Sualeh Asif
Born 1999 · Age 26
Karachi-born mathematician and computer scientist; MIT-educated co‑founder and Chief Product Officer of Anysphere, maker of Cursor, an AI-native IDE valued at roughly $9.9B in 2025.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Karachi, Pakistan
Sualeh Asif was born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan (birth year estimated from competition timeline).
Attended Nixor College / completed A‑levels
Studied in Karachi through A‑levels at Nixor College (mentioned in profiles as part of his early education).
Represented Pakistan at International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO)
Selected to represent Pakistan at the IMO (listed as representing Pakistan 2016–2018).
Honorable mention at Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad (APMO)
Earned an honorable mention at APMO 2017 (mentioned in profiles).
Taught at Pakistani math camps
Taught competitive math at local Pakistani math camps during/after Olympiad participation.
Honorable mention at APMO 2018
Received another honorable mention at the 2018 Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad.
Represented Pakistan at IMO (final year listed)
Last listed year representing Pakistan at IMO (2016–2018).
Began undergraduate studies at MIT (estimated)
Started a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and Computer Science at MIT (estimate based on publication and graduation timing).
Presented paper: 'Tetris is NP‑Hard Even with O(1) Columns'
Presented research at the 2019 Japan Conference on Discrete and Computational Geometry, Graphs & Games (JCDCG^3).
Worked on translation at IBM Watson ML (internship / engagement)
Contributed to translation work at IBM Watson Machine Learning (listed on personal profile).
Presented 'Arithmetic Expression Construction' at ISAAC
Presented 'Arithmetic Expression Construction' at the 2020 International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation.
Early contributions to 'metaphor' LLM search engine
Made early contributions to 'metaphor', described as an end‑to‑end LLM powered search engine.
Published 'Computing L‑Polynomials of Picard Curves' in Mathematics of Computation
Authored a peer‑reviewed paper on L‑polynomials of Picard curves (Mathematics of Computation, 2021).
Graduated from MIT (estimated)
Estimated completion of BS in Mathematics and Computer Science at MIT (typical 4‑year track 2018–2022).
Co‑founded Anysphere, Inc.
Founded Anysphere, Inc. in San Francisco with four MIT classmates (including Michael Truell, Arvid Lunnemark, Aman Sanger).
Appointed Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Anysphere
Named CPO and co‑founder of Anysphere, leading product vision for Cursor.
Launched Cursor — AI‑native IDE
Anysphere released Cursor, an AI‑powered integrated development environment that writes, edits and debugs code using LLMs (cursor described as launched 2023 in multiple profiles).
Cursor described as a fork of Visual Studio Code and AI‑native
Media coverage (Medium) described Cursor as a next‑generation AI‑native editor forked from VS Code with deep LLM integration.
Adopted product‑led growth with near zero marketing
Cursor's early growth credited to product‑led adoption and word of mouth rather than marketing spend.
Early enterprise adoption by notable developer teams
Coverage noted engineers at companies like OpenAI and Stripe were adopting Cursor (no user numbers given).
Surpassed US$500 million in ARR (three years after launch)
Anysphere reportedly surpassed $500M in annual recurring revenue three years after launch (Wikipedia text). Date interpreted as 2025 in sources.
Emphasized long‑term infrastructure approach for developer tools
In interviews and profiles, Asif stressed building tools developers would use for a decade, focusing on durability over short‑term hype.
Personal website lists academic and research achievements
Personal site highlights IMO participation (2016–2018), MIT studies, IBM Watson work, early 'metaphor' contributions and publications.
Wider recognition as an inspiration for Pakistani talent
Profiles and op‑eds framed Asif's journey (Karachi→IMO→MIT→Silicon Valley) as both inspirational and a prompt to improve Pakistan's tech ecosystem.
Featured profile on Medium describing Anysphere and Cursor
Medium published a profile of Asif and Anysphere highlighting Cursor's AI‑native approach (May 28, 2025).
Public debate: 'Is his success Pakistani or Silicon Valley?'
Multiple op‑eds argued whether Asif's success was due to Pakistani upbringing or Silicon Valley ecosystem (June 2025 commentary).
Recognized as co‑founder and CPO of Cursor in international press
International tech press cited Asif as a leading visionary behind Cursor's product strategy and AI‑native design.
Company described as one of the fastest‑growing software companies
Media characterized Anysphere as among the fastest‑growing software companies in history given its rapid ARR growth and valuation.
Anysphere reaches US$9.9 billion valuation
Anysphere (maker of Cursor) achieved a valuation of roughly $9.9 billion in 2025 (widely reported as nearly $10B).
BeingGuru article questioning national attribution of success
BeingGuru published a June 10, 2025 opinion piece debating whether Asif's success should be framed as a 'Pakistani' victory.
AllBlogThings coverage and public debate in Pakistan
Multiple Pakistani outlets and social commentary in mid‑June 2025 discussed Asif's role and Cursor's ~$10B valuation.
Social media surge about Asif and Cursor valuation
In June 2025 social platforms widely circulated posts celebrating and critiquing Asif's role in the nearly $10B company story.
Key Achievement Ages
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