# Jon Arnett

Commercial Counsel at Windsurf/Cognition; technology and sales-contracts lawyer  
Windsurf  
San Francisco Bay Area

## At Cognition

- Role: Commercial Counsel (Legal)
- Joined: Nov 2024
- How they joined: With Windsurf (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/acquisitions/windsurf)
- Before Windsurf: Commercial Counsel, Extreme Networks
- Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Codeium (Windsurf) (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together)

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a
- Domain: windsurf.com

## Notes
- Cognition signed a definitive agreement on 2025-07-14 to acquire Windsurf (the agentic IDE), including its IP, product, trademark, brand and team; the announcement cited $82M ARR and 350+ enterprise customers, the commercial book a commercial counsel would be supporting. (https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf)
- Commercial Counsel at Windsurf (formerly Codeium) since Nov 2024, based in Mountain View; LinkedIn role description reads "Formerly Codeium; acquired by Google and Cognition AI". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Cognition's deal came days after Google hired Windsurf CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen and research leaders in a $2.4B license-and-hire arrangement that left much of the ~250-person team behind; Arnett is among the staff who stayed and moved to Cognition. (https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/cognition-maker-of-the-ai-coding-agent-devin-acquires-windsurf/)
- Posted on 2025-01-08: "Huge Codeium shout out from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at CES! Sellers, sales management, sales engineers, partner/channel folks: Do you want to join a top tier team at an AI company that will be one of Nvidia's and Anthropic's biggest workloads?  DM me!" The counsel was recruiting for the sales team. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jon-arnett-506b591a_huge-codeium-shout-out-from-nvidia-ceo-jensen-activity-7282868027044327424-h4hD)
- Spent about 6.5 years at 8x8 (Aug 2016 to Apr 2023), going from Senior Corporate Counsel to Lead Counsel, Sales (Oct 2019) to Senior Director, Legal (Nov 2021). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Licensed as Jonathan Craig Arnett, California State Bar #255135, admitted 2008-02-07, status Active. (https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/255135)
- Public headline says "Technology Counsel". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Commercial Counsel at Extreme Networks (San Jose), Mar 2024 to Nov 2024, his last role before joining Codeium. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Deputy General Counsel at Druva (Santa Clara), Apr 2023 to Nov 2023, his most senior title to date. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Worked at RingCentral (Belmont, CA) from Dec 2013 as Corporate Counsel and from Apr 2016 as Senior Corporate Counsel; with j2 Global and 8x8 that adds up to a decade in cloud communications/UCaaS before moving into AI software. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Corporate Counsel at j2 Global in Hollywood, CA, May 2012 to Dec 2013; it was his first in-house role. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Labor and Employment Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, 2010 to 2012. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Started his career as an Associate at Quinn Emanuel, 2007 to 2010, a litigation firm. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Previous roles include Commercial Counsel at Extreme Networks; Deputy General Counsel at Druva; Senior Director, Legal at 8x8; Lead Counsel, Sales at 8x8; Senior Corporate Counsel at 8x8; Senior Corporate Counsel at RingCentral; Corporate Counsel at RingCentral; Corporate Counsel at j2 Global. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Education history includes Doctor of Law (JD), with honors, The University of Texas at Austin; B.A. in Philosophy, minor in Ancient Greek, with special honors and distinction, University of Iowa. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- JD with honors from The University of Texas at Austin; BA in Philosophy with a minor in Ancient Greek, with special honors and distinction, from the University of Iowa. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- His listed skills include software licensing, data privacy (PIPEDA, Canadian privacy law, HIPAA), TCPA, reseller/VAR networks, distributors and M&A, which match the enterprise and channel contracting a dev-tools company like Windsurf/Cognition needs. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Location is San Francisco Bay Area. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)
- Has 1,215 followers and 1,209 connections on LinkedIn; his public headline is "Technology Counsel". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a)

## Experience
- Commercial Counsel at Windsurf - Mountain View, California, United States (Nov 2024 - Present): Formerly Codeium; acquired by Google and Cognition AI
- Commercial Counsel at Extreme Networks - San Jose, California, United States (Mar 2024 - Nov 2024)
- Deputy General Counsel at Druva - Santa Clara, California, United States (Apr 2023 - Nov 2023)
- Senior Director, Legal at 8x8 - Campbell, California, United States (Nov 2021 - Apr 2023)
- Lead Counsel, Sales at 8x8 - Campbell, California, United States (Oct 2019 - Nov 2021)
- Senior Corporate Counsel at 8x8 - San Jose, California, United States (Aug 2016 - Oct 2019)
- Senior Corporate Counsel at RingCentral - Belmont, CA (Apr 2016 - Aug 2016)
- Corporate Counsel at RingCentral - Belmont, CA (Dec 2013 - Apr 2016)
- Corporate Counsel at j2 Global - Hollywood, California (May 2012 - Dec 2013)
- Labor and Employment Associate at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP (Apr 2010 - Apr 2012)
- Associate at Quinn Emanuel - Los Angeles, California, United States (Sep 2007 - Mar 2010)

## Education
- The University of Texas at Austin - Doctor of Law (JD), with honors
- University of Iowa - B.A. in Philosophy, minor in Ancient Greek, with special honors and distinction

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/jon-arnett-506b591a
- https://cognition.com/blog/windsurf
- https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/14/cognition-maker-of-the-ai-coding-agent-devin-acquires-windsurf/
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jon-arnett-506b591a_shout-out-to-the-mishine-adam-mishcon-for-activity-7295941761997160449-PsPf
- https://apps.calbar.ca.gov/attorney/Licensee/Detail/255135
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jon-arnett-506b591a_huge-codeium-shout-out-from-nvidia-ceo-jensen-activity-7282868027044327424-h4hD


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