Co-founder and CEO of Cluely
Roy Lee co-founded Cluely, an AI assistant that he says sees what you see, hears what you hear and helps in real time without a prompt. It grew out of a tool he used to cheat his way through an Amazon interview, which got him blacklisted from big tech and kicked out of school. His point about attention is that a product doesn't need to be viral, only to sit in a viral situation. That is why Cluely leans on cheating and controversy.
The Brett Way 00:00 03:44 27:26 1:09:27 a16z 12:47
Distribution
The algorithm rewards authentic provocation, and almost no founder will press the button. Manufacture reach with controversy, but never punch down.
There's not enough creators out there who are willing to press the controversial button.
Roy Lee
treats controversy as the growth engine. In a feed that rewards provocation over polish, an authentic and deliberately divisive take buys the attention that a well-behaved launch never gets, and the distribution is what then guides the product.
would say durable growth comes from sharp positioning, not provocation. Attention you win by being divisive is attention you have to keep re-winning, and it tells a buyer nothing about why they should pick you over the alternative they are already using.
