20VC: Cognition CEO Scott Wu on Acquiring Windsurf: The Process, The Deal, The Rationale | Did Google Overlook a Goldmine in the Core Asset and Did Founders Leave a Sinking Ship | How Cursor and Cognition Deal with Ever Increasing Reliance on Anthropic

**Scott Wu** (0:00)
I think there's an unspoken covenant that, as a founder, you go down with the ship. For better or for worse, it's changed a bit over the last year, and I think it's a bit disappointing, to be honest. I think there's some real truths to your point that often there are actually a lot of really valuable pieces that get left behind. In AI code, to be truly honest, if there was zero progress, the world would still be entirely different.

**Harry Stebbings** (0:22)
This is 20VC with me, Harry Stebbings. Now, you wanna know how real time this episode is? It was recorded about 12 hours before you're listening to it. It was recorded late, late on Thursday night. And yes, 20VC team worked through the night to edit it and turn it around. That is commitment for you. The only thing that anyone wants to talk about this week is Cognition by Windsurf. What happened? Did the team get screwed over? What happens from here? How does it fit into Cognition's Grandmaster Plan? What does it mean for the space in terms of who wins? Cursor vs. Cognition vs. Claude Code. We unpack it all today with Scott Wu, co-founder and CEO at Cognition. But before we dive into the show today, Harvard Management Company is constantly seeking out the next generation of great investors and entrepreneurs. HMC has managed Harvard University's endowment for nearly 50 years and was one of the first institutional investors in Venture Capital. Their experience and long-term investment horizon makes them ideal partners to get world-changing ideas on a path to viability and success. They work as a true partner, providing insightful perspectives to help managers succeed. I personally have had the pleasure of working with the HMC team and can say that they are truly exceptional partners and savvy investors. So whether you're launching your first fund or your fifth, HMC welcomes the opportunity to partner with both developing and established managers. Have an idea you want to share with the team? Just send it over to ventureathmc.harvard.edu.
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**Scott Wu** (2:44)
You have now arrived at your destination.

**Harry Stebbings** (2:46)
Scott, I am so excited for this dude. I was literally just telling you, it is a cool prep when you get to cool up like Vinod Koestler, Joe Lonsdale and you call them and you're like, hey, what should I ask? They're just like, I love this guy. So thank you so much for joining me.

**Scott Wu** (3:02)
Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been a crazy few days for us all.

**Harry Stebbings** (3:05)
It's been pretty insane. I just want to start present day and work our way around. How did you learn about the potential ability for you to acquire Windsurf? And how did that opportunity arise?

**Scott Wu** (3:19)
Yeah, we found out honestly on Friday, the same time everyone else did, that all of this was happening and that this was the split and that it was Google.
And here's what happens next. And here's what happens with the team. And we were kind of talking about it, which is, you know, on the Devin side, I think in a few ways, it seems to be a pretty natural fit. One because I think obviously there was an incredible team left behind. And if anything, I think what we have at Cognition, I would say, is especially focused on the core engineering and product team. Whereas obviously, like, you know, I think Windsurf has built an amazing go-to-market team, marketing team, finance, operations. And then similarly in terms of the products, you know, we found that actually there was a very naturally complimentary lean. And so we reached out cold Friday evening. And our first conversation was Friday night.

**Harry Stebbings** (4:03)
Just take me to it. Then you reach out to Jeff and you're like, hey, figure something is going down. Should we jump on a cool?