Factory CEO just accused his VC board advisor of spying for Cognition
Factory CEO Matan Grinberg has fired board advisor Chris Degnan, alleging he shared confidential information with competitor Cognition. Degnan subsequently joined Cognition as its chief revenue officer, sparking concerns over corporate espionage in the AI startup sector.
Why it matters
This incident highlights the intense competition and potential for intellectual property conflicts within the high-stakes AI coding agent market.
Matan Grinberg, co-founder and CEO of the AI coding startup Factory, said in a post on X on Wednesday that he fired VC Chris Degnan from role as a board advisor. Grinberg alleges that Degnan shared confidential information with Factory’s biggest competitor, Cognition.
Two hours later, Degnan announced on both X and LinkedIn that he has joined Cognition as its chief revenue officer.
Degnan was Snowflake’s first sales hire and later spent 11 years as the data company’s chief revenue officer. He has spent the last five months as a partner with RPT Partners, a Newport Beach, California-based investor in Factory. Degnan’s LinkedIn account also says he is a go-to-market advisor to startups for the much bigger venture firm Iconiq, a role that dates back to October of last year.
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