‘Cursor' wows Islamabad tech crowd
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A few weeks ago, the name Sualeh Asif coupled with the acronym MIT, began making rounds on social media as people discovered the young man from Pakistan is one of the minds behind Cursor, the AI-powered code editor valued at $9.9 billion, which is taking the AI startup scene by storm.
The Cursor team made its first appearance in Pakistan at a meetup in Islamabad attended by over hundred builders, tech enthusiasts and students eager to take part in the future of programming.
The event was hosted at the National Incubation Centre and featured a live demonstration of Cursor's build-on-command capabilities by its Pakistan Ambassador, Yahya Qureshi, a talk by Antematter engineer, Zohaib Adnan, on how the product has changed programming at their company and a Q&A session with Cursor developer, Juan Batista Martinez, who joined on zoom.
Cursor allows developers to generate code and build programmes simply by describing what they want it to do. In response, the software prints out ready-to-use lines of code which can be further edited through additional prompts to incorporate new features, fix bugs and more.
'For those unfamiliar with the concept, this is known as vibe coding,' explained the Cursor ambassador, Yahya. 'You no longer need to type out thousands of lines of code one by one. You could be out for a walk or driving, and you simply need to have entered a task into Cursor, so that by the time you have reached your destination, your code will be ready,' he added enthusiastically.
Several tech companies, including Taleemabad, Eynvision, and others, showed up to the event, curious about how Cursor can help upgrade their work. 'Since using Cursor, our developers at Antematter are spending much less time doing the grunt work and more time innovating and investing energy in coming up with critical solutions,' said Zohaib Adnan as he shared how AI has transformed development.
Cursor developer Juan Martinez echoed the same thoughts when asked about what vibe coding means for the future of engineers in the job market. 'AI isn't here to replace engineers. We need humans for their ability to exercise creativity and think critically,' he said. 'Cursor is not about eliminating the work humans do. It's about what can be achieved when humans work alongside the power of AI.'
Many from the audience posed questions about Cursor's features and future updates to Juan. Some even shared feedback based on their own experience using the software. The Cursor team was overwhelmed by the response and the interest shown by the community in Pakistan, with the ambassador saying that he was amazed to see the projects people have been working on using Cursor, which they shared on the Cursor Pakistan WhatsApp group. 'This is only the beginning. We plan to host many more meetups, including workshops and hackathons across Pakistan,' announced Yahya.
The attendees expressed their satisfaction at the chance to interact with the Cursor team in Pakistan, while others on social media expressed that they could not wait for a similar event in their cities. 'Events like these are a great thing for the tech space in Pakistan,' said a computer science student, Amama. 'Opportunities to interact with skilled people in the field are rare for us, so this was very refreshing. I just wish there were more girls participating at such events,' she said noting the lack of women attendees.
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Express Tribune
5 hours ago
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'Cursor' wows Islamabad tech crowd
The Cursor team demonstrates its platform's features and answers the audience's questions at their first ever meetup in Pakistan held at the National Incubation Centre in Islamabad. PHOTOs: ZUNAIRAH QURESHI/EXPRESS A few weeks ago, the name Sualeh Asif coupled with the acronym MIT, began making rounds on social media as people discovered the young man from Pakistan is one of the minds behind Cursor, the AI-powered code editor valued at $9.9 billion, which is taking the AI startup scene by storm. The Cursor team made its first appearance in Pakistan at a meetup in Islamabad attended by over hundred builders, tech enthusiasts and students eager to take part in the future of programming. The event was hosted at the National Incubation Centre and featured a live demonstration of Cursor's build-on-command capabilities by its Pakistan Ambassador, Yahya Qureshi, a talk by Antematter engineer, Zohaib Adnan, on how the product has changed programming at their company and a Q&A session with Cursor developer, Juan Batista Martinez, who joined on zoom. Cursor allows developers to generate code and build programmes simply by describing what they want it to do. In response, the software prints out ready-to-use lines of code which can be further edited through additional prompts to incorporate new features, fix bugs and more. "For those unfamiliar with the concept, this is known as vibe coding," explained the Cursor ambassador, Yahya. "You no longer need to type out thousands of lines of code one by one. You could be out for a walk or driving, and you simply need to have entered a task into Cursor, so that by the time you have reached your destination, your code will be ready," he added enthusiastically. Several tech companies, including Taleemabad, Eynvision, and others, showed up to the event, curious about how Cursor can help upgrade their work. "Since using Cursor, our developers at Antematter are spending much less time doing the grunt work and more time innovating and investing energy in coming up with critical solutions," said Zohaib Adnan as he shared how AI has transformed development. Cursor developer Juan Martinez echoed the same thoughts when asked about what vibe coding means for the future of engineers in the job market. "AI isn't here to replace engineers. We need humans for their ability to exercise creativity and think critically," he said. "Cursor is not about eliminating the work humans do. It's about what can be achieved when humans work alongside the power of AI." Many from the audience posed questions about Cursor's features and future updates to Juan. Some even shared feedback based on their own experience using the software. The Cursor team was overwhelmed by the response and the interest shown by the community in Pakistan, with the ambassador saying that he was amazed to see the projects people have been working on using Cursor, which they shared on the Cursor Pakistan WhatsApp group. "This is only the beginning. We plan to host many more meetups, including workshops and hackathons across Pakistan," announced Yahya. The attendees expressed their satisfaction at the chance to interact with the Cursor team in Pakistan, while others on social media expressed that they could not wait for a similar event in their cities. "Events like these are a great thing for the tech space in Pakistan," said a computer science student, Amama. "Opportunities to interact with skilled people in the field are rare for us, so this was very refreshing," she said.
Express Tribune
8 hours ago
- Express Tribune
‘Cursor' wows Islamabad tech crowd
The Cursor team demonstrates its platform's features and answers the audience's questions at their first ever meetup in Pakistan held at the National Incubation Centre in Islamabad. PHOTO: ZUNAIRAH QURESHI/EXPRESS Listen to article A few weeks ago, the name Sualeh Asif coupled with the acronym MIT, began making rounds on social media as people discovered the young man from Pakistan is one of the minds behind Cursor, the AI-powered code editor valued at $9.9 billion, which is taking the AI startup scene by storm. The Cursor team made its first appearance in Pakistan at a meetup in Islamabad attended by over hundred builders, tech enthusiasts and students eager to take part in the future of programming. The event was hosted at the National Incubation Centre and featured a live demonstration of Cursor's build-on-command capabilities by its Pakistan Ambassador, Yahya Qureshi, a talk by Antematter engineer, Zohaib Adnan, on how the product has changed programming at their company and a Q&A session with Cursor developer, Juan Batista Martinez, who joined on zoom. Cursor allows developers to generate code and build programmes simply by describing what they want it to do. In response, the software prints out ready-to-use lines of code which can be further edited through additional prompts to incorporate new features, fix bugs and more. 'For those unfamiliar with the concept, this is known as vibe coding,' explained the Cursor ambassador, Yahya. 'You no longer need to type out thousands of lines of code one by one. You could be out for a walk or driving, and you simply need to have entered a task into Cursor, so that by the time you have reached your destination, your code will be ready,' he added enthusiastically. Several tech companies, including Taleemabad, Eynvision, and others, showed up to the event, curious about how Cursor can help upgrade their work. 'Since using Cursor, our developers at Antematter are spending much less time doing the grunt work and more time innovating and investing energy in coming up with critical solutions,' said Zohaib Adnan as he shared how AI has transformed development. Cursor developer Juan Martinez echoed the same thoughts when asked about what vibe coding means for the future of engineers in the job market. 'AI isn't here to replace engineers. We need humans for their ability to exercise creativity and think critically,' he said. 'Cursor is not about eliminating the work humans do. It's about what can be achieved when humans work alongside the power of AI.' Many from the audience posed questions about Cursor's features and future updates to Juan. Some even shared feedback based on their own experience using the software. The Cursor team was overwhelmed by the response and the interest shown by the community in Pakistan, with the ambassador saying that he was amazed to see the projects people have been working on using Cursor, which they shared on the Cursor Pakistan WhatsApp group. 'This is only the beginning. We plan to host many more meetups, including workshops and hackathons across Pakistan,' announced Yahya. The attendees expressed their satisfaction at the chance to interact with the Cursor team in Pakistan, while others on social media expressed that they could not wait for a similar event in their cities. 'Events like these are a great thing for the tech space in Pakistan,' said a computer science student, Amama. 'Opportunities to interact with skilled people in the field are rare for us, so this was very refreshing. I just wish there were more girls participating at such events,' she said noting the lack of women attendees.
Business Recorder
17 hours ago
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Think Tech, Think Pakistan: A motion to put Pakistan's IT sector on top
The recently concluded 'Tech Destination Pakistan' #ThinkTechThinkPakistan roadshow in June 2025 by Open Global, Pakistan's Ministry of IT, P@SHA, and Pakistan Software Export Board - a multi-country, multi-city swing through London, Dallas, New York City and, concluding at the Embassy of Pakistan in Washington, D.C.— has done more than just showcase start-ups, tech companies and trade statistics. It is a push to take control of Pakistan's narrative, in the eyes of foreign investors and the Pakistani diaspora alike, from a low-cost outsourcing option into a place of high-value tech innovation. Having addressed audiences in both New York and Washington, I came away convinced that the initiative's momentum is real and just beginning—yet its impact will hinge on how swiftly we translate podium energy into real life transactions. A major piece of that translation is 'talent'. In Washington, Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States, Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, along with Abu Bakar, CEO of the Pakistan Software Export Board and Sajjad Syed, Chairman of P@SHA, announced a plan to train 56,000 additional high-tech professionals in the next phase of Pakistan's national digital strategy. Even on conservative export-revenue benchmarks, this new target could add more than a billion dollars of growth to the economy. Pakistan's demographic fundamentals make the target credible: the country hosts the world's third largest English speaking population, at this point, a well known global fact that continuously helps onboard global clients. Equally important, we now have success stories that investors recognize as patterns rather than isolated wins - from Pakistani Sualeh Abidi's role in Anysphere's US $10 billion Cursor platform, to the rise of 10Pearls, Systems Limited, and a range of other standout startups and software companies, all validating Pakistan's capability at the technological frontier. Yet talent and resilience alone do not scale; they require institutional handrails. In New York City, Jabran Niaz of Utopia Deals—one of Amazon's top five global sellers—offered the most direct solution: leaders who want durable growth should devote their first five years to building a rigorous HR motion. He then claims his own returns have been astronomical since his company formalized its people-management architecture. At Paismo, we have witnessed the same multiplier: by codifying culture, standardizing performance indicators and deploying AI-enabled support, results can quickly scale. In short, grit must be first streamlined, before it can be monetized. Furthermore, a second frontier was heavily highlighted, the 'AI revolution'. Dr. Naveed Sherwani reminded the Washington audience that access over semiconductor supply chains will increasingly grow in economic importance in the AI era. He pushed the importance of Pakistan working with the GCC region in plans for growth and action. Such alliances would strengthen foreign-exchange partnerships. Tech companies that participated in the roadshow included: Wai Technologies, QBS Co, Sapphire Consulting Services, Woltrio, Horizon Tech, Alfoze, 9Xero Digital, Adsells Advertising, Markaz Technologies, Paismo, PureLogics, Abacus, Code Ninja, Teamo, Mars BPO, Visionary Computer Solutions, Outsource in Pk, ICIL Technologies, and others. The tech ecosystem must now push on these learning imperatives. First, streamline desired HR culture and leadership expectations on day one, and not waiting after the headcount crosses triple digits. Secondly, when a moment of hesitation appears while responding to market motions, leaders should swiftly continue focusing on executing for outcomes. Third, to preserve trust abroad, leaders must continue maintaining and growing ethical practices to preserve relationships, as remote delivery may be efficient, but sealing and maintaining enterprise contracts beckons consistent face-to-face engagement in New York City, Riyadh, Dubai or London. The 'Think Tech Think Pakistan' campaign has succeeded in helping reframe global perceptions. P@SHA (Pakistan IT Industry Association), along with the Ministry of Information Technology & Telecommunication (MoITT), has advocated for institutions to create a greater focus on the Pakistan IT sector and budget for resources, helping ensure that Pakistan's tech companies have the support they need to scale and thrive. And like all powerful narratives, this too — as Abu Bakar rightly said at the conferences — will need to be repeated a million times over, until Pakistan is truly recognized for its tech potential and talent. Here's to building positive momentum, with steady discipline, following through on upskilling current talent, matching newly trained engineers with market demand, embedding professional HR practices, and securing regional partnerships that anchor critical infrastructure. The window of opportunity is wide open, all that remains is for the tech community to seize it, capitalize on it, and most importantly, take care of it.
