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Avi Patel@avipat_ · May 15, 2026, 8:25 PM
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General Catalyst just co-led a $31.5 million seed round into a blatant rip-off of my company, Kled. (skip to 40 seconds if you want to skip context) I would typically not speak on things like this, but this level of blatant copycatting is egregious and completely unacceptable, and needs to be made an example of. This is one of hundreds of YC startups who have conducted this disgusting behavior. Unimaginative slop that continues to get rewarded due to nepotism.

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Another problem with VC being the main model: regardless of your progress, a more experienced team who mog at raising can wipe your lead in weeks. This was always true to some level but easily accessible capital makes it trivial

2026-05-1540View on X
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1556Emad@emostaquereplyKnown · 1556"@avipat_ https://t.co/nrxlKmRoCi" · reply · ♥ 50323.4K
1527GREG ISENBERG@gregisenbergreplyKnown · 1527"@avipat_ you're a legend, you and Kled will win. No doubt." · reply · ♥ 181642.3K
1515Robert Scoble@scobleizerreplyquoteKnown · 1515"Wild to see a blatant copy get $31.5 million. Embarrassing. @avipat_ when I worked in the conference business we had a competitor do this exact same thing. We went scorched earth. Anyone who supported them got bann…" · quote · ♥ 204"@avipat_ Give them something new to copy, I say. I've been through it; it's a pain in the ass. https://t.co/38Px3OK9cA" · reply · ♥ 122581.1K
1484John Palmer@johnpalmerreplyKnown · 1484"@avipat_ it's on brand, they took your data and didn't pay for it." · reply · ♥ 2234.5K
1446Austin Rief ☕️@austin_riefreplyKnown · 1446"@avipat_ 10/10 breakdown. Dont even know what Kled does but im a fan now" · reply · ♥ 223158.2K
1444Alex Konrad@alexrkonradquoteKnown · 1444"There’s a long history of startups using each other’s websites and marketing as templates. But it’s good to call out when it goes too far. The side by side of the sites for Kled and Luel here is pretty striking, and a …" · quote · ♥ 24289.2K
1440Josh Constine 📶🔥@joshconstinequoteKnown · 1440"Imitation is flattery. Luel copying Kled’s entire site design, fonts, colors, illustrations etc shows an abject lack of taste and ethics. Not who I’d want holding my personal data. https://t.co/wwrVgUpEP2" · quote · ♥ 30388.6K
1437Howard Lindzon@howardlindzonquoteKnown · 1437"Very YC and very General Catalyst two companies I would never do business with." · quote · ♥ 20279.2K
1416Alex Cohen@anothercohenreplyKnown · 1416"@avipat_ Hey this happened to us too except they haven't raised any money https://t.co/sCzJmtpElX" · reply · ♥ 81229.4K
1407Jane Manchun Wong@wongmjanereplyKnown · 1407"@avipat_ valid crash out" · reply · ♥ 27179.5K
1382jmo@cuntycakes123quoteNeutral · 1382"Elephant in the room is everyone realizing replicable this business model is. Or else everyone would be like, brb, copying nvidia, bro…" · quote · ♥ 3423.2K
1374Psycheout.ron@psycheout86quoteNeutral · 1374"Flashback to 2021 when Axie copycats were flooding the market $15-20Bn into crypto gaming from VCs When a market is made competitors will come Startups rarely fail from competitors though. 99% time its internal iss…" · quote · ♥ 9140.3K
1371Charles Read@chatwithcharlesreplyNeutral · 1371"@avipat_ I think if you went to SF VCs now, and didn't have a token, they'd throw a disgusting amount of money at you. The issue generally is having a token is considered baggage. They'd rather fund a YC copycat and in…" · reply · ♥ 233.1K
1356LTR@maybeltrquoteNeutral · 1356"actually nuts" · quote · ♥ 4739.4K
1353Ben South@bnjreplyNeutral · 1353"@jeremiahjw @avipat_ They likely raised 3+ months ago, well before most recent site" · reply · ♥ 151.6K
1351Jeffrey Emanuel@doodlesteinreplyNeutral · 1351"@avipat_ Pretty gross and they should definitely be shamed for it. It's one thing to get go after the same business model, Lyft versus Uber, DoorDash versus Seamless, etc. But the Lyft app wasn't an exact visual clone…" · reply · ♥ 2444.4K
1349Miami Slice@miamislicereplyNeutral · 1349"@avipat_ Sorry dude but this happens every year with all kinds of startups" · reply · ♥ 018.0K
1341brett goldstein@thatguybgquoteNeutral · 1341"I get copying general patterns or features to stay competitive but what is the psychology of ripping off entire websites/brands/etc verbatim?" · quote · ♥ 8826.9K
1336Nichole Wischoff@nwischoffreplyNeutral · 1336"@SahilBloom @avipat_ Join me :)" · reply · ♥ 17169.0K
1333weisser@julianweisserreplyNeutral · 1333"@avipat_ Love the profanity. Need more swearing in comms. Keep going, you’re clearly onto something massive." · reply · ♥ 11430.8K
1326Thomas Braziel@bkclaimsquoteNeutral · 1326"I think he means skip to the 20 second mark - its a marketplace - winner take all brother - the only moat is capital and first mover advantage - and I think you guys just got Usain Bolt'ed" · quote · ♥ 3120.9K
1325Jonathan Abrams@abramsquoteNeutral · 1325"blatant copycatting! crazy!" · quote · ♥ 319.6K
1323Nathan Lands@nathanlandsreplyNeutral · 1323"@avipat_ that's messed up" · reply · ♥ 080.2K
1320Riley Brown@rileybrownretweetNeutral · 1320Retweeted without comment180.7K
1311satvik@sxtvikreplyNeutral · 1311"@teneightbtc @avipat_ I always think of this one meme in moments like this https://t.co/0i3SMT8TNM" · reply · ♥ 026.2K
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