# Zhan Xiong Chin

Building Cognition  
Cognition  
United States

## At Cognition

- Role: Member of Technical Staff (Engineering)
- Joined: Aug 2023
- How they joined: With Havana (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/acquisitions/havana)
- Before Havana: Software Engineer, Airplane
- Olympiads: IOI silver 2009–2011, bronze 2008 (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/olympiads/chin-zhan-xiong-olp-3c5c06f4686e57b1b125)
- Overlapped before Cognition with other Cognition people at: Nuro; University of Pennsylvania (https://www.autumn.ai/resources/cognition/worked-together)

## Identity
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin
- GitHub: https://github.com/zhan-xiong
- Domain: cognition.ai

## Notes
- Joined Cognition (maker of Devin and Windsurf) as Member of Technical Staff in March 2026 after Cognition acquired Havana, the startup he co-founded as CTO. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Co-founded Havana (tryhavana.com) in Aug 2023 with CEO Nathan Wangliao; Havana built an AI agent that helps school and university enrollment teams speak with prospective students, and it was acquired by Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Tech in Asia and TechNode Global reported Cognition picking Singapore as its APAC hub, with the acquisition of Singapore startup Havana and the integration of Havana's team as part of that entry. (https://technode.global/2026/04/29/ai-coding-agent-cognition-expands-to-singapore-as-asia-pacific-hub/)
- Current role is Member of Technical Staff at Cognition. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Anni Cai posted that Nathan and Zhan Xiong are 'building the APAC team' at Cognition and are 'both cracked and genuinely kind'. (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/annicai_come-join-my-friends-nathan-and-zhan-xiong-activity-7445760222918352896-c2xF)
- Software Engineer at Airplane (2021-2023), joining as 'Engineer #3' at the Benchmark-backed internal-tools startup that was acquired by Airtable after its Series B, giving him an early-employee view of a venture exit before founding Havana. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Competed at the ICPC World Finals twice for the University of Pennsylvania. (https://cphof.org/profile/icpc:Zhan%20Xiong%20Chin)
- Represented Singapore at the International Olympiad in Informatics four times: Bronze in 2008, Silver in 2009 (rank 49/301), Silver in 2010 (rank 26/297, 685 points) and Silver in 2011 (rank 64/303). (http://stats.ioinformatics.org/people/2615)
- Havana publicly launched its AI student recruitment platform for higher education in Nov 2025, claiming engagement with 100,000+ prospective students, a 10% conversion lift, and 250+ man-days of manual work saved. (https://techrseries.com/recruitment-and-on-boarding/havana-launches-ai-student-recruitment-solution-to-transform-higher-education-enrollment/)
- Software Engineer on the Machine Learning Infrastructure team at self-driving company Nuro (Aug 2018 - Sep 2021), his first full-time role after Penn. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Trained Singapore's IOI team in C++ and algorithms in June-July 2014; that team went on to win 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Public headline says "Building Cognition". (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Grace Kong, an early Havana hire who joined 'when it was only the two founders', described the founders' kindness as leaders (end-of-day thank-yous, covering taxi fares so she could balance work and law school). (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/grace-kong-32a968218_so-havana-got-acquired-by-cognition-i-activity-7445831501553922048-wdWb)
- Interned on Addepar's Infrastructure team (summer 2017) and on Two Sigma's Trading Engineering - Execution Engineering team (summer 2016). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Helping universities, schools, and other education institutions grow their enrollment with AI.

tryhavana.com; this comes from the profile summary and preserves the person's own positioning. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Previous roles include Member of Technical Staff at Cognition; CTO & Co-founder at Havana; Software Engineer at Airplane; Software Engineer at Nuro; Software Engineering Intern at Addepar; Software Engineering Intern at Two Sigma; Trainer at International Olympiad in Informatics. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)
- Location is United States. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin)

## Experience
- Member of Technical Staff at Cognition (Mar 2026 - Present)
- CTO & Co-founder at Havana (Aug 2023 - Mar 2026): Havana builds an AI agent that helps enrollment teams in schools speak with prospective students. Acquired by Cognition.
- Software Engineer at Airplane (Jan 2021 - Dec 2023): Backed by Benchmark. Joined as Engineer #3, acquired by Airtable after Series B.
- Software Engineer at Nuro (Aug 2018 - Sep 2021): Machine Learning Infrastructure team at a self-driving car company.
- Software Engineering Intern at Addepar (May 2017 - Aug 2017): Infrastructure team
- Software Engineering Intern at Two Sigma (May 2016 - Aug 2016): Trading Engineering - Execution Engineering
- Trainer at International Olympiad in Informatics (Jun 2014 - Jul 2014): Trained Singapore’s International Olympiad team in C++ programming and algorithms
Team eventually obtained 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal

## Education
- University of Pennsylvania - Bachelors + Masters, Computer Science - (Jan 2014 - Dec 2018)

## Sources
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/zhan-xiong-chin
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nathanwangliao_incredibly-excited-to-share-that-havana-has-activity-7445044281775562752-pfUn
- http://stats.ioinformatics.org/people/2615
- https://cphof.org/profile/icpc:Zhan%20Xiong%20Chin
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/annicai_come-join-my-friends-nathan-and-zhan-xiong-activity-7445760222918352896-c2xF
- https://www.linkedin.com/posts/grace-kong-32a968218_so-havana-got-acquired-by-cognition-i-activity-7445831501553922048-wdWb
- https://techrseries.com/recruitment-and-on-boarding/havana-launches-ai-student-recruitment-solution-to-transform-higher-education-enrollment/
- https://technode.global/2026/04/29/ai-coding-agent-cognition-expands-to-singapore-as-asia-pacific-hub/
- https://www.techinasia.com/news/ai-coding-startup-cognition-picks-singapore-apac-hq
- https://github.com/zhan-xiong


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