Four MIT students started Cursor, an AI code editor, and grew it past $2 billion in annualized revenue. OpenAI tried to buy it twice. Then SpaceX signed a $60 billion all stock deal for the company. Here is how a tiny team built one of the fastest growing software companies ever, and what happened next.
Sources: SpaceX SEC Form 8-K filing (June 16, 2026), Reuters (April 21, June 16 and August 29, 2026), CNBC (April 17, 2025, June 16 and August 29, 2026), TechCrunch citing Bloomberg (March 2, 2026), Cursor Series D announcement (November 13, 2025), Forbes (November 13, 2025 and June 16, 2026), OpenAI announcement (August 28, 2026), Ramp spending data (June 2026).
Photo credits: Founder footage: Lex Fridman Podcast #447. Cursor screenshot: Newmcpe, CC BY 4.0. Cursor team photos: cursor.com. MIT Great Dome: Mys 721tx, CC BY-SA 3.0. Elon Musk photos: Flickr 192333790@N05, CC BY 2.0; Debbie Rowe, CC BY-SA 3.0. All via Wikimedia Commons unless noted. Company logos are trademarks of their owners, shown for news commentary.
Some scenes are illustrative AI generated visuals.
