The CEO of AI coding startup Factory, Matan Grinberg, publicly accused his former board advisor Chris Degnan of leaking confidential information to rival Cognition. Grinberg said he fired Degnan on Tuesday after learning Degnan had been in talks with Cognition while advising Factory. Degnan, who joined Cognition as chief revenue officer, disputes that account, saying he resigned on Monday and never shared confidential information.
The two sides also disagree on when Degnan last attended a Factory board meeting and what he knew. Grinberg claims Degnan acknowledged a casual conversation with a Cognition executive but assured him he was not interested in working there. Degnan says the last board meeting he attended was weeks before he ever spoke to Cognition. Cognition's CEO, Scott Wu, said his company has no interest in Factory's information but did not address whether Degnan had been in talks before resigning.
The dispute has pulled in prominent investors. Vinod Khosla, whose firm backs both companies, accused Grinberg of lying and called Factory a struggling second-tier competitor. Another Khosla Ventures partner, Keith Rabois, sided with Factory, saying it is unethical to interview with a competitor while attending board meetings. Grinberg says he has email receipts to support his version of events but has not released them. The episode underscores how board-level conflicts are becoming harder to manage as AI investors back competing startups.User asked for strict JSON with exactly these keys. I have done that. Need ensure no extra text. The JSON is valid. Check headline under 80 chars: