# Pavel Tritchkov

R&D at Cognition (Devin); ex-Head of GTM & Ops at Poke (The Interaction Company of California), acquired by Cognition  
Cognition  
San Francisco, California, United States

## At Cognition

- Role: Research (Research)
- Joined: Feb 2026
- How they joined: With Poke (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/acquisitions/poke)
- Before Poke: Investment Team, redalpine

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156
- X: @paveltritchkov
- Website: https://paveltritchkov.com/
- Domain: cognition.ai

## Notes
- Cognition announced it was acquiring The Interaction Company of California, the makers of Poke, on 2026-07-23: 'Cognition is acquiring @Interaction, the makers of Poke. If you've ever used Poke, you know why we're so excited.' His Cognition start (Aug 2026) follows the deal by days. (https://x.com/cognition/status/2080311229256540194)
- Was Head of GTM & Ops at The Interaction Company of California (makers of Poke) from Feb 2026 to Aug 2026 in Palo Alto; his LinkedIn describes the role as 'sixth hire (acq)'. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)
- Joined Cognition in August 2026 with title 'r&d' (San Francisco); public headline simply reads 'at Cognition'. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)
- Poke was co-founded by Marvin von Hagen and Felix Schlegel; General Catalyst announced its seed investment in The Interaction Company of California on 2025-09-08. (https://www.generalcatalyst.com/stories/seeding-the-future-with-the-interaction-company-of-california)
- Since joining Cognition he has reposted launches including SWE-2 (2026-09-10), Devin Voice (2026-09-11), the refreshed Devin Desktop app (2026-10-23) and FrontierCode 2.0 (2026-10-27). (https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/2115136304237486157)
- TechCrunch (2026-07-24) framed the deal as Cognition buying Poke's conversational style and interaction model for its coding agent Devin: 'AI personality is becoming a competitive advantage'. (https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/)
- During his time at Interaction he reposted the Poke launches: the new Poke approved on Apple Messages (2026-06-04), Poke handles (2026-06-08), Poke Ultra (2026-06-18), Poke Human with Mercor and Whop (2026-06-25) and stock trading in Poke (2026-07-20). (https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/2062579532058743036)
- Public headline says "at Cognition". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)
- Coverage of the deal reports nothing immediately changes for Poke through the end of 2026, with Poke turning to Cognition's SWE-1.7 model for some tasks and the teams experimenting with how Poke and Devin can improve. (https://openassistant.us/blog/poke-ai-acquired-by-cognition)
- Shreya Shekhar thanked him for helping organize a Systems Reading Group event (Sept 2026): 'special thanks to @paveltritchkov for the help organizing!' (https://x.com/_shreya_s/status/2104630665585242466)
- Original X post on Poke (2026-03-19): 'Poke knows me better than I know myself🌴'. (https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/2034717432322171138)
- Took part in the Swiss AI Hackathon (ETH Entrepreneur Club, Zurich, Nov 2025) with Cemre Samur, Oscar Sodian and Ben Klomp; the team built Lepton, an AI-powered construction planning platform, in 24 hours with Lovable. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cemresamur_weekend-in-resonance-last-weekend-i-was-ugcPost-7394696221925240832-yX2s?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgfNgBMfNGiIFinzuWEu1v5_jYzdgt1Kw)
- His X following list includes many Interaction and Cognition people, e.g. @marsxiang_ ('poke @interaction & theoretical cs'), @samyok, @maxiloh1 ('mts @cognition | ex @interaction @janestreetgroup') and @ybenpan ('research @cognition'). (https://x.com/paveltritchkov)
- Original X post (2024-03-14), days after Devin's launch: 'AI: Dev-in  Me: Dev-out'. He was joking about Devin more than two years before joining Cognition. (https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/1768333028181577784)
- Previous roles include Head of GTM & Ops at The Interaction Company of California; Investment Team at redalpine; Various Roles at Various Companies. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)
- X bio reads 'at cognition | prev @interaction'; account created May 2013, about 120 followers, 18 tweets. It is mostly reposts. (https://x.com/paveltritchkov)
- LinkedIn lists 'Various Roles at Various Companies' from Oct 2021 to Sep 2023 without naming employers. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)
- Location is San Francisco, California, United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)
- Speaks German, Bulgarian and English per his LinkedIn skills. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156)

## Experience
- r&d at Cognition - San Francisco, California, United States (Aug 2026 - Present)
- Head of GTM & Ops at The Interaction Company of California - Palo Alto, California, United States (Feb 2026 - Aug 2026): sixth hire (acq)
- Investment Team at redalpine (Jun 2025 - Nov 2025)
- Various Roles at Various Companies (Oct 2021 - Sep 2023)

## Education
- Nova School of Business and Economics - Master of Science - MS, Economics: Thesis: Distributional Effects of Monetary Policy in the Euro Area: Evidence from the Consumer Expectations Survey
- University of California, Berkeley - Visiting Graduate Student, Mathematics and Economics
- Technische Universität Dresden - Bachelor of Science - BS, Economics and Business: Thesis: What are the Main Causes of Banking Crises, and Can They be Identified and Mitigated Before They Occur?

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavel-tritchkov-184016156
- https://x.com/paveltritchkov
- https://www.generalcatalyst.com/stories/seeding-the-future-with-the-interaction-company-of-california
- https://api.github.com/users/paveltritchkov
- https://x.com/_shreya_s/status/2104630665585242466
- https://x.com/michivinocour
- https://x.com/cognition/status/2080311229256540194
- https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/24/why-cognition-bought-poke-ai-personality-is-becoming-a-competitive-advantage/
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cognition-ai-labs_cognition-is-acquiring-the-interaction-company-activity-7486098652839444480-zGLn
- https://openassistant.us/blog/poke-ai-acquired-by-cognition
- https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/2034717432322171138
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/cemresamur?miniProfileUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_profile%3AACoAADpy4KEBOGJrcbw36jJxqTmHn1wn0oNL4f4
- https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/1768333028181577784
- https://paveltritchkov.com/
- https://github.com/paveltritchkov
- https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/2115136304237486157
- https://x.com/paveltritchkov/status/2062579532058743036
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/cemresamur_weekend-in-resonance-last-weekend-i-was-ugcPost-7394696221925240832-yX2s?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAHCgfNgBMfNGiIFinzuWEu1v5_jYzdgt1Kw
- https://www.facebook.com/GISSV/albums/10150961091867067/


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