Four months to 1 million developers. In a market that everyone said was saturated. Let's break down exactly how Windsurf pulled this off.
The Setup: Everyone Said It Was Too Late
Late 2024, and the AI coding assistant market looked crowded as hell. GitHub Copilot had millions of users and Microsoft's backing. Cursor was the hot new startup with an AI-first approach. Dozens of other tools were fighting for whatever scraps remained.
| Player | Advantage |
|---|---|
| GitHub Copilot | Millions of users, Microsoft backing |
| Cursor | Hot startup, AI-first approach |
| Tabnine | Years of market presence |
| Dozens of others | Fighting for scraps |
Conventional wisdom said don't even try.
But Varun Mohan and his team saw something different. They saw a market full of tools that technically worked but felt clunky as hell.
Good AI, terrible experience.
