Cluely CEO Admits to Falsifying Revenue Figures

Roy Lee, co-founder and CEO of Cluely, publicly retracted his previous claims regarding the company’s financial performance. On Thursday, the executive acknowledged on X that the $7 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) he reported last summer was entirely fabricated.

In his statement, Lee described the false figure as the only instance of “blatantly dishonest” information he has provided publicly. However, his explanation for how the misinformation originated conflicts with documented records of the interaction.

Discrepancies in the Narrative

Lee attempted to frame the incident as an impulsive reaction to a random, unsolicited inquiry, claiming he “got a random cold call from some woman asking about numbers and told her some bs.” He added that he had not anticipated the subsequent media coverage.

Internal correspondence reveals a different sequence of events. On June 27, 2025, Cluely’s public relations representative initiated contact with reporter Marina Temkin to pitch an interview with Lee. The PR agent explicitly stated a desire to arrange a discussion regarding the company’s vision and its “next phase.” Following the setup, the representative provided Lee’s phone number and confirmed he was expecting the call, which he ultimately answered.

The Rise of the “Cheat-on-Everything” Startup

Cluely gained significant notoriety in 2025 as a viral tool designed to assist users in looking up answers during video calls without detection. The company’s origin story traces back to a viral post by Lee, who claimed he and his co-founder were suspended from Columbia University for developing software to facilitate cheating during engineering job interviews.

Capitalizing on this narrative, the startup secured $5.3 million in seed funding from Susa Ventures and Abstract Ventures. By June 2025, the company had closed a $15 million Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Throughout this period, Cluely became known for leveraging provocative marketing tactics to maintain media relevance.

Strategic Shifts and Contradictions

The company has since pivoted, rebranding from its controversial roots to focus on AI-powered meeting note-taking. Lee’s approach to financial transparency has been inconsistent; during an appearance at the 2025 TechCrunch Disrupt event in October, he cautioned against disclosing financial data, stating, “What I’ve learned is you should never share revenue numbers.”

Despite this advice, Lee’s recent post included screenshots of Stripe data from June 2025, detailing significantly lower figures than the original $7 million claim:

• Consumer ARR: $2.7 million (with a $3.8 million run rate).
• Enterprise ARR: $2.5 million (with a $2.5 million run rate).