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894 points rcchen | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.211s | source
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dalemhurley ◴[] No.44537376[source]
Cursor (and Garry Tan’s X post) has shown us that the VC money is propping up these companies astounding growth, the only way for them to become profitable is to increase the cost per a request, which means they need to innovate like crazy.

The moat is paper thin.

GitHub has open sourced copilot.

The open source community is working hard on their own projects.

No doubt Cursor is moving fast to create amazing innovations, but if the competition only focuses on thin wrappers they are not worth the billion dollar valuations.

I love watching this space as it is moving extremely fast.

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TechDebtDevin ◴[] No.44537998[source]
Cursor just committed mass consumer fraud at worst, and at best pissed off all their best customers. I feel really sorry for those who invested at a 9bb valuation.
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aeve890 ◴[] No.44538127[source]
>Cursor just committed mass consumer fraud at worst, and at best pissed off all their best customers.

What happened?

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wadefletch ◴[] No.44538243[source]
flip-flopping on pricing has led users to feel nickel-and-dimed

i like cursor fine, but check out the forum/subreddit to see people talking like addicts, pissed their fix is getting more expensive

i think this aggressive reaction is more pronounced for non-programmers who are making things for the first time. they tasted a new power and they don't want it taken away.

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TechDebtDevin ◴[] No.44538874[source]
I agree with your take, but I still don't excuse anti consumer practices like that. It annoys me because this is a repeat problem in this space, where these companies don't take into account the market dynamics, or costs of their service. From the start I've been looking at these $20.00 subscriptions, and then my own personal api per token costs and been wondering how they aren't all bankrupt.

Look no further than founders in the sports betting space, like the fanduel founders. Borrow a bunch of money at huge valuations because of hype and ignore the fact, that despite it being exciting and popular, the margins are like <5%. Fanduel founders sold for 400 something million, walked away with nothing. Its now a multibillion dollar company when the new owners realized the product was marketing, not the vig. These AI companies are shifting towards their "marketing" eras.

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1. sbarre ◴[] No.44541822[source]
I think any "value add" business that has a primary product built on top of another larger business' non-commodity service(s) runs the risk of having to re-do their pricing in ways that are outside their control.

This is nothing new. I'm not sure if it's "anti-consumer" as much as it's just a risky play from a brand and customer happiness viewpoint. Because your prices can be forced up by your supplier, and your customers will be mad at you, not at your supplier.

I do also think it is on consumers - in some part - to go into it with eyes open and do their research.

Thankfully a product like Cursor is a monthly sub and not a big up-front investment so if you don't like - or can't afford - the new pricing, you can just stop paying.