Two or three developers can now build what used to need a whole team. Tools that eliminate boilerplate code have made it possible for tiny startups like Cursor and Windsurf to compete directly with tech giants.
Chapters
all the tedious, repetitive setup code that developers call scaffolding. And that one change leveled the entire playing field. All of a sudden, a tiny team of 2 or 3 people could build things that used to require a massive corporation. It was like the floodgates opened, unleashing this huge wave of new competition and innovation. And, ya know, whenever there's a gold rush, you always get the fast movers—the prospectors who see the opportunity first. A whole new breed of startups saw what was happening, and they moved with blinding speed to challenge the old guard. In this whole corporate drama, two challengers really burst onto the scene. They've become the main characters in our story, each one with a totally different playbook for how to win this new frontier. Meet Cursor and Windsurf.