Amazon's New Nemesis: How a 21-Year-Old Hit $1M ARR By Gaming Big Tech Engineering Interviews

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/61/e7/a1/61e7a157-ca74-6c38-c204-e36e991f5f0a/mza_2224468599835198823.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

Startup Growth Podcast

Fondo

25 episodes

1 week ago

Fondo is an all-in-one accounting platform for startups. Get your books closed, taxes filed, and cash back from the IRS.

All content for Startup Growth Podcast is the property of Fondo and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Fondo is an all-in-one accounting platform for startups. Get your books closed, taxes filed, and cash back from the IRS.

Marketing

Business,

Entrepreneurship

Amazon's New Nemesis: How a 21-Year-Old Hit $1M ARR By Gaming Big Tech Engineering Interviews

Startup Growth Podcast

24 minutes

7 months ago

Amazon's New Nemesis: How a 21-Year-Old Hit $1M ARR By Gaming Big Tech Engineering Interviews

Roy Lee is the 21-year-old founder and CEO of Interview Coder a breakout startup that has taken the internet by storm. In one year, Roy went from having his Harvard acceptance rescinded to building an AI tool used by thousands of aspiring developers to land jobs at companies like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok. His story — marked by risk-taking, resilience, and relentless building — has captivated millions on social media and sparked a firestorm of controversy in academia and Big Tech alike.

In this episode, we cover:

Why Roy's Harvard acceptance was rescinded, and how he bounced back
How a year of isolation turned into a coding bootcamp of one
Why community college is underrated — and how it shaped Roy’s founding team
How Interview Coder went from MVP to $10K MRR in a few months
The Amazon interview video that triggered a firestorm at Columbia
How going viral led to threats of expulsion — and Roy’s strategic response
Why Roy believes controversy is essential for attention
How the Z Fellows program changed his trajectory
A sneak peek into Roy’s new startup: Pike
Much more

Brought to you by:

Fondo — All-in-one accounting platform for startups. Bookkeeping, taxes, and cash back from the IRS: https://trifondo.com

Where to Find Roy Lee

X: https://x.com/im_roy_lee
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roy-lee-swe/
Website: https://www.interviewcoder.co/

Where to Find David Phillips

X: https://x.com/davj
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davjphillips/

In This Episode, We Cover

(00:00) Welcome and intro
(01:05) Roy's Harvard saga and forced gap year
(03:00) Learning to code in isolation
(05:10) Attending community college and meeting co-founders
(07:00) Transferring to Columbia and launching Interview Coder
(08:00) Building a viral-first product in 4 days
(10:20) The MVP, tech stack, and early traction
(12:00) Using the tool to land offers from Amazon, Meta, and more
(13:30) Turning open source into $10K MRR
(15:00) The infamous Amazon video and Columbia’s response
(17:30) Leveraging virality to fight institutional pressure
(19:30) Controversy and creator growth strategy
(20:40) Getting into Z Fellows and its impact
(22:00) Roy’s new startup: Pike
(23:30) What's next and where to follow along

Referenced

Interview Coder: https://www.interviewcoder.co
Z Fellows: https://zfellows.com
Roy’s Amazon interview post: Roy’s X Profile
LeetCode: https://leetcode.com
Cursor (AI code editor): https://www.cursor.sh
Claude (AI assistant by Anthropic): https://www.anthropic.com/index/claude