Would you lie about your company's performance just to get better opportunities?
I think we all lie every day (even when we say "Good night" to someone, and we don't even have to mean it sincerely).
We also lie on our resumes, we don't fully disclose everything on our tax returns, and we sometimes fake income.
And that's what I want to talk about...
Cluely CEO Roy Lee admitted that the $7M ARR figure he gave TechCrunch last year was fabricated, calling it the only thing he's "blatantly" lied about publicly. He also falsely claimed the interview was an unsolicited cold call, when his own PR team had arranged it.
Now, I wonder if the fake it till you make it approach is really that good, because:
– The "fake it till you make it" rule is real and can convince people to give you what you aspire to.
– Your story can inspire others to succeed.
– Once you lose trust, it's very hard to earn it back.
How do you feel about such practices?
Is it unethical? Opportunistic? Or are we just witnessing marketing genius?
Replies
This is a great thread topic, and I think a lot of people tend to give half-truths when talking about success. Over the past year, I’ve come across a few tactics that surprised me:
Using a small group of early, friendly users as testimonials and presenting them as broader customer validation.
Photoshopping Stripe or analytics dashboards to make revenue or growth appear higher than it actually is.
Counting internal testers or trial accounts as “real users.”
Spending heavily on short-term traffic spikes that look impressive but don’t translate into sustained engagement.
In some cases, simply exaggerating or misrepresenting success metrics altogether.
Platforms like Trust MRR can help bring transparency when evaluating businesses, although sometimes it’s still hard to know whether that MRR is truly sustainable.
At One Pager, I’m trying to focus on growing more organically and building genuine relationships with users over time.
I’m curious what are some other tactics or “growth signals” you’ve seen that turned out to be misleading?
Also - speaking of this, saw this X post today about the CEO of Cluely lying about his numbers.
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@jake_friedberg yes, TechCrunch wrote about that too and they even received a piece of advice from him :D
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@jake_friedberg I just wanted to mention in the post that every startup should use TrustMRR not to fake that :D
Never do that. Elizabeth Holmes (Theranos) is behind bars for that.
If you don't get investors unless you lie, you shouldn't raise money.
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@shaunak_sayta This is more serious, because when you lie to users and investors... I do not know how he wants to earn trust back.
vibecoder.date
It's certainly opportunistic.
But it's a gamble many make and sometimes it pays off.
To be honest, it feels as if the duplicity is required sometimes in the startup world. And depending on what you lie about... some people even respect you for it.
Cluely is weird, their whole brand is cheating. I'm not surprised nor do I trust them less. Granted I've never been a customer. The window in which they would have been useful to me has closed.
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@build_with_aj yeah, you are right, their whole brand (even those ads) and the vision behind the product is about cheating. I dumb, I dunno why I am so surprised :DDD
The last point says it all. Once you lose trust, it's very hard to earn it back, so the answer would be no :)
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@arpansac I am just thinking what will be the reaciton of users (if they have any) :D But I hope it will not be worse as OpenAI surge because of Pentagon LOL :D
@busmark_w_nika I think it has become a common trend that every other website which gets launched says that we are empowering some of the top companies of the world with their logos, even though they would probably have had an introductory call or just sent an email to that company. The world is filled with real and unreal information.
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@arpansac yes, probably they are lying too. Funny how we can distort the reality :)
Coming from a background as a data analyst, fabricating data simply isn't in my DNA. In my past roles, I frequently faced pressure to present 'more optimistic' numbers, and it never sat right with me. Now that I have my own company, I refuse to let that practice be part of our culture. Even if 'faking it' could bring in more short-term opportunities, I firmly believe it's much better to actually be successful than to just show off. Trust is a currency you can't afford to bankrupt.
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@ilia_ilinskii Frame it pretty well and I am proud that someone from the community chose the honest way :) Respect
I'd like to know, who and why shares with me the fear of overselling, I mean, just the opposite of what Nika is asking, instead of faking performance we tend to undervalue our achievements, maybe this is for another thread.
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@agraciag What exactly do you mean now?
@busmark_w_nika Instead of a lie that would benefit us, instead of fake it until you make it, some times I feel lika I have made it, but don't value properly and undersell.
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@agraciag so you mean that situation when you devalue yourself, right? I think it is a matter of self-confidence. Which is not so easy to gain, esp. when you believed since childhood that you will not make it :D I try to somehow work on my self-confidence too. It's fun.
@busmark_w_nika kind of, not about self-confidence, for example, If I am selling a used car, instead of lying and saying it is in perfect condition, I would say, it has a dint here or a scratch there, and I would start with that. If something was easy for me to create, or I did have fun doing it, it feels wrong for me to ask for too much money.
I think there’s a big difference between storytelling and outright fabrication.
Startups often present things in the most optimistic light possible, but inventing numbers like ARR crosses a line because investors, partners, and customers rely on that information to make real decisions.
Short-term it might open doors, but long-term trust is one of the most valuable assets a founder has. Once that’s damaged, it’s incredibly hard to rebuild.
Strong vision and honest traction are usually more sustainable than “fake it till you make it.”
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@alpertayfurr The thing is that when you fake publicly, users, investors etc, and hire even people (who trust you, your project, trading their time to feed themselves and families, and one day he drops the truth...) I dunno, but this kind of risk expose not only himself, but other people in the company and their families too.
@busmark_w_nika I absolutely agree. Transparency is the most important thing in this process.