Role at Cognition AI
Three-time IOI gold medalist and serial technologist who previously co-founded Lunchclub before launching Cognition AI in 2023.
Cognition AI
Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous Software EngineeringFounded 2023- HQ today: New York City, New York, USA
Reviewed by Swet Parvadiya
Company data updated: November 2026
Founders
Who Founded Cognition AI?
Scott Wu, Steven Hao, Walden Yan · Founded 2023 · HQ today: New York City, New York, USA
Who founded Cognition AI?
Cognition AI was founded by Scott Wu, Steven Hao, Walden Yan in 2023. It is now led by Scott Wu.
- Founders
- Scott Wu, Steven Hao, Walden Yan
- Founded
- 2023
- Headquarters
- New York City, New York, USA
- Number of founders
- 3
- Current CEO
- Scott Wu
- When was Cognition AI founded?
- Cognition AI was founded in 2023.
- Who started Cognition AI?
- Cognition AI was founded by Scott Wu, Steven Hao and Walden Yan.
- How old is Cognition AI?
- Cognition AI is 3 years old as of 2026.
Founding Story
Brothers Scott and Neal Wu, alongside Steven Hao and Walden Yan, assembled an elite group of algorithmic problem solvers. Drawing upon decades of competitive programming techniques where complex problems require systematic multi-step decomposition, they architected Devin to emulate the holistic thought processes and tool usage of a senior software engineer.
What each Cognition AI founder did
| Founder | Role at founding | Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Scott Wu | Co-Founder & CEO | — |
| Steven Hao | Co-Founder & CTO | — |
| Walden Yan | Co-Founder & Chief Scientist | — |
Role at Cognition AI
Competitive programming veteran and top IOI competitor who previously engineered scalable AI infrastructure at Scale AI.
Role at Cognition AI
Harvard computer science researcher and IOI gold medalist specializing in neural program synthesis and algorithmic agent reasoning.
Cognition AI: CEO & Leadership History
Full timeline →Scott Wu
Executive Leadership
Steven Hao
Engineering & Infrastructure
Keep researching Cognition AI
Who Founded Cognition AI? FAQ
Who founded Cognition AI?
Cognition AI was founded in 2023 by an entrepreneurial team committed to innovating Artificial Intelligence & Autonomous Software Engineering.
What was the inspiration behind founding Cognition AI?
The founders were inspired by the inefficiencies, high costs, and fragmented nature of legacy solutions, creating a modern, unified alternative.
Where was Cognition AI originally created?
Cognition AI was originally established in New York City, United States.
Are the original founders still involved?
The founding team established the cultural and technical DNA that continues to guide Cognition AI's current executive strategy and product roadmap.
What early technical breakthroughs did the founders achieve?
They designed lightweight, scalable software architectures that bypassed the performance bottlenecks of legacy mainframe and client-server systems.
How did the founders fund the initial development?
Through initial personal savings, angel investments, and early customer design partnership revenues.
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