This episode unpacks the viral ascent of Cluey, an AI startup, revealing how provocative, high-velocity content strategies are becoming a new moat in the tech landscape, offering crucial lessons for Crypto AI ventures on achieving rapid market penetration and user acquisition.
The Eye of the Storm: Virality and Recognition
- Roy, co-founder of Cluey, reflects on the whirlwind experience following their recent announcement, which garnered significant attention. He describes the feeling of being a "random college kid in a dorm" just six months prior to now being at the "center of the tech universe."
- Roy attributes this rapid shift to the correctness of his assumptions about virality, particularly highlighting a disconnect between traditional tech circles (X/LinkedIn) and those who understand the developed algorithms of platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
- "There's such a very extremely small intersection of people who understand how developed the algorithm is on like Instagram, Tik Tok and people on tech like Twitter, LinkedIn, XLINTIN and there's just such a small intersection that it's inevitable that my my predictions will be right," Roy states, emphasizing his confidence in his viral strategies.
- Brian, an investor, notes the extensive "meta-analysis" and even "literary criticism" surrounding Cluey and Roy, indicating the depth of public and industry fascination.
From Provocateur to Founder: Roy's Origin Story
- Roy discusses his lifelong tendency towards being "attention grabbing and provocative," a trait that defined his school years and led to both admiration and animosity.
- A pivotal moment was getting rescinded from Harvard after sneaking out of a school field trip, an event that, while initially devastating (especially since his parents run a college admissions consulting company), solidified his resolve.
- Roy shares, "I might as well just quintuple down on every single crazy belief thought I have and just live the most interesting life ever. So that was like the moment where I decided like I'm all in on building companies."
- This period of isolation during a gap year amplified his unconventional thinking, leading him to community college in California and eventually Columbia University, where he met his co-founder, Neil, on the first day.
- His parents, initially concerned, eventually came to trust his "unorthodox swings" after he successfully navigated these challenges and gained re-acceptance into an Ivy League school.
The Algorithm Game: Mastering Cross-Platform Virality
- Roy elaborates on his thesis that Twitter (now X) is "two years behind Instagram" and other platforms in terms of understanding and leveraging viral content mechanics.
- He traces the democratization of content from YouTube to TikTok, where the emphasis shifted from quality to sheer quantity and the ability to create content that is broadly digestible and often controversial.
- "Everyone on XLIN is trying to go for like be like the most intellectual like like thoughtful person and they'll generate some slop that maybe like 200 people in the world can actually understand...this just does it lacks viral sense," Roy explains, contrasting it with his approach.
- He argues that X/LinkedIn algorithms inherently reward controversy, but the platform lacks sufficient controversial content, allowing his Instagram/TikTok-honed strategies to explode there. His videos, he claims, wouldn't be controversial enough for Instagram or TikTok.
- Eric, the host, and Brian discuss the "supply chain of the meme," noting how Roy inverts the typical flow by bringing Instagram-level "raunchiness or craziness" to X.
- Strategic Implication for Crypto AI: Founders and marketers in the Crypto AI space should analyze the content consumption patterns and algorithmic biases of different platforms. A strategy that leverages controversy or high-volume, easily digestible content, typically seen on platforms like TikTok, might find an untapped audience and outsized impact on more "professional" networks like X or LinkedIn, especially if the content is novel for that environment.
The Gen Z Founder Wave and Distribution as Scarcity
- Roy positions himself as a "canary" for a new wave of Gen Z founders who inherently understand these content dynamics.
- He realized the power of his approach when he kept "going viral," understanding he possessed knowledge about algorithmic mastery that X/LinkedIn users hadn't grasped.
- The "interview coder" situation—a tool to cheat on technical interviews that got him blacklisted and kicked out of school but also generated massive publicity—was an early, unintentional viral success.
- This led to the insight that "distribution is a scarcity." Roy notes, "Why is nobody doing what Avie Schiffman with friend.com showed the world you could do a year ago?"
- Actionable Insight for Researchers: The success of figures like Roy suggests a shift in how tech companies, including those in Crypto AI, might achieve initial traction. Research into the efficacy of "creator-led" or "viral-first" GTM strategies for complex technologies could yield valuable frameworks.
The "50 Interns" Model: Engineering vs. Creation
- Cluey's unique hiring strategy emphasizes two roles: world-class engineers and world-class influencers/creators.
- Full-time marketing hires must have at least 100,000 followers on a social media platform to prove their mastery over virality. Roy asserts, "If any company in the world has a marketing team and the head of marketing does not have 100,000 at least 100,000 followers like you you need to replace them like like the game has changed."
- Cluey employs over 60 contractors paid per video to create TikTok and Instagram content, a modern marketing internship focused on generating massive views cost-effectively compared to traditional advertising.
- Roy confirms this strategy is converting awareness into revenue, particularly through Instagram and TikTok content.
Investor Perspective: Brian on "Momentum as a Moat"
- Brian, an investor in Cluey from a multi-stage firm, shares his journey of discovering and investing in Roy.
- Initially, Roy was hesitant to speak due to Brian's firm being multi-stage. Brian persisted, focusing on building a relationship.
- Witnessing random engineers showing up at Cluey's office and the team's dynamic convinced Brian of something "really strange and special happening."
- The turning point was seeing Cluey convert "awareness and eyeballs into money dollars." Brian realized Roy could translate distribution into revenue, a rare skill.
- This aligned with Brian's developing thesis of Momentum as a Moat: In the fast-paced AI environment, the ability to move extremely quickly in product and distribution is a key differentiator. Traditional moats like high retention are less reliable when underlying models change rapidly.
- "Founders who knew how to move extremely quickly...are going to be the winners," Brian states, identifying Roy as such a founder.
- Strategic Implication for Crypto AI Investors: In the rapidly evolving Crypto AI sector, "momentum" – the ability to rapidly iterate, generate buzz, and acquire users – might be a more critical early indicator of success than traditional, slower-to-build moats. Investors should look for teams demonstrating this velocity.
The Scarcity Shift: From Technical Prowess to Distribution Mastery
- The host, Eric, draws a parallel to Paul Graham's early Y Combinator insight about undervalued technical founders. Now, with development becoming easier (AWS, low-code, AI), "distribution becomes the scarcity."
- While creators like Mr. Beast and Kylie Jenner have built successful commerce businesses, few have translated massive audiences into significant software companies.
- Roy is seen as uniquely combining creator-driven distribution with software product development.
Cluey's Product Evolution: Viral Feedback Loop
- Roy reveals that the "first line of Cluey code was written like 10 weeks ago."
- The initial product, "interview coder," was a weekend project. Its viral success led to the idea of a more general-use product with a similar UX.
- Cluey launched as an "interview coder for everything," an "invisible AI overlay," allowing usage data from its massive reach (over a billion views) to dictate product direction.
- "The core advantage of distribution is like you do not have to worry about market fit or anything because your users will tell you where the direction of market fit is headed," Roy explains.
- This approach redefines the Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Cluey launched its viral video with a barely functioning product, using the ensuing interest (e.g., for sales calls, leading to enterprise revenue) to guide development.
- Actionable Insight for Crypto AI Projects: Crypto AI projects can leverage community engagement and content-driven feedback loops even before a fully polished product. Testing concepts virally can provide rapid market validation and steer development towards genuine user needs, potentially de-risking complex builds.
The "Translucent Overlay": An Intuitive AI Experience
- The core UX innovation of Cluey is its translucent overlay – an AI interface that integrates seamlessly with the user's screen.
- This idea emerged from trying to make "interview coder" more invisible, allowing users to see both their work and the AI's suggestions simultaneously.
- Brian highlights the rarity of the "venn diagram" of someone with Roy's distribution know-how and the product instinct for such a simple yet powerful UX. "It sounds so simple...It's not technically hard. But that overlap to me was what gave me so much excitement."
- Roy believes this translucent overlay is how integrated AI should feel and that the current phase is a "land grab" to own this UX.
- Relevance for Crypto AI: As Crypto AI applications become more user-facing, the intuitiveness of the interface will be paramount. Exploring novel UX paradigms, like Cluey's overlay, that reduce friction and integrate AI assistance seamlessly could be a key differentiator.
Defensibility and Staged Growth: Distribution First
- Roy addresses defensibility against incumbents like OpenAI by emphasizing their first-mover advantage in this novel UX and their potential to "end up distributing better than OpenAI."
- Cluey's current stage is "distribution first": embedding the idea of Cluey as "the invisible AI that sees your screen and hears your audio" into everyone's mind.
- "The huge benefit of being like massively distributing pre-launch is that you will know what product to build with as much certainty as you could possibly get," Roy states.
- He views the current phase as "pre-launch," despite the revenue and user numbers, with the ongoing hype building anticipation for the official product release.
Authenticity, Controversy, and "Anti-Fragile Marketing"
- Roy leans into controversy as a strategy, which he sees as authentic and a reflection of a societal shift away from rigid professionalism.
- He believes people crave authenticity and transparency, which democratized content creation enables. "Would you rather have a world where everyone was extremely transparent...or would you rather see like bunch of corporate everywhere?"
- Brian describes Roy's approach as "anti-fragile marketing": attempts to criticize or attack Cluey often amplify its reach and "aura."
- Roy’s lessons from controversial content: "Never punch down" and "the algorithm does like reward authenticity more than anything."
- He envisions a future where, if Cluey succeeds, it could shift the "bar for professionalism" in corporate culture, making radical transparency the norm.
Conclusion:
This episode highlights how Cluey's rapid ascent, fueled by audacious, algorithm-savvy content and a "distribution-first" ethos, is redefining startup growth. Crypto AI investors and researchers should note the power of "momentum as a moat" and consider how authentic, high-velocity community engagement can drive product validation and market capture in their own innovative ventures.
