Cluely Rockets to $7M ARR in One Week, But Open-Source Rivals Are Closing In

Cluely, one of Silicon Valley’s fastest-rising AI startups, has doubled its annual recurring revenue (ARR) to $7 million just one week after launching its enterprise product. The surge underscores rapid adoption from both individuals and businesses seeking smarter, AI-driven support for meetings, interviews, and conversations.

The product enables users to receive real-time notes, contextual insights, and suggested questions during calls—appearing only on the user’s screen. Founder Roy Lee noted that “every single person who has a meeting or an interview is testing this out.”

From Scandal to Scale: A Controversial Beginning

Cluely’s origin story is anything but traditional. The founder gained attention after revealing he was suspended from Columbia University for building a tool that helped software engineers cheat in job interviews. He quickly repurposed that technology into a startup, initially marketing it under the tagline, “Cheat on everything.”

Now backed by leading venture firms including Andreessen Horowitz, Abstract Ventures, and Susa Ventures, Cluely has repositioned itself for the enterprise market with the subtler—but still suggestive—slogan: “Everything You Need. Before You Ask.”

Enterprise Adoption and Product Differentiation

The enterprise version of Cluely’s product offers expanded capabilities like team management and enhanced security, appealing to sales teams, customer support centers, and remote tutoring platforms. One public company reportedly doubled its annual contract to $2.5 million just this week.

The most valued feature among customers? According to Lee, it’s Cluely’s real-time note-taking. While competitors typically offer post-call summaries, Cluely enables users to access notes during the conversation—adding immediate value.

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A New Threat: Open-Source Clones

But Cluely’s advantage may be short-lived. A rival company named Pickle has launched Glass, an open-source version of a real-time notetaking AI. Within hours, Glass attracted over 850 GitHub stars and 150 forks, suggesting strong interest from the developer community and growing potential for a free alternative to Cluely’s paid platform.

While Cluely is profitable and VC-backed, the race is now on to prove that its user experience and enterprise features justify the premium—especially in the face of free, rapidly evolving copycats.

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Stay ahead of the curve.

Cluely’s trajectory is a case study in how fast a startup can scale—and how fast competition can catch up. As AI tooling becomes commoditized, defensibility may come down to ecosystem partnerships, compliance, team-level integrations, and user trust.

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