# Michael Truell: Building Cursor at 23, Taking on GitHub Copilot, and Advice to Engineering Students

**Author:** Y Combinator
**Type:** Video
**URL:** https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Ms-michael-truell-building-cursor-at-23-taking-on-github-copilot-and-advice-to-engineering-students
**YouTube ID:** TrXi3naD6Og

---

Michael Truell on June 17th, 2025 at AI Startup School in San Francisco.  
  
At 24, Michael Truell has already built Cursor into one of the fastest-growing companies in AI coding, hitting $100M ARR
in just a year.   
  
In this fireside chat with YC General Partner Diana Hu, he shares the lessons that came from years of failed projects
with his co-founders, why he believes programming is still essential even as AI changes how we code, and how Cursor is
taking on GitHub Copilot with the conviction that all of software development will flow through models.

