logo
episode-header-image
Jul 6
43m 6s

This $20M AI Founder Is Challenging Elon...

Aakash Gupta
About this episode

Amazon banned him. Ivy Leagues kicked him out.

And still, he went mega viral, built a $6M ARR AI startup, and raised $15M from a16z… all in a matter of weeks.

This might be the craziest founder story you’ll hear all year.

If you’re building in a competitive market, struggling to stand out, or just want to learn how to blend controversy with growth, this one’s for you.

----

Brought to you by:

AI PM Certification: Get $500 with code AAKASH25

Jira Product Discovery: Plan with purpose, ship with confidence

The AI Evals Course for PMs & Engineers: You get $800 with this link

----

Timestamps:

21yo Worth $100M+ - 0:00

Harvard Kicked Me Out - 3:02

Tech Twitter Main Character - 4:33

Ads - 6:44

Controversial = Views Formula - 8:26

Stripper Commercial Brainstorms - 12:47

Liquid Glass Before Apple - 16:55

User Feedback Drives Product - 19:48

Sales Tech & Enterprise - 23:16

Cheating in Meetings - 27:19

Ad - 28:22

How to Fundraise Like Roy - 29:28

Brain Chips End Game - 31:05

Roy vs Elon vs Sam - 33:12

Frat House Culture - 34:44

The Cluely Internship - 37:37

Are We Getting Dumber? - 38:51

Roy Going to Jail? - 40:44

Thanks for Watching - 42:18

----

Key Takeaways:

1. Don’t wait for permission. He got kicked out of two top schools and used that energy to build something the world couldn’t ignore. If the system doesn’t reward you, build outside it.

2. Design for real behavior, not rules. Interview Coder wasn’t legal or polite, it was effective. It gave users AI help without getting caught. Start with what people actually want.

3. Rethink how AI should show up. Stop building chatbots. Build experiences where AI quietly blends into the workflow. Think overlays, not windows. Think invisible, not interruptive.

4. Your product doesn’t need to sound safe. “Cheat on everything” wasn’t just a headline, it was a magnet for attention. Don’t fear being bold if it reflects what your product actually does.

5. You don’t need a pitch deck if the story tells itself. Cluely raised $15M without running a process. When the traction is undeniable and your product is everywhere, investors come to you.

6. Build virality into your operating system. Don’t “hope” something goes viral. Study what’s working. Run daily idea sessions. Create with the expectation that every post could hit 100M views.

7. Make your content pass two filters or kill it. Can anyone understand it instantly? Will people feel something strong enough to react? If not, it won’t break through. Keep it simple and emotional.

8. Ignore vanity metrics, chase visibility. Don’t waste time measuring click-through rates on content that won’t work next week. Stay focused on showing up everywhere your user lives.

9. You don’t need a big team to move fast. Cluely runs on 4 engineers. No designers. No PMs. Still they've $6M ARR. If you can ship fast and learn faster, you’re already ahead.

10. Build a product that feels inevitable. This isn’t just for sales teams. Cluely is betting on a world where AI support shows up before you even ask for it. Design for that future now.

----

Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

----

Related Podcasts:

Bolt CEO and Founder on How he Hit $30M ARR in a Year

LogRocket CEO and Founder on How to Build a $100M+ AI Startup

Amplitude CEO and Founder on Building the Product Analytics Leader

----

P.S. More than 85% of you aren't subscribed yet. If you can subscribe on YouTube, follow on Apple & Spotify, my commitment to you is that we'll continue making this content better.

----

If you want to advertise, email productgrowthppp at gmail.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.news.aakashg.com/subscribe
Up next
Yesterday
AI Product Discovery: Complete Course
We could talk a million things with Tanguy Crusson but I’m keeping it to what I like the most about his work - Product Discovery.He shares a rare, behind-the-scenes look at how his team at Jira Product Discovery uncovers real user problems, validates solutions quickly, and avoids ... Show More
1h 28m
Jul 2
How Zoom Took Over The World
Zoom grew from $1B to $4.5B in months - but behind the scenes, it was chaos.Learn how they froze features, scaled product teams, and held the platform together under global pressure from the head of product at Zoom meetings.----Brought to you by:Jira Product Discovery: Plan with ... Show More
1h 1m
Jun 29
What I Learned From Filming 80 Podcast Episodes
Starting this podcast wasn’t an easy decision. It takes up nearly half my time. And for months, it wasn’t making any money.But fast forward to today, and the podcast is now profitable and central to my creator business.So I did something different this week.I recorded a solo epis ... Show More
1h 10m
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2024
Becoming an AI PM | Aman Khan (Arize AI, ex-Spotify, Apple, Cruise)
Aman Khan is Director of Product at Arize AI, an observability company for AI engineers at companies like Uber, Instacart, and Discord. Previously he was an AI Product Manager at Spotify on the ML Platform team, enabling hundreds of engineers to build and ship products across the ... Show More
1h 17m
May 1
The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO)
Michael Truell is the co-founder and CEO of Anysphere, the company behind Cursor—the fastest-growing AI code editor in the world, reaching $300 million in annual recurring revenue just two years after its launch. In this conversation, Michael shares his vision for the future, les ... Show More
1h 11m
Jun 2024
#218 Designing AI Applications with Robb Wilson, Co-Founder & CEO at Onereach.ai
All the hype around generative AI means that every software maker seems to be stuffing chat interfaces into their products whenever they can. For the most part, the jury is still out on whether this is a good idea or not. However, design goes deeper than just the user interface, ... Show More
46m 36s
Sep 2024
AI is more than GenAI
GenAI is often what people think of when someone mentions AI. However, AI is much more. In this episode, Daniel breaks down a history of developments in data science, machine learning, AI, and GenAI in this episode to give listeners a better mental model. Don’t miss this one if y ... Show More
40m 3s
Aug 2024
He Automated His Sales Job With Ai… So His Boss Promoted Him
Ep. 254 What if you could automate the most mundane parts of your sales job and get promoted for it? Kipp and Kieran are joined by Ethan Dewaal, and dive into how AI is revolutionizing sales practices and boosting productivity. You will learn more on automating product questions ... Show More
40 m
Feb 2025
#281 Developing AI Products That Impact Your Business with Venky Veeraraghavan, Chief Product Officer at DataRobot
As AI continues to dominate industry conversations, the notion of AI readiness becomes a focal point for organizations. It's a multifaceted challenge that goes beyond technology, encompassing business processes and cultural shifts. For professionals, this means grappling with que ... Show More
38m 45s
Oct 2024
Behind the product: NotebookLM | Raiza Martin (Senior Product Manager, AI @ Google Labs)
Raiza Martin is a senior product manager for AI at Google Labs, where she leads the team behind NotebookLM, an AI-powered research tool that includes a delightful podcast-on-demand feature called “Audio Overviews.” NotebookLM started as a 20% project and has grown into a product ... Show More
48m 58s
Apr 3
2027 Intelligence Explosion: Month-by-Month Model — Scott Alexander & Daniel Kokotajlo
Scott and Daniel break down every month from now until the 2027 intelligence explosion.Scott Alexander is author of the highly influential blogs Slate Star Codex and Astral Codex Ten. Daniel Kokotajlo resigned from OpenAI in 2024, rejecting a non-disparagement clause and risking ... Show More
3h 4m
May 4
Inside Devin: The world’s first autonomous AI engineer that's set to write 50% of its company’s code by end of year | Scott Wu (CEO and co-founder of Cognition)
Scott Wu is the co-founder and CEO of Cognition, the company behind Devin—the world’s first autonomous AI software engineer. Unlike other AI coding tools, Devin works like an autonomous engineer that you can interact with through Slack, Linear, and GitHub, just like with a remote ... Show More
1h 32m
Jun 11
The AI Minded Path to Scalable and Responsible Innovation Across the Enterprise - with James Raybould of Turing Intelligence
Enterprise leaders are no longer asking if they should adopt AI — the question is how to do it effectively. In this episode, Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello speaks with James Raybould, SVP and GM of Turing Intelligence at Turing, about what distinguishes successful enter ... Show More
31m 18s