Transcription factors and microRNAs (miRNAs) act in concert to modulate the pluripotency state of embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Among the miRNAs that are expressed in the pluripotent state, several have been shown to target core pluripotency factors; for example, miR-145 targets Sox2, Oct4 and Nanog. These miRNAs were suggested to participate in the downregulation of the pluripotency state when ESCs undergo differentiation, but it has been unclear how their effects are limited in the pluripotent state. Liu and colleagues (Dev. Cell http://doi.org/k7b; 2013) have found that a large intergenic non-coding RNA, linc-RoR, is expressed in the pluripotent state and acts as an endogenous competitor by sharing target sites for miRNAs with pluripotency factors, thus sequestering miRNAs away from their targets. The authors found that ectopic expression of linc-RoR increases the expression of the pluripotency factors, whereas knockdown has the reverse effect and decreases pluripotency. They showed that linc-RoR acts at the post-transcriptional level and, using cells defective for miRNA processing, they demonstrate that the effects of linc-RoR are dependent on miRNA production. They observed that miR-145 inhibition rescues the expression of the core transcription factors when linc-RoR is silenced, and that mutating the miR-145 binding site within linc-RoR prevents it from maintaining pluripotency factor expression. It will be interesting to investigate if linc-RoR can be used to modulate the outcome of directed differentiation and reprogramming experiments.