I sit on an AI evaluation committee for a huge law firm (It's just a regular old consulting gig) - we get so much inbound from (mostly kids) folks trying to build wrappers for some aspect of legal workflow, but behind the scenes thomson reuters is slowly adding everything they're going to need to software they have been using for 10 years now.
In many fields there is no moat. It’s an execution battle and it comes down to question: can the startup innovate faster and get to the customers or can the incumbent defend its existing distribution well enough.
Microsoft owns GitHub and VSCode yet cursor was able to out execute them. Legora is moving very quickly in the legal space. Not clear yet who will win.
> Microsoft owns GitHub and VSCode yet cursor was able to out execute them
Really? My startup is under 30 people. We develop in the open (source available) and are extremely willing to try new process or tooling if it'll gain us an edge -- but we're also subject to SOC2.
Our own evaluation was Cursor et all isn't worth the headache of the compliance paperwork. Copilot + VSCode is playing rapid catch-up and is a far easier "yes".
How large is the intersection of companies who a) believe Cursor has a substantive edge in capability, and b) have willingness to send Cursor their code (and go through the headaches of various vendor reviews and declarations)?
Windsurf was acquired for $3B by OAI and it's clearly the worse of the two. Cursor is trying to raise at a $10B valuation and has $300MM in ARR in less than two years.
So in short, yes, companies do appear to be showing some willingness to send Cursor their code, even with all the headache associated with getting a new vendor.
