GitHub CEO: The AI Coding Gold Rush, Vibe Coding & Cursor

The MAD Podcast with Matt Turck

AI coding is in full-blown gold-rush mode, and GitHub sits at the epicenter. In this episode, GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke tells Matt Turck how a $7.5 B acquisition in 2018 became a $2 B ARR rocket ship, and reveals how Copilot was born from a secret AI strategy years before anyone else saw the opportunity.

We dig into the dizzying pace of AI innovation: why developer tools are suddenly the fastest-growing startups in history, how GitHub’s multi-model approach (OpenAI, Anthropic Claude 4, Gemini 2.5, and even local LLMs) gives you more choice and speed, and why fine-tuning models might be overrated. Thomas explains how Copilot keeps you in the “magic flow state,” how even middle schoolers are using it to hack Minecraft.

The conversation then zooms out to the competitive battlefield: Cursor’s $10 B valuation, Mistral’s new code model, and a wave of AI-native IDE forks vying for developer mind-share. We discuss why 2025’s “coding agents” could soon handle 90 % of the world’s code, the survival of SaaS and why the future of coding is about managing agents, not just writing code.

GitHub

Website - https://github.com/

X/Twitter - https://x.com/github

Thomas Dohmke

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtom

X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/ashtom

FIRSTMARK

Website - https://firstmark.com

X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/FirstMarkCap

Matt Turck (Managing Director)

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/turck/

X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/mattturck

(00:00) Intro

(01:50) Why AI Coding Is Ground Zero for Generative AI

(02:40) The $7.5B GitHub Acquisition: Microsoft’s Strategic Play

(06:21) GitHub’s Role in the Azure Cloud Ecosystem

(10:25) How GitHub Copilot Beat Everyone to Market

(16:09) Copilot & VS Code Explained for Non-Developers

(21:02) GitHub Models: Multi-Model Choice and What It Means

(25:31) The Reality of Fine-Tuning AI Models for Enterprise

(29:13) The Dizzying Pace and Political Economy of AI Coding Tools

(36:58) Competing and Partnering: Microsoft’s Unique AI Strategy

(41:29) Does Microsoft Limit Copilot’s AI-Native Potential?

(46:44) The Bull and Bear Case for AI-Native IDEs Like Cursor

(52:09) Agent Mode: The Next Step for AI-Powered Coding

(01:00:10) How AI Coding Will Change SaaS and Developer Skills