April 22, 2011 - On Sunday, 21-year-old Chungin "Roy" Lee announced that his startup, TechCrunch, has been working on a new project to develop a new technology that will allow him to create a new business. Cluely Completed $5.3 million (note: current exchange rate is approximately RMB 38,674,000) seed roundFinancingThe San Francisco-based company specializes in an AI tool that claims to enableUser" in all scenariospractice fraud”.
Cluely was created from a hot post Lee made on the social media platform X. He revealed that he and his co-founder had developed a tool to help software engineers cheat in interviews. He revealed that after developing a tool with his co-founder to help software engineers cheat in interviews, the two menSuspended from Columbia University.
This tool, called Interview Coder, is now integrated as part of the Cluely product. It helps users toUsing AI to "cheat" on exams, sales calls, job interviews and more-- At its core, it is a hidden browser window that is not visible to the interviewer or examiner.
Lee is now CEO of Cluely. He said in an interview that the AI tool's annual recurring revenue (ARR) earlier this month had beenExceeded $3 million.(approximately RMB 21,891,000 at current exchange rates).
Co-founder Neel Shanmugam, also 21 and a former Columbia student, is now Cluely's chief operating officer and has faced university disciplinary action in the past for his involvement in the tool's development. As the Columbia student newspaper reported last week, the two are nowAll withdrawn from school.. The university declined to comment on the issue, citing the protection of student privacy.
Cluely started out as aHelping programmers "crack" programming problems on the LeetCode platformof the tool. This type of topic is seen in some groups of programmers (especially the two founders) as aOld, formalistic, and even a waste of time.
Lee admits that it's this AI tool that he relies onSuccessfully secured an internship at Amazon.. Amazon declined to respond to Lee's own situation, but emphasized that the company explicitly asked interviewers not to use any unauthorized tools.