Fundraising Fox

Michael Truell

Unicorn founder

Co-founder & CEO at Cursor

San Francisco, CA

FoundedCursor$60B

About

Michael Truell co-founded Anysphere in 2022 with three MIT classmates and built Cursor, the AI code editor that reached a $4 billion annualized revenue run-rate in under three years — and in August 2026 closed the largest venture-backed startup acquisition ever, SpaceX's $60 billion all-stock purchase, with Truell staying on as CEO inside SpaceXAI. A New Yorker who started coding at 11, he met co-founder Aman Sanger at Horace Mann, co-created the Halite AI programming competition in high school, interned at Google on language models at 18, and left MIT to build the future of programming with Sualeh Asif and Arvid Lunnemark.

Beyond investing

Founded
Truell co-founded Cursor in 2022 with Sualeh Asif, Aman Sanger, and Arvid Lunnemark, whom he met at MIT. In 2016, Truell co-created the Halite AI Programming Competition, which served over 10,000 contestants across three seasons.
Education
Studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Bachelor of Science, Computer Science and Mathematics) Studied at Horace Mann School Met co-founder Aman Sanger at Horace Mann School in New York before MIT.
Communities
In 2017, Truell attended the Research Science Institute at MIT. Neo Scholar in Ali Partovi's program; Partovi invested after Truell finished his coding test in record time.
Awards
Co-created the Halite AI programming competition (2016) as a high schooler.
More
Born September 2000 — 25 years old when the $60B SpaceX deal was announced. Built Cursor's hiring pipeline out of the product's own Discord community.

Mentioned above: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology mafia →

From Michael's own website — common ground for a warm intro.

Co-founder & CEO at Cursor

Intro paths

→

In turn, Michael can intro founders to Cursor's investors below.

Cursor's investors · 16

AccelPalo Alto · $1.6M – $70M checks · since 2026Andreessen HorowitzMenlo Park · $500K – $50M checks · since 2026Aviso VenturesSeattleBoxGroupNew York · $1M checksCoatue ManagementNew York · $1M – $20M checks · since 2025CRV (Charles River Ventures)San Francisco · $250K – $5M checksDorm RoomBrooklyn · $90K – $250K checksDST GlobalGeorge Town, Grand Cayman · $100K – $200M checks · since 2025Duke Capital PartnersDurhamLauder PartnersLos AltosNext Legacy PartnersPortola ValleyNVIDIASanta Clara · since 2026Preston-Werner VenturesSan Francisco Bay Area · $500K – $3M checksSoundproof VenturesPalo Alto · $500K – $25M checksThrive CapitalNew York · $500K – $25M checks · since 2026WealthUnion$10K checks

Co-founders at Cursor

ALArvid Lunnemark
Arvid LunnemarkCo-founder
SA
Sualeh AsifCofounder
AS
Aman SangerCofounder
MT
Micheal TruellCofounder

Experience

  1. SpaceXAIAIcurrent2026 — present
  2. CursorCo-founder & CEO2022 — 2026
  3. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyResearch2021
  4. OctantIntern2020
  5. GoogleIntern2019
  6. Two SigmaIntern2018
  7. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyResearch2017
  8. Two SigmaIntern2016

Education

  1. Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyBachelor's Degree, Computer Science, Mathematics2018 — 2021

Podcasts & interviews

featuring Michael Truell

Michael Truell: How Cursor Builds at the Speed of AI

The a16z Show · a16z.com

Cursor CEO: Going Beyond Code, Superintelligent AI Agents And Why Taste Still Matters

How to Build the Future

The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can't stop using

Lenny's Podcast · lennysnewsletter.com

Cursor Team: Future of Programming with AI

Lex Fridman Podcast

Frequently asked questions

Where does Michael Truell work?
Michael Truell is Co-founder & CEO at Cursor.
What companies did Michael Truell found?
Michael Truell founded Cursor.

Paths to reach Michael

People who overlapped with Michael at the same organization — a shared school or employer with one of them is a warm way in.

Together at CursorMichael: Co-founder & CEO

Arvid Lunnemark2022–2025Founder of Integrous Research; co-founder of CursorMassachusetts Institute of TechnologyZach Carlo2026Analyst at Miami University Redhawk VenturesMiami UniversityBen Lang2025–2026Builder, former founder, and community guyRamaz SchoolMari Luukkainen2025–2026Principal at Identity.vcHaaga-Helia University of Applied Sciences · University of Helsinki · University of JyväskyläAlex Bangash2023–2026Managing Director and General Partner at Transpose Platform ManagementCornell University · The Wharton SchoolAmina Moinuddin2026Talent Partner at Unanimous CapitalMission San Jose High School

Together at SpaceXAIMichael: AI

Michael Robinson2026Investor at Craft VenturesQueen's UniversityTarek Waked2026Co-Founder & Managing Partner at Type One VenturesFlorida State UniversityRandy Glein2026Founder and Managing Partner at DFJUCLA Anderson School of Management · University of Florida · University of Southern CaliforniaRay Cheng2026Managing Partner at Millennium New HorizonsUniversity of PennsylvaniaJay Chong2026Managing Partner at Millennium New HorizonsCornell Johnson Graduate School of Management · University of California, BerkeleyRichard Würl2026Investment Team at RedstoneIE Business School · University of Mannheim

Together at Two SigmaMichael: Intern

Juliette Han2018Board Member at MassChallenge MexicoHarvard UniversityKimberley Bueno2017–2018Venture Advisor at Growth Warrior CapitalSammy Sidhu2016Founder at EventualUniversity of California, Berkeley · Y CombinatorShanelle Roman2017Founder at IndexicalYale UniversityJakob Palmstierna2016–2018President at GSRChalmers University of Technology · Lund UniversityColin Beirne2016–2018Founding Partner at Deviation CapitalAmherst College

Founder mafias

Massachusetts Institute of Technology mafia540

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Elad GilPhDFounded Brain Co.Nat FriedmanBachelor of ScienceFounded XamarinMatt HuangB.S.Founded HotspotsDelian AsparouhovDropoutFounded Nightingale +1Drew HoustonBSFounded Dropbox +1Arash FerdowsiComputer ScienceFounded Dropbox

+ 533 more

Two Sigma mafia23

Also came through, then founded or led a company.

Jakob PalmstiernaWorkerFounded GsrDhaivat PandyaQuantitative ResearchFounded Verse MedicalPaul ButlerQuantitative AnalystFounded JamsocketSammy SidhuSoftware EngineerFounded EventualFernando VarelaSoftware Developer InternFounded BotonMax ChoProduct ManagerFounded Coverage Cat

+ 16 more

Same school

Also attended Massachusetts Institute of Technology1,291

Fred WilsonCo-founder & Partner at Union Square VenturesElad GilSolo general partner investing through Gil CapitalAileen LeeFounder & Managing Partner of Cowboy VenturesHemant TanejaCEO & Managing Director of General CatalystNat FriedmanCo-lead of Meta Superintelligence Labs; co-founder of NFDGBrad FeldCo-founder of Foundry and Techstars

+ 1,285 more

Shared employers

Also worked at SpaceXAI28

Michael RobinsonInvestor at Craft VenturesTarek WakedCo-Founder & Managing Partner at Type One VenturesRandy GleinFounder and Managing Partner at DFJRay ChengManaging Partner at Millennium New HorizonsJay ChongManaging Partner at Millennium New HorizonsRichard WürlInvestment Team at Redstone

+ 22 more

Also worked at Cursor15

Zach CarloAnalyst at Miami University Redhawk VenturesBen LangBuilder, former founder, and community guyMari LuukkainenPrincipal at Identity.vcAlex BangashManaging Director and General Partner at Transpose Platform ManagementAmina MoinuddinTalent Partner at Unanimous CapitalConnor OviattVenture Capital Investment Competition at 1809 Capital

+ 9 more

Also worked at Massachusetts Institute of Technology446

Aileen LeeFounder & Managing Partner of Cowboy VenturesMatt HuangCo-founder and Managing Partner at ParadigmRaquel UrtasunFounder & CEO of WaabiColin WebbFounder & CEO of Avatar RoboticsScott BillerInvestor at GV (Google Ventures)Noubar AfeyanInvestor at Flagship Pioneering

+ 440 more

Also worked at Octant4

Jun JeonInvestor at Khosla VenturesJorge CondeGeneral Partner at Andreessen HorowitzAlex AmenAdvisor at PsyMed VenturesJonathan YinFounder at Lifelike