zlacker

>>swyx+(OP)
I'm skeptical about this VSCode fork commanding a $3 billion valuation when it depends on API services it doesn't own. What's their moat here?

For comparison, JetBrains generates over $400 million in annual revenue and is valued around $7 billion. They've built proprietary technology and deep expertise in that market over decades.

If AI (terminology aside) replaces many professional software engineers and programmers like some of its fierce advocates say it would, wouldn't their potential customer base shrink?

Professionals typically drive enterprise revenue, while hobbyists—who might become the primary users—generally don't support the same business model or spending levels.

What am I missing here?

>>retorn+j62
OpenAI needs a product team

hiring is hard

it's a high-functioning team swimming in contemporary design and eng practices

code is emerging as an important battleground

OpenAI has the $$$

>>bluebo+Ub2
I bet they can hire best minds in the world for a fraction of $3 billion.

>>buffer+RT2
JetBrains has been making IDE for a decade. They were the only company that actually made money by selling IDE. So I assume they have the best programmers who understand IDE.

However they fail to make a Cursor competitor so far. This alone suggests it's a harder task than meets the eye.

>>rainco+q63
It is, but you are assuming that only a well known IDE team would do it. To me JetBrains is the least likely to be an innovator here because they depend on their reputation for being a mature technology.

Someone like me isn't known at all but it means I have been able to experiment for a long time without pressure, which is how you do real innovation.

JetBrains as a company probably owns 10 million lines of code and it's just really hard to move fast when you're tugging that kind of ball and chain