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 In one year, Roy went from having his Harvard acceptance rescinded to building an AI tool used by thousands of aspiring developers to land jobs at companies like Amazon, Meta, and TikTok.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• Why Roy's Harvard acceptance was rescinded, and how he bounced back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

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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