Sara's List 2024
10 startups picked for 5x-in-5-years potential
Sara Parr's 2024 picks on My First Million: private companies she thought could 5x over five years. Weighing an offer at one of these? Compare equity upside side-by-side.
Selection criteria:
- Product-market fit
- Well-funded
- Growing
- 5x potential over 5 years
Source: My First Million — Sara Parr ↗ (2024)
Members
| # | Company | Valuation | Latest round | HQ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | OpenAI | $852B | Series E | San Francisco, CA |
| 2 | Retool | $3B | Series C | San Francisco, CA |
| 3 | Mercury | $4B | Series C | San Francisco, CA |
| 4 | Cursor | $2.5B | Series B | San Francisco, CA |
| 5 | Epirus | $2B | Series C | Torrance, CA |
| 6 | Wiz | $32B | Series E | New York, NY |
| 7 | Neuralink | $10B | Series D | Fremont, CA |
| 8 | Perplexity AI | $5B | Series B | San Francisco, CA |
| 9 | Replit | $9B | Series C | San Francisco, CA |
Direct competitors
For each pick, four direct competitors outside the list — because the sharpest equity comparison is against the company you'd actually choose between.
| Pick | Direct competitors |
|---|---|
| OpenAI | vs Anthropic , vs xAI , vs Mistral AI , vs Cohere |
| Retool | vs Airtable , vs Workato , vs Tray.io , vs n8n |
| Mercury | vs Brex , vs Ramp , vs Stripe , vs Chime |
| Cursor | vs Replit , vs Windsurf (Codeium) , vs Cognition , vs Warp.Dev |
| Epirus | vs Anduril , vs Shield AI , vs Saronic , vs Helsing |
| Wiz | vs Chainguard , vs Orca Security , vs Cato Networks , vs Snyk |
| Neuralink | vs Synchron , vs Precision Neuroscience , vs Paradromics , vs Blackrock Neurotech |
| Perplexity AI | vs OpenAI , vs Anthropic , vs You.com , vs Exa |
| Replit | vs Cursor , vs Vercel , vs Warp.Dev , vs Lovable |
Head-to-head comparisons
Every pairwise comparison in this set, side-by-side.
| OpenAI | Retool | Mercury | Cursor | Epirus | Wiz | Neuralink | Perplexity AI | Replit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | — | vs Retool | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Retool | vs OpenAI | — | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Mercury | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | — | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Cursor | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | vs Mercury | — | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Epirus | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | — | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Wiz | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | — | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Neuralink | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | — | vs Perplexity AI | vs Replit |
| Perplexity AI | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | — | vs Replit |
| Replit | vs OpenAI | vs Retool | vs Mercury | vs Cursor | vs Epirus | vs Wiz | vs Neuralink | vs Perplexity AI | — |
Related
Compiled from public sources. Valuations and figures may be outdated. Not investment advice.
Inclusion in a set is editorial — not a recommendation.