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Home > Tools & Craft Podcast > First Block: Interview with Michael Truell, Co-Founder & CEO of Cursor
Podcast: Tools & Craft Podcast
Episode:

First Block: Interview with Michael Truell, Co-Founder & CEO of Cursor
Category: Technology
Duration: 00:23:31
Publish Date: 2025-06-17 15:00:00
Description:

Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey — and what they learned from that experience.


In this episode, we spoke with Michael Truell, Co-founder and CEO of Cursor, an AI code editor that has gone from side project to one of the fastest-growing AI tools in the developer world in under a year.


Michael shares why they started with a solution in search of a problem, ignored conventional advice, and focused obsessively on product over everything else. From a 4-person founding team to hiring just one person every few months, their unorthodox path laid the foundation for breakout growth.


For video, transcripts, and custom Notion Cursor templates, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/2yr1lw⁠


To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: ⁠https://ntn.so/9ipiek⁠


Timestamps

00:00: Intro

02:18: The original spark and false start in mechanical engineering

05:53: The pivot moment to developer tools

06:45: The decision to fork VS Code

08:45: Building AI-native coding tools and the balance between speed and control

12:24: Cursor's explosive growth trajectory

13:41: Early mistakes and lessons learned

14:16: Hiring philosophy and building the first team

17:08: Internal tools and operational philosophy

19:01: Maintaining focus in a hyper-fast environment

20:53: Advice for founders building in the AI era
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