Mike Truell
Born 2000 · Age 25
Co-founder & CEO of Anysphere (maker of Cursor), a tech prodigy who built an AI-native IDE that rapidly grew into one of the fastest-growing developer tools companies.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born
Michael Truell was born into a technology-oriented household (birth year inferred from articles stating he was 25 in 2025).
Built popular programming game at 14
At age 14 Truell created one of the world's most popular programming games, an early sign of his product instincts and coding skill.
Medaled at the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) (high school)
While in high school Truell competed in prestigious programming competitions, winning medals at IOI (year estimated within high school period).
Enrolled at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Truell began studies at MIT (enrollment year estimated based on birth year and typical US college start age).
Met future co‑founders at MIT
Met classmates Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and Aman Sanger at MIT — the team that would later found Anysphere (date estimated during MIT years).
Left MIT to pursue startup
Truell and his three MIT classmates chose to leave school rather than complete degrees in order to found their company.
Founded Anysphere, Inc.
Anysphere, the parent company of Cursor, was founded by Michael Truell with three MIT classmates in 2022 (San Francisco–based).
Pre-seed round led by Neo (mentorship program)
Anysphere completed an early pre-seed raise / programmatic backing led by Neo (mentor program for undergraduates) prior to the public seed round.
Initial product focus on mechanical‑engineering automation (pivoted)
The team spent the first ~4 months working on tools for mechanical engineering automation, then pivoted away due to domain unfamiliarity.
Decided to build an AI‑native IDE (fork VS Code plan)
Team decided to take a radical approach: fork VS Code and rebuild a developer environment from the ground up as AI‑native rather than a plugin.
Introduced freemium pricing and accessible plans ($20–$40/month)
Cursor pursued a freemium model and accessible paid plans (reported price range $20–$40/month), helping democratize access to advanced AI coding assistance.
Seed round: $11M raised (2023)
Anysphere raised an $11M seed round in 2023; $8M of the round came from the OpenAI Startup Fund; investors included Nat Friedman and Arash Ferdowsi.
Switched main development to VS Code base after beta feedback
After early public beta feedback, the team abandoned the entirely custom editor and reimplemented Cursor using the VS Code foundation to speed iteration.
Developed custom fast autocomplete model (product R&D)
Truell led development of custom, high‑speed models tailored for code auto-completion and multi-file diff prediction (300ms latency goal).
Adopted product philosophy: dogfooding and user‑centric iteration
From the beginning the team dogfooded Cursor heavily, releasing early and iterating quickly based on real user feedback (core company culture).
Built an in‑house prototype editor; started dogfooding
The team built a prototype editor from scratch and began dogfooding it within about five weeks of initial development.
Launched Cursor (public release)
Cursor, Anysphere's AI‑native IDE that writes, edits and debugs code with large‑language models, had its public launch in March 2023.
Reached $1M ARR
Cursor validated its freemium model and reached $1 million in annual recurring revenue in late 2023.
Featured on Lenny's Podcast (long interview / transcript widely circulated)
Truell was interviewed on Lenny's Podcast (episode transcript widely circulated), discussing product vision, hiring, and technical choices.
Claim: $1M to $100M ARR in ~12 months
Company and coverage variously state that Cursor grew from $1M ARR to $100M ARR in roughly 12 months — cited as part of the product's historic growth narrative.
Published Series A blog post / public messaging
Truell posted a blog announcing/reflecting on the Series A and vision for Cursor (company blog referenced in coverage around the Series A).
Formalized hiring: two‑day technical assessment for candidates
Cursor's interview process uses a two-day assessment to simulate real work and evaluate candidates' ability to deliver; cited as core to hiring and attraction.
Public commentary: rarely accepts interviews; appeared on Lex Fridman previously
Truell is described as a founder who rarely accepts podcast interviews; he had appeared on Lex Fridman's podcast prior to other media engagements (date unspecified).
Series A: $60M led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) at $400M valuation
In August 2024 Anysphere closed a $60M Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with the round valuing the company at about $400M.
Claim: Cursor reached $100M ARR (20 months after launch)
Some reports state Cursor reached $100M ARR about 20 months after launch (a November 2024 timing referenced in some coverage).
Acquired Supermaven
Anysphere acquired Supermaven (announced November 12, 2024) to bolster its model and product capabilities, enabling an improved Tab AI model.
Claim: Exceeded $300M ARR within two years (follow‑on growth claim)
Some coverage claims Cursor exceeded $300M ARR in the ensuing period after achieving earlier milestones; timing and exact figure vary by source.
Anysphere reported to reach $500M ARR three years after launch (Wikipedia claim)
Wikipedia summary notes Anysphere surpassed $500M ARR three years after launch (2025) — this conflicts with other published ARR numbers; included as reported claim.
Users report productivity gains (up to ~30%)
Early user feedback reported significant workflow improvements; some users cited up to ~30% coding efficiency gains using Cursor.
360,000+ paying users (early 2025)
By early 2025 Cursor had over 360,000 paying users with an average spend of about $276 per year.
Reported $100M ARR (alternate report: early 2025)
Multiple sources report Cursor hit $100M ARR in early 2025 (there are timing differences across reports: late 2024 vs early 2025).
Company valuation reported at $9.9B (2025, Wikipedia)
Some summaries report Anysphere achieved a $9.9 billion valuation in 2025 (source: Wikipedia line in provided text). Conflicts with other valuations; recorded with low confidence.
Released improved Tab AI model after Supermaven acquisition
Following the Supermaven acquisition, Anysphere announced an improved Tab AI model described as fast, context-aware and highly intelligent (release timing post‑Nov 2024).
Key Achievement Ages
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