All Segments
Michael Truell: Building Cursor At 23, Taking On GitHub Copilot & Advice To Engineering Students
21 segments available
Michael Truell on June 17th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco. At 24, Michael Truell has already built Cursor into one of the fastest-growing companies in AI coding, hitting $100M ARR in just a year. In this fireside chat with YC General Partner Diana Hu, he shares the lessons that came from years of failed projects with his co-founders, why he believes programming is still essential even as AI changes how we code, and how Cursor is taking on GitHub Copilot with the conviction that all of software development will flow through models. Chapters: 00:38 – PG essays & first code 02:36 – Games, robots, and hacking ML as a teenager 06:54 – From Hemisphere to Cursor: first startup attempts 09:54 – Pivoting hard when nothing was working 12:04 – Taking on GitHub Copilot 13:10 – Shipping the first Cursor editor 15:24 – Early lessons: features, feedback, and VS Code shift 16:26 – Codex, custom models, and pragmatic bets 17:58 – Wandering in 2023 20:00 – Breakthrough: $1M → $100M in a year 22:46 – Word of mouth and wildfire growth 25:24 – The future of coding and advice for students
Segments Timeline
The Future of Coding: A Paradigm Shift
Michael Truell discusses the transformative potential of AI in coding, emphasizing that the next five years will see a significant shift in software development. He reflects on the lack of serious efforts in the industry to fully automate coding and how Cursor aims to change that narrative.
"We realized we were really inherently excited about the future of coding. And I think we took a step back and realized that if we were being really consistent with our beliefs, there was going to be a..."
From Gaming to Programming: My Journey Begins
Truell shares his early experiences with programming, starting from a childhood ambition to create a mobile game. He recounts the challenges he faced with Objective C and how his persistence led him to develop mobile games, setting the stage for his future in tech.
"cursor is that right now you're just 24 and build this monster of a company in a really short amount of time. To a lot of people it could seem that it's a bit of a out of out of nowhere, but this was ..."
Building Robots and Learning AI
In this segment, Truell describes his teenage projects involving robotics and AI. He explains how he and his friend experimented with reinforcement learning and genetic algorithms to create robotic systems, highlighting the educational journey that shaped his understanding of machine learning.
"then maybe it would you know you could teach it to play fetch and things like that. Uh that idea really animated us. But we had no idea how to build it. And so again you know started the place where o..."
The Birth of Hemisphere: Early Startup Days
Truell reflects on the founding of Hemisphere and the initial ideas that led to Cursor. He discusses the team's background in AI and their early projects, including their attempts to build a co-pilot for mechanical engineers, which ultimately laid the groundwork for Cursor's development.
"know that there were things like Torch and TensorFlow and kind of other you know lots of building blocks we could use from maybe we weren't good enough at Googling. So you like implemented your own ne..."
Data Scraping and CAD Innovations
This segment covers the challenges Truell and his co-founders faced while working on their first project involving CAD systems. He explains the complexities of data scraping and the efforts to create a functional model for CAD applications, showcasing their determination to innovate in a fragmented market.
"What were the first idea that all four of you started working on back in 2022? Yeah. So, the the genesis of cursor was in 2021. Uh my co-founders and I, we had been interested in AI for a long time. E..."
Data Scraping Challenges
In this segment, Truell elaborates on the extensive data scraping efforts required to gather CAD models from the internet. He explains the complexities of dealing with various file formats and the limitations of cloud CAD systems. This discussion underscores the technical challenges faced by startups in the AI space, particularly in accessing and standardizing data for machine learning models.
"area. But you guys kept working at it for a number of months, right? And you crawled and got all these CAD files and actually got something working with autocomp completion, right? That was like the f..."
Realizing the Idea Wasn't Working
Truell shares the moment he and his team recognized that their initial projects, including the CAD co-pilot and an encrypted messaging system, were not gaining traction. He reflects on the technical limitations and the lack of user interest, emphasizing the importance of market validation and adaptability in the startup journey.
"has a background in security research and the idea there was apps like Signal and WhatsApp um they encrypt the body of the messages but they don't hide who's talking to who at what time which is actua..."
The Pivot to Coding AI
In this segment, Truell discusses the pivotal decision to pivot towards AI in coding, inspired by tools like GitHub Copilot. He reflects on the competitive landscape and the realization that their passion lay in transforming the future of coding. This moment marks a significant shift in their focus, highlighting the importance of aligning projects with personal and market interests.
"co-founders worked on. It was really technically impressive, but it had these bad trade-offs where it wasn't very scalable. And I think they tried to give it to people and it didn't really work. And t..."
Embracing the Future of Coding
Truell articulates his vision for the future of coding, where all software development will flow through AI models. He discusses the lack of serious contenders in this space at the time and the conviction that drove his team to pursue this ambitious goal. This segment captures the essence of innovation and the drive to redefine industry standards.
"about 100 million revenue I think or more potentially more. Yeah. And you guys are like, "Oh, we could still do a better job than GitHub Copilot because people thought the game was done." It's like, "..."
Building the First Cursor Editor
Truell recounts the process of building the first version of the Cursor editor, which took about three months from the first line of code to public release. He describes the challenges of creating a competitive code editor from scratch, including integrating various open-source technologies and developing unique features. This segment highlights the iterative nature of product development in tech startups.
"software ends up looking very very different. Then with that in mind we set out to to work on that. That was a bold move because you said okay we're going to stop working on all these other ideas that..."
Learning from Early Feedback
In this segment, Truell reflects on the lessons learned from the initial version of the Cursor editor. He discusses the importance of user feedback and the need for a more controlled interaction with AI features. This discussion emphasizes the iterative process of refining a product based on real-world usage and user experience.
"that we just we had a ton of conviction about that and we had a ton of excitement about that and so at some point we just decided to to go for it. Yeah. And that was end of uh 2022, right? when you de..."
Building the First Cursor Editor
Michael Truell shares the challenges and learning experiences from building the first version of the Cursor code editor from scratch. He discusses the initial AI features, the importance of user feedback, and the realization that creating a competitive code editor requires more than just rapid development.
"from scratch and there was our own version of remote SSH or own copilot integration at the time because we didn't have anything like autocomplete you know you have to build you know your own peen syst..."
Lessons from Early Development
In this segment, Truell reflects on the early lessons learned while developing Cursor, including the need for a different approach to AI integration and the realization that building a feature-complete code editor is a long-term endeavor. He emphasizes the importance of focusing on AI capabilities rather than trying to replicate existing tools.
"I think another thing we learned was, you know, we were very rapidly building a feature version of what we want in a normal code editor plus then some AI stuff that we thought was great. But then, you..."
Inspiration from Codex
Truell discusses how the original Codex paper influenced Cursor's development, particularly in training their own models for mechanical engineering applications. He highlights the importance of pragmatism in model training and the strategic decisions made to enhance Cursor's capabilities.
"The other thing is you guys had also implemented your own models too. Like back then you got a lot of inspiration from uh codecs, right? Mhm. Yes. So when we were setting out to work on uh you know ou..."
Navigating Uncertainty in 2023
Michael Truell talks about the uncertainty faced in 2023 regarding Cursor's viability. He explains the challenges of growing the user base and the importance of understanding user needs while resisting the temptation to pivot based on early feedback.
"the company. YC's next batch is now taking applications. Got a startup in you? Apply at y combinator.com/apply. It's never too early and filling out the app will level up your idea. Okay, back to the ..."
From $1M to $100M: The Growth Journey
In this segment, Truell outlines the remarkable growth trajectory of Cursor, detailing how they scaled from $1 million to $100 million in revenue within a year. He attributes this success to continuous product improvement and the impact of user preferences on growth.
"you know actually also to add to this of our early user base if you just kind of followed the gradient of exactly what they wanted you would get pulled in slightly different directions than we ended u..."
The Power of Word of Mouth
Truell explains how Cursor's growth was fueled by word of mouth and social media engagement. He shares insights into how early evangelism and community building on platforms like Twitter contributed to the rapid adoption of Cursor among developers.
"So, the numbers felt small early on, then the compounding kind of kept going. I think that there were a couple of things that really drove our growth. Um, we're in this market where if you make the pr..."
The Magic of Early Demos
Truell shares insights on the initial launch of the Cursor editor, describing how they created a captivating demo to attract early users. He explains the importance of building a waitlist and how their focus shifted to product development over marketing, leading to organic growth driven by word of mouth. This segment highlights the significance of product quality in achieving user engagement.
"the dopamine hit keeping him going in 2022 when we were working on some of these ill- fated ideas started posting on the internet and kind of explicitly set out to try to gain a lot of followers not b..."
Building a Team: Early Challenges
Michael Truell discusses the early days of Cursor, emphasizing the small team of four engineers and their cautious approach to hiring. He reflects on the challenges they faced in finding the right people and the importance of patience during their growth phase. This segment provides a glimpse into the startup's foundational strategies and the dynamics of a small, focused team.
"know, us kick started. But then after that, we kind of stepped away from that and we kind of lived like monks 2023 and just focused on the product. And it it really just spread from word of mouth. I r..."
The Future of Coding in an AI World
Truell shares his vision for the future of coding amidst the rise of AI technologies. He discusses the ongoing relevance of programming skills and the evolving relationship between engineers and AI tools. This segment emphasizes the need for engineers to adapt and collaborate with AI, highlighting the long-term potential for innovation in software development.
"2023 at only single digits people. Like we were less than 10 still. Yeah. Amazing. So, so no, I guess one cu curious uh now shifting gears a little bit about what are your thoughts in terms of how the..."
Advice for Aspiring Engineers
In this concluding segment, Michael Truell offers valuable advice to young engineers and students. He encourages them to pursue their interests and collaborate with respected peers, stressing the importance of building meaningful projects over merely checking academic boxes. This segment serves as an inspirational call to action for the next generation of innovators.
"be this industrywide effort where there are all of these independent capabilities that each need to fall to really get to you know a place where you can entirely get to the end state of uh transformin..."