1 min lesson
Just-a-job is disqualifying
Rebuild the main list in "Just-a-job is disqualifying", then say what each item changes.
Step 1 of 2
“The last quarter I ran, I leaned on volume when my connect rate slipped instead of fixing my openers - that cost me two weeks I couldn't get back, and I'd diagnose the ratio faster now. I'm here because I think automating the grunt work of coding is the biggest shift in how software gets built, and I want to sell that to the engineers living it - not because it's the hot AI company to work at.”
- Have a story where you owned an outcome with no playbook, which lands ownership directly.
- Be ready to disagree honestly and reason in the open; Cursor values spirited, truth-seeking debate over polite agreement.
Cursor's CEO has said candidates who view it 'just as a job' won't make it. In the founder round that means surface-level interest reads as a red flag, not neutral. Conviction about the mission to automate coding - backed by your own product use and a real opinion - is what the round is actually scoring.
Ask a question only someone who's thought about the motion would: “When engineers already adopt Cursor bottom-up, where does an SDR add value instead of getting in the way?” It respects the product, shows you understand PLG-adjacent selling and frames you as a partner to adoption rather than a tax on it.