A US-based has shared how a missed message from the of an artificial intelligence startup, Cursor, cost him hundreds of millions of dollars.
In an Instagram post, Alex Lieberman shared a 7-step account of how he supposedly “lost” $600 million by failing to respond to a message from Cursor CEO Michael Truell, who had reached out to him in 2022 seeking feedback on the company when it was still in its early days. “How I lost $600 million,” Lieberman wrote in the caption of the post.
In the video, the entrepreneur shared that Truell had reached out to him in 2022 for help. However, Lieberman said he missed the message and never replied. He then joked that he also missed the chance to negotiate for a 1% advisory stake in the company.
Lying out the sequence of events, Lieberman said, “Step one, Cursor CEO reaches out to me for help in 2022. Step two, don’t see it. Step three, don’t respond. Step four, don’t help with content. Step five, don’t negotiate for 1% advisory shares. Step six, Cursor sells to for $60 billion. Step seven, you sir, are $600 million poorer.”
Separately, in an X post, the entrepreneur clarified that he was joking and congratulated the startup’s founders on their success. “All jokes aside, massive congrats to @mntruell and the @cursor_ai team!” he wrote in the .
Lieberman also shared a screenshot of the message he had received from Truell. In the text, the then-MIT student wrote: “Hey Alex! Do you know how to use any tools to help your writing/creative process? I’m an MIT student working on Cursor and looking for some feedback.”
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Social media reactions
Lieberman’s post caught the internet’s attention, with many joking about the missed opportunity.
“And that my friend IS THE PRICE of INACTION!!” one user wrote.
“This was hard to watch, i’m gonna go respond to every single message in my inbox BRB,” commented another.
“That’s what happens when you don’t want to help people when they’re still figuring out,” wrote a third user.
“Worse than that guy who traded Bitcoin for pizza! You didn’t even get a pizza,” jokingly wrote another.
SpaceX acquires Cursor
SpaceX announced on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire Cursor in a deal valuing the AI coding startup at $60 billion. Founded in 2022 by Michael Truell, Sualeh Asif, Arvid Lunnemark and while they were students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cursor has emerged as one of the fastest-growing AI companies.
The acquisition is expected to turn Cursor’s 3 co-founders into billionaires. According to a Forbes estimate, each of them will be worth around $2.7 billion once the deal is completed.
