Perplexity, The Browser Company, Cursor.AI: When User Experience Becomes the Innovation
Making something people adore IS innnovation.
In the tech world, we often equate “innovation” with groundbreaking algorithms, cutting-edge hardware, or embracing the hype cycle as hard as possible(*cough* friend wearable *cough*). But sometimes, the real innovation is in making advanced technology so enjoyable to use that people can't help but spread the word. Real innovation can and does come in the form of an api call that does its job so much better that it wins, of a chip 40x faster, or a car that outputs zero direct emissions - but in many cases, just making it 5x better isn’t enough, it needs to be 5x more awesome to use as well. Enter Perplexity, The Browser Company, and Cursor.AI – three companies proving that an astounding user experience—built on great tech—can be the most profound form of innovation.
Let's start with Perplexity. With Google more like the 20-ton T-rex than the 400lbs gorilla, creating a new search engine seems as smart as opening a video rental store. Yet Perplexity has managed to carve out a rapidly growing user base, and a devoted core of fans(use my referral code 😉). Why? Because using it feels less like hoping that whatever training data the latest model of ChatGPT or Claude trained on contains anything relevant, and knowing it can find exactly what you are looking for with every query. It's not just providing information; it's making the process of discovery, debugging, or writing more informed and more enjoyable. This behind-the-scenes technical improvement to the standard LLM chat-bot, packaged in the best UI of any of its competitors, has led to some astounding growth.
Then there's The Browser Company's Arc. Same deal as Perplexity, right? Chrome is the juggernaut; there is no money in browsers; no one cares about browsers only their sites, etc. Wrong. Arc has reimagined what a browser can be, turning it from a mere window to the web into a powerful productivity tool itself, and an incredibly enjoyable experience the whole way. With features like Spaces you can customize for yourself for organization, built-in AI features, and a ton of in-built graphical customization features, Arc isn't just functional – it's fun. Users aren't just adopting Arc; they're evangelizing it, spreading the gospel of a better browsing experience to anyone who will listen. I would know because I am one of them - I love Arc; I was on the waitlist and have made it my daily driver since I got it during the beta.
Cursor.AI is pulling off a similar feat in the world of coding. AI-assisted coding isn't new, but Cursor.AI has made it feel magical. Github Copilot is still a great product, and makes coding notably easier - but Cursor takes it to a new level. By allowing developers to chat with their codebase and edit in natural language with no compromises, Cursor.AI has turned coding from a chore into a kind of mind-meld between Humans and AI. An example: I was debugging some code yesterday when I highlighted a function in Javascript that was making a call to a Python Backend, I hit Cmd+I, copy and paste the error, said “This is supposed to fetch and display the data from the backend, please fix this. Please reference the download of the database in csv file”, and hit Enter. In front of my eyes the Javascript and Python code morphed, I hit “Accept All”, and the bug was fixed. That bug would have taken me an hour at least, and likely longer, and within seconds it was fixed. Making builders more productive, more aggressive in pursuing big technical projects without a big team, all through packaging some amazing technology(their codebase search tech is very impressive) inside an unbelievably awesome user experience.
The genius of these companies lies not just in their technology, but in their understanding of human nature. We don't just want tools that work; we want tools that delight. When using a product feels less like work and more like play, adoption skyrockets. It's the difference between grudgingly using a tool because you have to, and eagerly sharing it with friends because you want to. The success of Perplexity, The Browser Company, and Cursor.AI demonstrates that user experience isn't just a nice-to-have – it's a powerful form of innovation in its own right. By making advanced technologies not just useful but genuinely enjoyable to use, these companies are accelerating the adoption of next-generation tools and reshaping our digital landscape. The classic motto of YC is “Build something people want”, which is a good start, but for rocketship growth, I think you need to build something that just a few people adore.
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