AI 'Cheating' App Founder Says Engineers Can't Make Good, Viral Content and That's Why Their Startups Flop

AI "cheating" app Cluely's CEO and cofounder, Chungin "Roy" Lee, said most startups flop because their products don't get seen. From a report: "Engineers just cannot make good content," Lee said during a Wednesday interview at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 "There's a bunch of shallow replicas, but I challenge you to find one video you think is like, 'Yo, this is as tough as Cluely,'" he told TechCrunch.

Every startup needs to focus more on distribution. And most startups flop because they fail to get seen, even if they have product-market fit, Lee said. Cluely launched earlier this year as a tool to help software engineers cheat on their job interviews, among other use cases. The startup earlier this year posted a tongue-in-cheek video of Lee trying to use Cluely to impress a woman on a date, which went viral.

Marketing is hard

[rsilvergun]

Clearly this guy has big brain. I haven't seen a big brain this big brain since Elon Musk.

I'm assuming this guy will soon have hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts. Because that seems to be the optimal way for big brain to get bigger brain. State the obvious and wait for the government money to roll in.

Re:

[bobmagicii]

if Engineers cannot make good content, it should be equally obvious CEOs cannot make ethical content.

Stupidficial sometimes "works"

[Tablizer]

Cluely [is] a tool to help software engineers cheat on their job interviews, among other use cases...use Cluely to impress a woman on a date, which went viral.

I suspect the Trump Administration is using Cluely to guide policy.

And here I always thought your VC people...

[ebunga]

In my experience, your VC people "strongly advise" you to get some marketing people and will yell at you if you're doing it wrong.

Re:

[Ocker3]

Yes, too many people assume that consumers will automatically understand why the new product is better and want to buy it, but if they don't know that it exists, or see the need for it. no sales.

Repackager?

[Tablizer]

most startups flop because they fail to get seen, even if they have product-market fit

Couldn't a savvy investor contact the producer of otherwise good products that are not getting traction, and ask for an ownership percent if they market it for them?

By waiting until after the product is clearly flopping, the investor can get a better deal (bigger slice) since the producer no longer has many options for the product.

Re: Repackager?

[Bodrius]

How does the investor find the products that are viable, but not "seen" or getting traction with customers?

The general idea is not new, that's basically "cigar butt" investing strategy. But the point of tech startups is they are high risk / reward enterprises, which have not proven their worth or accumulated hard assets to justify more debt or valuation on liquidation. They don't struggle long waiting for a turnkey investor. Persistence is not seen as innovation and its cheaper to close shop and launch a ne

"This is as tough as Cluely"

[93 Escort Wagon]

He's right. Up until reading this summary, I've never seen or heard anyone mention "Cluely" - whatever it is - in any context at all.

Re:

[BoogieChile]

Ah yes, but if you're not an engineer who's in the habit of starting sentences with "Yo", you might not be in his target demographic.

Then there are some startups that should...

[Fly Swatter]

Simply fail for being what they are. Between a cheating app and marketing, there are no winners here.

I read the summary

[registrations_suck]

And all I can say is WHAT THE FUCK are they talking about?!?

Re:

[TurboStar]

It's just some asshat trying to devalue engineering. You don't hire engineers to make viral slop so complaining about engineers not being good at making viral slop will make sure you don't retain engineers good at engineering.

Re:

[Petersko]

That's not what he's saying at all. He's saying engineers are shitty at marketing.

Re:

[wed128]

Why would engineers need to be good at marketing? Isn't that what marketing people are for?

Re:

[registrations_suck]

No.

Marketing people, the women anyway, are there to give other people in the office an easy fuck..

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

Don't worry, your massive neckbeard protects you from the evil wiles of teh females. I mean it would if you left your mum's basement.

He's not wrong

[abulafia]

Sounds like a douchebag, but he isn't wrong.

There's a cliche in SV about that - "First time founders talk product. Second time founders talk distro."

The best product in the world will fail if nobody knows it exists, and depending on who the market is, it can be very hard to get the attention of possible customers. If you're mass-market, well, look at all that noise you need to cut through. If you're some niche enterprise product, identifying customers is easier, but getting their attention is hard, and building enough trust as a new entrant to take a risk on is much harder.

So you need to attract or buy attention, or hire someone who can. And frequently that means making deals with intermediaries, matchmakers, etc.

Dude still sounds insufferable.

Re:

[martin-boundary]

It's not like Bill Gates did a lot of marketing for PC-DOS 1.0, though.

Re:

[abulafia]

You're right - he got incredibly, amazingly lucky when IBM came knocking to solve distribution for him.

Ethics gap ...

[ergobass]

I completed separate degrees in Computer Engineering and Computer Science, and the difference in ethics was stark. As an engineer, we were shown videos of failing bridges and made acutely aware that our actions as engineers could directly cause tangible harm. We were forced to consider the consequences of our actions. As a computer scientist ... I was given no such training. But I think it's high time we tried adding it to the CS curriculum. I think the consequence of this gap is that we now have some gra

Re:

[registrations_suck]

I've been in two diffeeent computer science programs. Both required at least one course in ethics, specifically related to computer science.

What an insight...

[ndykman]

So, engineers don't have the same skill set as marketers.

Well, I'll be damned.

Of course, every project starts on a completely even playing field and having access to certain networks and resources has nothing to do with initial success in the area. It's just down to marketing. Wait, how do I find good marketing people...

You have to get lucky. You do need to work just to roll the dice, Some people have to do *way less* work to get that first roll and they aren't the business experts they think they are.

marketing

[Tom]

Hobby game developer here - same thing applies. It doesn't matter how good the game you make is. If nobody knows that it exists, it won't sell, simple as that. And there are literally a few hundred games published EVERY DAY, so no you can't hope to be somehow discovered by accident or through the Steam (Epic, GOG, etc.) recommendation features. Well, not at scale. Maybe a few people will randomly find you, but without some marketing efforts, it's just that - a few.

Marketing, no matter how much we techies di

So what?

[usedtobestine]

We want content from engineers/machinists like the youtube channels "Inheritance Machining" and "Cutting Edge Engineering". We want the opposite from tiktok, we want the equivalent of nature documentaries narrated by David Attenborough. We also want content like "Vice Grip Garage" only without the fastforward of the drive home.

Jean-Ralphio?

[bill_mcgonigle]

The summary makes him sound like Jean-Ralphio Saperstein.

Never heard of his baller product, tho. Does he think everybody has?