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Cursor (and Garry Tan’s X post) has shown us that the VC money is propping up these companies astounding growth, the only way for them to become profitable is t
by dalemhurley 1y ago
Cursor (and Garry Tan’s X post) has shown us that the VC money is propping up these companies astounding growth, the only way for them to become profitable is to increase the cost per a request, which means they need to innovate like crazy.
The moat is paper thin.
GitHub has open sourced copilot.
The open source community is working hard on their own projects.
No doubt Cursor is moving fast to create amazing innovations, but if the competition only focuses on thin wrappers they are not worth the billion dollar valuations.
I love watching this space as it is moving extremely fast.
- BrtByte 1y agoIt feels like we're watching a hype cycle in real time
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- anton-c 1y agoI seriously cannot keep up. I fell a bit behind and now I feel I need a primer to know who owns/acquired/developed all these additional things surrounding the ai space
- theyinwhy 1y agoThat information is as important as knowing about soap opera characters.
- Andrex 1y agoI really hope Sonny doesn't go through with killing Marco!
- devnullbrain 1y agoNot so, you need to know how long you have until they shut it down.
- anton-c 1y agoThat is refreshing to hear and a great perspective shift for me, haha
- tootie 1y agoI think the recent Grok release and considering xAI was relatively late to the game shows that the only moat to training giant models is how many GPUs you can buy. ChatGPT was earth-shattering and it took less than two years for multiple credible competitors to match or exceed them. Making these models profitable is proving extremely difficult in the face of so much competition and such unsustainable expectations being set. Google seems to be most likely to sustain themselves through this melee. Them and the Chinese companies.
- bmau5 1y agoWhat was Garry's post?
- ec109685 1y agohttps://x.com/garrytan/status/1941553682736439307 https://x.com/garrytan/status/1941553682736439307 The thesis is that once you’re paying $200 a month, you’re beholden and won’t pay and compare it with anything else.
- romanovcode 1y agoUntil something else comes around for similar price and is much better. Good thing for consumers who use AI coding tools is that there is no lock-in like in Photoshop or similar software where you hone your skills for years to use particular tool. Switching from Cursor to any other platform would literally take 10 minutes.
- forrestthewoods 1y agoI have same question
- woeirua 1y agoThere is no moat. If you’re a true believer that strong agents are around the corner, then all of these add on companies will be obsolete in a few years. The first company to strong agents can trivially rebuild Cursor or Windsurf.
- seunosewa 1y agoGoogle spent 2.4 billion dollars
- dalemhurley 1y agoI am saying the subsidies tokens are the paper thin moat.
- herval 1y agoIf you believe AGI is around the corner, doesn’t it mean it’ll replace ALL products?
- kevindamm 1y agoThat would be true if the product was the goal. In my experience, marketing > market > product Even with AGI in hand, there will still be competition between offerings based on externalities, inertia, or battle-testedness, or authority. Maybe super-intelligence would change the calculus of that, but you'd still probably find opportunities beyond just letting your pool of agents vibe code it.
- herval 1y agoSounds like the kind of thing Windsurf & Cursor had as their most valuable asset - mindshare and authority?
- pjc50 1y agoIf you believe AGI is round the corner (I don't), then you face the dilemma of investing in a company that will be the one profitable survivor in a disintegrating world.
- 1y ago
- TechDebtDevin 1y agoCursor just committed mass consumer fraud at worst, and at best pissed off all their best customers. I feel really sorry for those who invested at a 9bb valuation.
- jen729w 1y ago> I feel really sorry for those who invested at a 9bb valuation. Because they didn't do their jobs properly?
- aeve890 1y ago>Cursor just committed mass consumer fraud at worst, and at best pissed off all their best customers. What happened?
- wadefletch 1y agoflip-flopping on pricing has led users to feel nickel-and-dimed i like cursor fine, but check out the forum/subreddit to see people talking like addicts, pissed their fix is getting more expensive i think this aggressive reaction is more pronounced for non-programmers who are making things for the first time. they tasted a new power and they don't want it taken away.
- arresin 1y agoNo I’m a programmer and I’m better about the rug pull also.
- TechDebtDevin 1y agoI agree with your take, but I still don't excuse anti consumer practices like that. It annoys me because this is a repeat problem in this space, where these companies don't take into account the market dynamics, or costs of their service. From the start I've been looking at these $20.00 subscriptions, and then my own personal api per token costs and been wondering how they aren't all bankrupt. Look no further than founders in the sports betting space, like the fanduel founders. Borrow a bunch of money at huge valuations because of hype and ignore the fact, that despite it being exciting and popular, the margins are like <5%. Fanduel founders sold for 400 something million, walked away with nothing. Its now a multibillion dollar company when the new owners realized the product was marketing, not the vig. These AI companies are shifting towards their "marketing" eras.
- parthdesai 1y agoGary gives off a grifter vibe to me. Such a shame seeing how YC has fallen
- sebmellen 1y agoHe blocked me (a relative nobody) on X for remarking on the number of people I know who’ve made it to YC on completely fraudulent credentials.
- atakan_gurkan 1y agoHis reaction seems entirely appropriate. He could ignore you, but then you might keep replying to his posts and potentially spread incorrect but damaging information. He is losing close to zero by blocking you, but preventing a potential big loss. Why did you make that remark, if not to damage YC's reputation? This does not seem like the correct approach, if you wanted to improve their selection process.
- samrus 1y ago> Why did you make that remark, if not to damage YC's reputation? Seems harsh and cultish to assume malice. He didnt say you parents have false credentials I would say calling out people and institutions like that is important so as to keep them honest, and if they arent honest and are trying to grift/defraud people then they deserve the reputation loss > He is losing close to zero by blocking you, but preventing a potential big loss. Thats great for gary, but the rest of the world isnt there waiting to be optimized for his benefit. If people trust YC to incubate good talent, but feel its becoming a hub for grifters, then some accountability is in order. Institutions are beholden to their public stakeholders, even private institutions, because they still have people who are using and supporting them
- raincole 1y agoWell, incorrect or not, now that person has a very strong motivation to talk bad about YC. Smart "reaction."
- 1y ago