# Emily Cohen

![Emily Cohen](/resources/cognition/portraits/emily-cohen.webp)

SVP Operations & People at Cognition (Devin, Windsurf); former Neo Partner and Head of Accelerator; Forbes 30 Under 30 VC 2025  
Cognition  
San Francisco, California, United States

## At Cognition

- Role: SVP, Operations & People (Recruiting/People)
- Joined: Jul 2025
- How they joined: Directly
- Before Cognition: Partner, Neo
- Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Neo; TreeHacks; Google; McKinsey & Company (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together)

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8
- X: @emilyycohen
- Domain: cognition.com

## Investing
- Cognition
- GPTZero
- Telo Trucks · seed
- Caldera

## Notes
- Her public posts since joining are dominated by hire announcements she personally recruited (Alex Stamos as CISO, Brandon Camhi to lead marketing, Art from Brex as VP Global Partnerships). (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2104968326644723871)
- Public headline says "Cognition | Neo | Stanford CS | ex McKinsey, Google". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8)
- Emily Cohen retweeted @igarciacamargo: 'in 2027, the majority of tokens spent on coding will go towards security. there is no better team to tackle this than @…' (https://x.com/emilyycohen)
- Emily Cohen retweeted @cognition: 'Founded by three 22-year-olds in 2023, @mercor crossed $2B ARR in June, only 4 months after hitting $1B. Today, millions of…' (https://x.com/emilyycohen)
- Emily Cohen retweeted @alexkaplan0: 'We are committing $100,000,000+ in Devin credits to secure the world. Devin Security is our new platform to do just that.' (https://x.com/emilyycohen)
- Emily Cohen (@emilyycohen) announced that Alex Stamos is joining Cognition as CISO, noting he starts that day and is actively hiring. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2104968326644723871)
- Emily Cohen works at Cognition, referring to it as 'our CISO' and 'Join us' in her post. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2104968326644723871)
- Posted on X as @emilyycohen, referencing the last 2 years and what Devin can do for customers, and inviting people to join. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2103543155975246253)
- Works at Cognition; states every day at Cognition makes her more convinced the industry is at the dawn of the biggest technological shift and that it is the most fun she will ever have at work. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2097413130595057811)
- Described today's news (the post's subject) as a major milestone for Cognition. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2097413130595057811)
- Emily Cohen (@emilyycohen) posted a reply on X to a thread by @alexkaplan0. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2097382647928631346)
- Works with Art Levy, who joined Cognition as VP of Global Partnerships; she welcomed him to the team. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2084712116716744970)
- Emily Cohen is Vice President Operations and People at Cognition. (https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/feature/inside-the-amr-network-technology-forum-building-an-ai-powered-enterprise)
- Emily Cohen explained that Cognition has developed Devin, one of the world's first AI software engineers capable of working across the software development lifecycle. (https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/feature/inside-the-amr-network-technology-forum-building-an-ai-powered-enterprise)
- Emily Cohen said the biggest transformation is that the structure of teams begins to change, with AI enabling engineers to manage multiple specialist agents rather than replacing engineers. (https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/feature/inside-the-amr-network-technology-forum-building-an-ai-powered-enterprise)
- Emily Cohen said engineering managers were some of Cognition's earliest adopters. (https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/feature/inside-the-amr-network-technology-forum-building-an-ai-powered-enterprise)
- Emily Cohen is part of the team at Cognition (implied by the post about Cognition and 'this unreal team'). (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_more-devins-in-more-places-cognition-activity-7465439872078536704-xa5z)
- Emily Cohen of Neo joined Cognition's team full-time, alongside Christian L. of Conversion Capital and swyx. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cognition-ai-labs_cognition-funding-growth-and-the-next-activity-7370851576262877184-hnAB/)
- Emily Cohen is a Partner at Neo. (https://cognition.com/blog/funding-growth-and-the-next-frontier-of-ai-coding-agents)
- Emily Cohen was one of Cognition's early investors, described as having made the high-conviction investment to join Cognition full-time. (https://cognition.com/blog/funding-growth-and-the-next-frontier-of-ai-coding-agents)
- Cognition announced it was thrilled to welcome Emily Cohen (Neo, Partner) to join the team full-time, alongside Christian Lawless (Conversion Capital, Founder & General Partner). (https://cognition.com/blog/funding-growth-and-the-next-frontier-of-ai-coding-agents)
- Featured speaker at Girls Into VC fireside chat 'From Nonprofits, Google & McKinsey to VC: A Conversation with Emily Cohen of NEO' hosted by Isabella Mandis on Wednesday, July 23, 2025, 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM EDT via Zoom. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Author of the post is Emily Cohen (@emilyycohen) on X. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/1944832339814834403)
- Posted about the Cognition (@cognition_labs) team's pace, referencing news on Friday leading to a signed agreement the following Monday morning. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/1944832339814834403)
- Congratulated the whole @cognition_labs and @windsurf_ai teams. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/1944832339814834403)
- Emily Cohen (@emilyycohen) authored a post on X about the Windsurf deal, praising Scott Wu (@ScottWu46) for making a difference and doing right by everyone involved. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/1944834563492266057)
- Announced a new option for Future Neo Scholars to take a semester off to build at Neo in San Francisco alongside other Neo scholars, founders, mentors & more. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_a-new-way-for-college-students-to-bet-on-activity-7338272168151044097-shS5)
- Directed Future Neo Scholars to apply at http://neo.com. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_a-new-way-for-college-students-to-bet-on-activity-7338272168151044097-shS5, http://neo.com)
- Left Neo in mid-2025 to join Cognition full-time. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- In mid-2025, left Neo to join Cognition (the AI coding startup behind Devin) full-time, a company in which she had been an early investor through Neo. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Promoted to Partner at Neo. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Joined Cognition full time in 2025 because she wanted to spend every day learning from @ScottWu46, @russelljkaplan and the brilliant people they were bringing together. (https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2097413130595057811)
- Former Google engineer and McKinsey analyst promoted from Head of Accelerator to Partner in 2025. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- In January 2025, promoted to Partner, making her one of three partners alongside Ali Partovi and Suzanne Xie. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Joined Neo in 2022. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Has been a thought partner to Ali Partovi since she joined Neo in 2022. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Joined Neo in 2022, initially as Head of Accelerator & Community and Principal Investor. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Created and ran the Neo Accelerator from 2022 to 2025, which funded approximately 20 startups per cohort across three cohorts (2022, 2023, 2024). (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- The 2022 accelerator cohort she launched had more than half its CEOs being women or underrepresented minorities. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Attended The Dalton School in New York City before studying Computer Science and Economics at Stanford University, where she graduated around 2020. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Held roles at Google as a software engineer (summer 2018), McKinsey & Company as a business analyst, and The Farmlink Project (May 2020 - December 2020), a Stanford-founded nonprofit connecting farms with food banks. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Met Ali Partovi in 2018 when she was highly recommended to be a Neo Scholar. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- First connected with Ali Partovi in 2018 when she was recommended to become a Neo Scholar. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Emily Cohen's X profile bio lists @Cognition and @Neo. (https://x.com/emilyycohen)
- Emily Cohen's X account (@emilyycohen) has 1,951 followers and is verified. (https://x.com/emilyycohen)
- Works at Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_my-first-meeting-with-brandon-camhi-was-supposed-activity-7508963545162670080-fLLW)
- Had a first meeting with Brandon Camhi that was supposed to be 30 minutes but lasted five hours. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_my-first-meeting-with-brandon-camhi-was-supposed-activity-7508963545162670080-fLLW)
- Says Brandon Camhi is 'our guy' and is excited to have him at the helm of marketing at Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_my-first-meeting-with-brandon-camhi-was-supposed-activity-7508963545162670080-fLLW)
- Emily Cohen is SVP of Operations & People at Cognition, where she oversees operational strategy and people functions across the company. (https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients)
- Prior to her current role, she served as Head of Business Operations at Cognition. (https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients)
- Before joining Cognition, Emily was a Partner at Neo, an early-stage venture fund, where she led the accelerator and community programs. (https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients)
- Earlier in her career, she was a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company and a Software Engineer at Google. (https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients)
- She holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Economics from Stanford University. (https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients)
- LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8/. (https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients, https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8/)
- Became a critical investor on the Neo team. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Created and launched Neo Accelerator. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Oversaw the Neo Reunion. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Ali Partovi later convinced her to join the Neo team. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Described as a phenomenal leader, operator and people manager. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Had an incredible impact on Neo over the past 3 years. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Earned the trust and respect of countless founders across the Neo portfolio. (https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner)
- Partner at Neo. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Head of the Neo Accelerator. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Leads the Neo Accelerator, supporting student founders and early-stage startups through one of the most selective and supportive programs in the industry. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Background in Computer Science and Economics from Stanford. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Software engineer at Google. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Business analyst at McKinsey. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Nonprofit operator. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Event planner. (https://luma.com/pszx0m49)
- Partner at Neo, Ali Partovi's mentorship-driven pre-seed and seed fund, where she built and ran the Neo Accelerator (60+ startups across three cohorts). (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Individually attributed bets skew AI/developer-tools and consumer — Cognition (Devin), Chord, Sapien, Doorlist, Womp — often from the Neo Scholars scholar-to-founder pipeline. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- At Stanford, served as a Computer Science section leader, co-directed the TreeHacks hackathon (Stanford's premier hackathon), and held leadership roles in Stanford Women in Business. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Created and launched the Neo Accelerator program and oversees the annual Neo Reunion event. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Cognition publicly acknowledged her as one of two early investors who "made the high-conviction investment to join us full-time". (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Described the Neo Accelerator as built around four pillars derived from conversations with first-time founders about ideal conditions for starting a company: competitive funding (matching pre-seed/seed rounds), a tight-knit community with peers and mentors, support closing a next round of funding, and access to a talent pool of engineers. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- In an interview about her path to VC, her non-traditional route — spanning software engineering, consulting, nonprofits, and event planning — was highlighted as informing her founder-centric approach. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Cognition's founders (Scott Wu, Walden Yan, Steven Hao) were Neo Scholars. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Portfolio: Cognition (Devin) Seed ~2023 AI/Developer Tools; Doorlist Pre-seed/Seed 2023-2024 Consumer/Events; Womp Seed 2022 3D Design/Creative Tools; Pegasi Pre-seed ~2024 AI Agents/Enterprise; Chord Seed 2022 AI/Product Research; Moment Seed 2022 Fintech/Fixed Income; Sapien Seed 2024 AI/Finance. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Notable accelerator alumni include Anterior (AI/healthcare), Caldera (blockchain), Moment, and Chord. (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Check size $600K-$750K (via Neo accelerator/fund). (https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen)
- Emily Cohen worked at Neo and sat across from Connor Ling at the office every day. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/connorling_cognition-funding-growth-and-the-next-activity-7370888229966860290-IbTm)
- Emily Cohen is no longer sitting across from Connor Ling at the office every day, implying she left Neo. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/connorling_cognition-funding-growth-and-the-next-activity-7370888229966860290-IbTm)
- Elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Stanford (2020); graduated B.S. Computer Science and Economics with Distinction. (https://www.scribd.com/document/465037206/PBK-2020-Elected-Students-pdf)
- At The Dalton School she co-founded and organized 'Code Like a Girl: Breaking the Boundary Bit by Bit', Dalton's first coding conference for girls (April 16, 2016). (https://www.dalton.org/news-detail?pk=1038524)
- Previous roles include Head of Business Operations at Cognition; Partner at Neo; Principal Investor, Head of Accelerator & Community at Neo; Investor, Head of Accelerator & Community at Neo; Secondee at McKinsey & Company; Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company; Advisor at The Farmlink Project; Technology and Development Team Lead at The Farmlink Project. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8)
- Education history includes B.S., Computer Science and Economics, with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa, Stanford University; The Dalton School. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8)
- Location is San Francisco, California, United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8)

## Experience
- SVP, Operations & People at Cognition - San Francisco Bay Area (Mar 2026 - Present)
- Advisor at Neo (Jan 2025 - Present)
- Head of Business Operations at Cognition - San Francisco Bay Area (Jul 2025 - Mar 2026)
- Partner at Neo - San Francisco Bay Area (Jan 2025 - Aug 2025)
- Principal Investor, Head of Accelerator & Community at Neo - San Francisco Bay Area (Oct 2023 - Jan 2025)
- Investor, Head of Accelerator & Community at Neo - San Francisco, California, United States (Feb 2022 - Oct 2023)
- Secondee at McKinsey & Company (Jan 2022 - Jan 2022)
- Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company - New York City Metropolitan Area (Jan 2020 - Jan 2022)
- Advisor at The Farmlink Project (Jan 2020 - Jan 2021)
- Technology and Development Team Lead at The Farmlink Project (Jan 2020 - Jan 2020): - Lead the product pillar, one of the four Farmlink pillars, focused on research (specifically needfinding), design thinking, technology and development 
- Create and manage the technology across the organization
- Work with the other team leads to drive the organization towards more deliveries, and higher sustainability and efficiency
- Focus on Farmlink's long term vision of scaling the project's impact exponentially
- Computer Science Section Leader at Stanford University - Stanford, California (Jan 2017 - Jan 2020): - Lead a section of 10-15 students. 
- Hold office hours for 2-4 hours weekly in addition to individual student meetings. 
- Grade assignments and exams for CS106A and CS106B.
- Directed “Shark Tank Challenge” event where 30+ teams competed in our own “Shark Tank” challenge.
- Currently working with 20+ companies to plan networking events, raised tens of thousands in sponsorships.
- Summer Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company - New York City Metropolitan Area (Jan 2019 - Jan 2019)
- Co-Director at TreeHacks - Stanford, California (Jan 2017 - Jan 2019): - Co-Directed Hackathon of over 1000 students from universities across the country.
- Directed sponsorship. Raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from over 30 companies and managed budget. 
- Ordered and managed all catering for event. 
- Co-Managed team of 25 TreeHacks organizers.
- Software Engineer at Google (Jan 2018 - Jan 2018): - Added functionality to share playlists and channels through YouTube’s direct messaging platform.
-  Modified YouTube’s sharing backend framework to allow for new types of content to be shared.
- Designed and implemented reusable UI for displaying a playlist on iOS devices.

## Education
- Stanford University - B.S., Computer Science and Economics, with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa
- The Dalton School

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8
- https://www.opalsearchpartners.com/clients
- https://cognition.com/blog/funding-growth-and-the-next-frontier-of-ai-coding-agents
- https://www.scribd.com/document/465037206/PBK-2020-Elected-Students-pdf
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2104968326644723871
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/1944832339814834403
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/1944834563492266057
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/connorling_cognition-funding-growth-and-the-next-activity-7370888229966860290-IbTm
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_a-new-way-for-college-students-to-bet-on-activity-7338272168151044097-shS5
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_more-devins-in-more-places-cognition-activity-7465439872078536704-xa5z
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2084712116716744970
- https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/feature/inside-the-amr-network-technology-forum-building-an-ai-powered-enterprise
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2097413130595057811
- https://seedlist.com/investors/emily-cohen
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2103543155975246253
- https://x.com/emilyycohen/status/2097382647928631346
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cognition-ai-labs_cognition-funding-growth-and-the-next-activity-7370851576262877184-hnAB/
- https://neo.substack.com/p/neos-newest-partner
- https://www.dalton.org/news-detail?pk=1038524
- https://luma.com/pszx0m49
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/emily-cohen-157ba0b8_my-first-meeting-with-brandon-camhi-was-supposed-activity-7508963545162670080-fLLW
- https://x.com/emilyycohen
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/honelabs/posts
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-coleman-819439?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAAQZFUBn8yFY-anNdZIPL5fi00cGWFFvUg
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/sunil-chhaya?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAaI2JkBlVUna0KWayC1S77teuTSwthh_70
- https://www.linkedin.com/company/cognition-ai-labs/posts
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/apartovi?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAABbIS0BDPTWQjuhIHv25ruCH72aYbqe2Z8
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/isaackwkim?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAWbvHoBfquE96SDaXlZL9s7slWQuzfamX4
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakevillas?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAQbmUMBXGxWJVfw7OmSL_pfZtAtn5599ws
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-degnan?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAARaewBuqhBLJOMWDjvqYBHQTbUmPAzhas
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/yihangyan?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAAAbWBwQBnwBv-2rQ4tn-9A5eMOdCiYGP26w
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/chirag--kulkarni?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAACZqp-YBHcc4Z_-7jP-_dg3BRvlnnmuKi34
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-grewal-288978b4?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAABhZGogBxp820_o6h_EAiCfVTTds_dKtodI
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAABkXrtMB5kio6QeMklvmNw3y5eWOiG2t114
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-wu-8b94ab96?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAABRcyU0B3eVfSh_wWQgM7w3CZRywJOf28G8
- https://cognition.com/
- https://sfstandard.com/2026/03/24/grind-sf-startup-racing-build-ai-software-engineer/
- https://www.techjournal.uk/p/aston-martin-f1-builds-ai-ecosystem
- https://www.techmeme.com/260930/p43
- http://neo.com
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-cohen-157ba0b8/


Researched with Autumn (https://www.autumn.ai) from public sources. Updated 2026-11-04. Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people/emily-cohen · Everyone at Cognition: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/people