Claude Is the Drug, Cursor Is the Dealer
13 days ago
- #venture-capital
- #AI-startups
- #supply-chain
- Many AI startups act as distribution arms for others' models rather than product companies.
- Startups like Cursor, Lovable, and Bolt wrap AI models in UX but don't control pricing or supply.
- Cursor raised $900M at a $9B valuation but relies on OpenAI and Anthropic for inference.
- Lovable offers low-code app generation powered by Claude, raising $150M–$200M at a $2B valuation.
- Bolt provides a clean interface for GPT and Claude but lacks proprietary tech.
- These startups grow markets but signal demand to labs, which may go direct.
- Two potential futures: labs dominate or models commoditize, letting wrappers win.
- Without owning the model, startups are just dealers in the AI supply chain.