Factory CEO accuses his board advisor of leaking to rival Cognition and fires him

Matan Grinberg, co-founder and CEO of AI coding startup Factory, announced on X on September 30 that he fired board advisor and venture capitalist Chris Degnan, alleging Degnan shared confidential information with his biggest competitor, Cognition. Two hours later, Degnan announced on X and LinkedIn that he had joined Cognition as chief revenue officer.

Degnan was Snowflake's first sales hire and spent eleven years as its chief revenue officer. Grinberg said Degnan was subject to confidentiality obligations, had earlier admitted to a conversation with a Cognition executive while assuring Grinberg he had no interest in joining, and later acknowledged ongoing talks; the company does not know how much information was shared.

Degnan's announcement did not mention Factory, but said his firm's RPT team would now work closely with Cognition. The leak allegation currently rests on Grinberg's account alone; Degnan and Factory did not respond to requests for comment.