60 Days at Cursor: The Secret Behind Its Success
Moonshot — 2025-11-10 12:16 Beijing
> Observation: Everyone is building something on Cursor.
Article reprinted from GeekPark
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Introduction: Cursor’s Rise in San Francisco
In an unassuming building in San Francisco’s North Beach, a company is quietly reshaping software development.
Cursor — the most famous AI unicorn in the past year — scaled from $0 to $100M ARR in less than two years, growing its team from just over 20 employees to nearly 250. Its product is redefining developer tools for top engineers worldwide.
Tech writer Brie Wolfson originally visited Cursor out of curiosity. Soon, she found herself hired — laptop, job description, and Slack invite all waiting — to tell Cursor’s story.
Cursor Office｜Image: Colossus
Brie joined for a simple reason:
> “I’ve worked at Stripe and Figma in their early days — there’s a certain magic in the air when it’s special. I smelled it again at Cursor.”
She suspected that no AI-era-defining company had truly emerged yet — but Cursor could be that company.
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Snapshot of Cursor Culture — Key Takeaways
- Conversations matter: If lunch table talk turns to weather, leadership worries.
- Everyone is HR: Recruiting is a company-wide activity.
- No “foolproof design”: They hire no fools — trust is high.
- Ownership is absolute: Tasks come with full autonomy regardless of seniority.
- Extreme product immersion: The team uses its own tool more than anyone else in the world.
- Critique = participation: Feedback means you care.
- Users are peers: They don’t see customers, just fellow builders.
- Code shapes the world: Revenue is just a reward.
- Young but mature: Spirit and professionalism outweigh age.
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1. San Francisco Office — Low-Key but Lively
Cursor’s HQ sits in North Beach — unusual for tech startups. Inside:
- No flashy branding — no logos, posters, merch.
- Blackboards instead of whiteboards.
- Antique furniture from a “retired tech gourmand.”
- Books everywhere — from textbooks to worn literature.
Brie sums it up:
> “It’s not polished, but it’s genuine.”
Employees brainstorming on blackboards｜Image: Colossus
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Face-to-Face Communication — Cursor’s Default
- 86% of staff work in-person at SF HQ or the NYC office.
- Preferred method: tap on a shoulder over Slack ping — oral culture rules.
Benefits of in-person work:
- Smooth collaboration.
- “Offline chemistry” that’s addictive.
- Spontaneous whiteboard sessions instead of meetings.
Even the kitchen reflects autonomy:
- Chef Fausto cooks daily for the team.
- An AI-powered menu generator was built to help him with ideas.
- Lunch/dinner talk = work talk — ideas, projects, product vision.
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“Hunter Culture” — Recruiting by Instinct
Hiring philosophy: “We hire people, not positions.”
Process:
- Spot talent — someone posts a name in `#hiring-ideas`.
- Collectively assess — what’s their genius, what role fits?
- Invite them in — the office visit sells itself.
Examples:
- Eric Zakariasson joined after running his own Cursor workshop in Stockholm.
- Ian Huang was recruited after using Cursor till dawn for weeks.
- Leadership personalizes recruitment — from flying to Germany to gifting an early-edition Macintosh.
Impact:
- Team grew from <20 to ~250 in 1 year.
- Low acceptance rate — “Better to miss than mis-hire.”
- Company-wide scouting keeps talent density high.
Team members｜Image: Colossus
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Talent Density — High Trust, High Pace, Zero Nonsense
Brie’s “success formula”:
> Engaging mission + hardcore challenges + winning + great recruiting = extreme talent density
Facts:
- 50 former founders.
- 40% from top universities — but no name-dropping.
- Many first-time employees show remarkable maturity.
Traits:
- Clear communication.
- Wide knowledge base (history, art, tech culture).
- Emotional stability — ❤️ emoji is Slack’s most used.
- Calm under pressure — system outages handled with trust, not panic.
Cursor’s ethos: “We don’t design against incompetence, because we don’t hire incompetence.”
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Individual Contributors (ICs) — Ownership Above All
- ICs hold the highest status at Cursor.
- Whoever cares most owns the task — no matter title.
- Examples:
- Running Cursor in-browser built over a weekend by 4 engineers.
- Self-started projects are common.
Workload reality:
- No 9-9-6 requirement — extra hours are self-imposed.
- “Drowning feeling” for newcomers transforms into confidence via trust.
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Product Immersion & Feedback Rituals
Cursor employees are primary users of their own product:
- Build features because they want them.
- Internal releases tested for team “love.”
- Slack emoji voting: 🟢 remove, 🔴 keep.
Popular features: Tab, CmdK, Agent, Bugbot, Background Agent.
Critique is normal — not hostile, but participatory.
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Fuzz — Bug Hunting as a Company Ritual
When major releases near:
- Link & notes posted in Slack.
- Company circles up — seated or on walls/floors.
- Silent, focused bug hunt for ~1 hour.
- Listed fixes tackled overnight.
At Cursor, testers and fixers are often the same people.
Starting anywhere, anytime｜Image: Colossus
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Mission as the Reward
Michael (co-founder) compares work atmosphere to the Beatles’ Let It Be sessions — continuous iteration, no slogans.
Belief: Each line of code shapes infrastructure — traffic lights, medical records, flight control.
Commercial success is a result, not the goal.
Cursor HQ｜Image: Colossus
When Cursor hit $100M ARR, the office stayed focused — celebrating in emojis but quickly back to product discussion.
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Final Reflection
Cursor’s culture thrives on:
- Autonomy
- Extreme talent density
- Face-to-face collaboration
- Critique as creation
For creators and companies inspired by this model, open-source platforms like AiToEarn官网 offer tools for AI-generated multi-platform publishing with analytics and monetization — echoing Cursor’s ethos of self-driven excellence.
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💗 Give a little “love” before you leave
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If you’d like, I can now create a summary diagram showing Cursor’s culture pillars and workflow so this Markdown becomes even more visually engaging. Would you like me to add that?
