Cluely's ARR doubled in a week to reach $7 million, according to its founder Roy Lee, who warns about the competition.

The company Cluely has experienced remarkable growth in its revenue, reaching approximately $7 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) since the launch of its new product for businesses just a week ago, according to its founder Roy Lee. This product, which uses artificial intelligence to analyze online conversations, offers real-time notes, provides context, and suggests questions to ask during meetings or interviews, with information displayed discreetly on the user's screen so that others cannot see it.

Prior to the launch, Lee had shared that the company had already surpassed $3 million in ARR and was profitable. The surge in interest has come from both consumers and businesses, as noted by the founder. Cluely has generated buzz, partly due to its controversial origins. Lee was suspended from Columbia University after announcing in a viral post that he and a co-founder had developed a tool to cheat in job interviews for software engineers. However, he decided to transform that technology into a product, initially promoting it with the slogan "it helps you cheat at everything." Now, with backing from prominent investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Abstract Ventures, and Susa Ventures, the company has moderated its marketing to the slogan "Everything you need. Before you ask... This feels like cheating."

Despite its controversial history, interest in Cluely's product has not waned, and Lee stated that they recently signed an expanded contract with a public company, doubling their annual contract to $2.5 million, although he did not disclose the name of this company. The enterprise version of the product resembles the consumer offering but incorporates additional features such as team management and enhanced security settings. Its commercial applications range from sales calls and customer support to online tutoring.

What functionalities of Cluely are most appealing to customers? According to Lee, the ability to take real-time notes is particularly attractive. "Meeting notes have proven to be a very compelling use of AI and they stick," he commented. "The only problem is that all competing products do this after the call. You would like to be able to reference them in the middle of a meeting, and that’s what we offer."

However, Cluely's real-time note-taking functionality could be easy to replicate. Recently, the company Pickle announced on a platform that it has developed "Glass," an open-source and free product with features very similar to Cluely's. On its first day, it had already received over 850 stars and had been forked nearly 150 times, indicating that the open-source developer community is considering this free version. Time will tell whether Cluely's meteoric growth can withstand competition from free products like Glass.