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<\/p>\nI was recently at a SaaStr Fund portfolio company event, and a CTO came up to me, clearly excited. He told me proudly how 30% of their code was now written by AI and Cursor.<\/p>\n
I shrugged.<\/p>\n
Not because it wasn\u2019t impressive. Not because they weren\u2019t doing good work. But because\u2026<\/p>\n
I no longer care how much of your code is made with AI.\u00a0 It\u2019s the base case now.\u00a0 No extra points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I still thought this was amazing when another CTO told me the same thing just back in April. I was genuinely impressed. We talked about it for 20 minutes and even on stage at SaaStr Annual and AI Summit in May.<\/p>\n
Today? Less than 6 months later? It\u2019s just how we code now.<\/p>\n
Look, Cursor is at $1B+ ARR and that\u2019s just amazing. Truly incredible. But the conversation has fundamentally changed.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Just How We Code Now<\/p>\n
Because AI coding tools have crossed the chasm. They\u2019re not experimental anymore. They\u2019re not a competitive advantage. They\u2019re baseline.<\/p>\n
The fact that 30% or 50% or even 70% of your code is written by AI now no longer really matters.\u00a0 As incredible as Cursor, Claude Code, etc. are \u2014 they are now just tools.\u00a0 Tools we pay $1B+ for, gladly.\u00a0 Disruptive tools.\u00a0 But just tools in everyone\u2019s toolkit now.<\/p>\n
Every engineering team worth their salt is using AI coding assistants. Copilot. Cursor. Claude. Whatever. The specific tool doesn\u2019t matter as much as you think.<\/p>\n
What matters is what you\u2019re building and how fast you\u2019re shipping.<\/p>\n
The conversation has shifted from \u201cAre you using AI to code?\u00a0 Really?\u00a0 How much?\u201d to \u201cWhat are you shipping that your competitors can\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n
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{\u201cmodel_id\u201d: \u201ctext2image_v1\/prod\/20250912-2317\u201d}<\/p>\n
So What Actually Matters Now?<\/p>\n
If AI code percentage isn\u2019t a differentiator anymore, what is?<\/p>\n
Velocity. Are you shipping faster than you were 12 months ago? If not, you\u2019re doing it wrong.
\nQuality. AI can write code, but is your product actually better? Are you catching bugs earlier? Is your architecture cleaner?
\nProduct intuition. AI can generate code, but it can\u2019t tell you what to build. The companies winning right now have founders and PMs who know exactly what features will move the needle.
\nTalent leverage. The best companies aren\u2019t replacing engineers with AI. They\u2019re making their best engineers 2-3x more productive. Big difference.<\/p>\n
The Bottom Line<\/p>\n
Cursor hitting $1B+ ARR and a $30B+ valuation isn\u2019t just a company milestone. It\u2019s a market signal.<\/p>\n
It tells us that AI coding tools have become infrastructure. Like AWS. Like GitHub. Like your IDE.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t get credit for using AWS. You don\u2019t get credit for using GitHub. And you definitely don\u2019t get credit anymore for what percentage of your code is AI-generated.<\/p>\n
The only question that matters: What are you building with it?<\/p>\n
Because everyone else has access to the same tools you do.<\/p>\n
The moat isn\u2019t the AI. The moat is what you do with it.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s Actually Disruptive Now?<\/p>\n
You want to know what I do find fascinating? Tools like Replit and Lovable.<\/p>\n
Because they let non-coders \u201ccode\u201d.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s something you genuinely couldn\u2019t do before. That\u2019s a real unlock. That\u2019s expanding the market, not just making existing developers more efficient.\u00a0 I\u2019ve written 9 apps in last 100 days on Replit myself, without a developer<\/a>.\u00a0 That\u2019s pretty cool.\u00a0 And something that literally could never even be done 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
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