About Cursor
Who I am
Hi, I’m Badrul. I’m a product leader and early-stage investor based in San Francisco. I was Figma’s first Product Manager, joining before its public launch, and led product teams that built the core design tool, Plugins, Figma Community, and more. At Square, I led the teams responsible for global product onboarding and our internal developer platform.
My career began as an engineer, building award-winning mobile apps at Expedia, scaling global fulfillment systems at Teespring, and creating interactive experiences for millions of people at Hook. These experiences helped me refine my sense of product quality, craftsmanship, and building products at a global scale.
Cursor Capital
I started Cursor Capital because I believe there is enormous potential for software to help everyone be more creative in their work. The creative tool market is large and growing, but professions that aren’t traditionally seen as creative are stuck using legacy tools that stifle creativity, productivity, and innovation.
My goal is to help grow the next generation of tools that amplify human creativity, whether that’s expressed in code, in a spreadsheet, on a map, or a perfectly generated video. Tools that allow anyone to bring creativity to their work and make it enjoyable to do so. Software that, like a 21st-century bicycle, accelerates the process of expressing, interrogating, and iterating on an idea.
If you’re building anything that resembles a creative tool or a design-first developer tool or enterprise product, let’s talk.
Investing philosophy
Cursor is a no-frills, direct-access fund. When I shifted from angel investing to pursuing investing full-time, my primary motivation was simple: I wanted to deeply understand and genuinely care about every founder and company I work with. With Cursor, I purposely make few investments, so that I can be available whenever I’m needed and care about the outcomes of each company.
On a practical level, that means:
1) Direct, hands-on support with refining your product roadmap, shaping your early team, and growing your product, based on deep, firsthand experience.
2) Access to a broad network of engineers, designers, and product leaders from Figma and beyond, as well as future investors when you need to fundraise.
And on a more personal level:
3) Empathy for the journey you’re on. Building something people love is hard and takes a lot of time. I’ve been there and I’m excited to co-discover the future with you for as long as it takes.
I invest between $200k - $500k at the earliest stages (usually before the Series A). I’m specifically looking to partner with technical founders who have a clear hypothesis around their product and its impact on customers.
If you’re building a startup that takes advantage of a significant shift in your market or the workflows that support it, and you’re serious about building a lasting product, company, and team, I’d love to hear from you.
I run an efficient process, respecting founders’ time as well as my own, so you can expect to move quickly if we’re a good fit.
What founders say
Badrul has a clear and consistent vision for what good products should feel like and what makes good teams successful. It is hard to find investors who have good taste and operational experience in building generational products.
Badrul is one of our most insightful investors and a key advisor on product, strategy, and high level company challenges. His thoughtful guidance and genuine commitment to our success have made him Rive’s most trusted partner.
Badrul understands what it takes to build developer-focused products. His product instincts and strategic clarity have helped shape our go-to-market and product thinking at Knock. In the years we've worked together, he's become one of my go-to thought partners and friends. He brings valuable insight without ego, challenges my thinking when I need him to, and does it all with humor and taste. I'm a big fan of Badrul and recommend him to any founder building a technical product.
Badrul has been in the trenches with us from day one. He’s helped us solve hard problems, build a strong initial product team, and make clear, high-conviction decisions when they mattered most. He took the time to deeply understand our product and hiring goals, consistently going above and beyond as a true partner.
Whenever I meet a founder working on creative tools, I make sure to introduce them to Badrul. He's been a great friend and collaborator on tldraw, always ready with strong opinions informed by his close observations of the industry, as well as from his own experiences working on creative products. As an investor, Badrul provides excellent connections with fellow builders and solid advice on building the company and its reputation among creatives.