Who are Cognition AI's decision-makers?
Cognition AI is led by Scott Wu (Co-founder and CEO) and Steven Hao (Co-founder and CTO). For selling, the relevant decision-maker is usually the executive or functional owner whose budget maps to the product category, with founders involved only for strategic or high-risk purchases.
- CEO
- Scott Wu
- CTO/key exec
- Steven Hao
- Founded
- 2023
- Employees
- ~200
- HQ
- San Francisco, CA
- Prior exit/Notable
- Competitive-programming gold medalist and public face of Dev
- Scott WuCo-founder and CEOsince 2023Competitive-programming gold medalist and public face of Devin.
- Steven HaoCo-founder and CTOsince 2023Technical co-founder focused on agentic software engineering.
- Walden YanCo-founder and CPOsince 2023Product co-founder.
- Varun MohanWindsurf CEO / acquired leadershipjoined via 2025 transactionWindsurf leader whose company was acquired by Cognition.
Who leads Cognition AI?
Scott Wu is Co-founder and CEO (since 2023) and competitive-programming gold medalist and public face of devin. Steven Hao is Co-founder and CTO (since 2023) and technical co-founder focused on agentic software engineering. Walden Yan is Co-founder and CPO (since 2023) and product co-founder.
Varun Mohan is Windsurf CEO / acquired leadership (joined via 2025 transaction) and windsurf leader whose company was acquired by cognition. The leadership story matters because these companies often centralize product and technical decisions around founders during rapid scaling.
Who actually makes buying decisions at Cognition AI?
For strategic infrastructure, AI, security, data, or enterprise software, expect a buying group rather than one owner. The founder or CEO may sponsor large bets, but evaluation usually runs through engineering, security, finance, legal, people, or GTM operations depending on the product. Budget owners will ask for proof that the vendor reduces cost, improves reliability, or accelerates a roadmap priority.
How is Cognition AI organized as it scales?
Cognition AI has moved beyond the earliest founder-led stage, so teams are increasingly specialized around product, engineering, GTM, operations, and security. That creates more formal procurement and vendor-risk processes. Sellers should map the operating team, technical evaluator, finance approver, and security reviewer before assuming the executive sponsor can move a deal alone.
As of June 2026.Sources:Cognition company profileCNBC - Cognition to buy Windsurf
Cognition AI — frequently asked questions
