Adrian Cockcroft, who helped lead Netflix'...

31 Elo 201627min

a16z Podcast: It's Complicated

For better or worse, most of the computing systems that run much of our lives (whether invisibly or visibly) have become increasingly complex -- they're not fully engineered; they're almost grown. And...

30 Elo 201618min

a16z Podcast: Ethereum, App Coins, and Beyond

Bitcoin quickly made its way from a whitepaper to a production network, which is pretty amazing when you think about it. But its scripting/ programming language was initially, intentionally, limited ...

28 Elo 201650min

a16z Podcast: Pricing Free

Now that we know to price and plan early, price high -- especially for category-creating or "pre-chasm" businesses -- how do we handle freemium models? While free to premium is a great way to get bott...

19 Elo 201632min

a16z Podcast: Pricing, Pricing, Pricing

"Raise prices." Regular listeners of our podcast have heard this advice more than once. But why is this so key and yet so hard for many technical founders? And how should startups go about raising pri...

14 Elo 201636min

a16z Podcast: The Meaning of Emoji

This podcast is all about emoji. But it's really about how innovation really comes about -- through the tension between standards vs. proprietary moves; the politics of time and place; and the economi...

3 Elo 201638min

a16z Podcast: Not all Network Effects Are Created Equal

From hardware and hardwires to smartphones and social, technology wants to connect. It's almost a native property of technology and especially software businesses, which is why network effects matter....

1 Elo 201621min