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Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

cognition.ai

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Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#251

Post by mring33621 »

no_wizard wrote: post #106
objclxt wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've seen a lot of harsh, misguided takes over the past few days, like that the Windsurf founders screwed over their employees [...] In this case, this seems like a happy ending for all parties involved There is no evidence at all in the announcement that is the case. It just says "100% of Windsurf employees will participate financially in this deal". What "participate financially" looks like is not elaborated upon…

>It is possible you're right. It's also equally possible that the founders have still screwed over their employees, we just don't know. Nothing in this post supports either position. In the lack of evidence, its okay to assume the most likely scenario, which is the executives & shareholders will make out like bandits and everyone else is likely to at best, get pennies.

pizza party

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#252

Post by guluarte »

anticensor wrote: post #163
guluarte wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also confused why Devin is worth billions

Devin's whole business model is predicated upon replacing programmers with minimum wage AI agents.

That'll be cool only if Devin actually worked.

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#253

Post by benburleson »

bicx wrote: post #214
smith7018 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope both of you know that you're in the extreme minority, right?

Are there available numbers to support this? Software engineering in the U.S. is well-compensated. $200/mo is a small amount to pay if it makes a big difference in productivity.

Which raises the question: If the productivity gains are realized by the employer, is the employer not paying this subscription?

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#254

Post by Graphon1 »

wrsh07 wrote: post #209
smith7018 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope both of you know that you're in the extreme minority, right?

Yes, but that doesn't mean they aren't finding real value The challenge with the bubble/not bubble framing is the question of long term value. If the labs stopped spending money today, they would recoup their costs. Quickly. There are possible risks (could prices go to zero because of a loss leader?), but I think anthropic and OpenAI are both sufficiently differentiated that they would be profitable/extremely success…

> I think anthropic and OpenAI are both sufficiently differentiated that they would be profitable/extremely successful companies by all accounts if they stopped spending today.

Maybe. But that would probably be temporary. The market is sufficiently dynamic that any advantages they have right now, probably isn't stable defensible longer term. Hence the need to keep spending. But what do I know? I'm not a VC.

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#255

Post by vonnik »

benjaminwootton wrote: post #172
nikcub wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> divorced from any kind of fundamentals Anthropic ARR went $1B -> $4B in the first half of this year. They're getting my $200 a month and it's easily the best money I spend. There's definitely something there.

I’ve always dwelled over $5 a month subscriptions for iPhone apps due to subscription fatigue. I find myself signing up for $200 AI subscriptions without a moments hesitation.

I personally find gemini 2.5 pro and o4.1 mini to handle complexity better than claude code. i was a power user of claude code for a couple months but its bias to action repeatedly led me down the wrong path. what am i missing?

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#257

Post by lumost »

OtherShrezzing wrote: post #220
benjaminwootton wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always dwelled over $5 a month subscriptions for iPhone apps due to subscription fatigue. I find myself signing up for $200 AI subscriptions without a moments hesitation.

What do you do with $200/mo subscription to Anthropic? I’d consider myself a power user and I’ve never come close to a rate limit on the $20 subscription.

Anecdotally, usage rises precipitously when you are building a system from scratch with unlimited ai access.

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#258

Post by pinoy420 »

asadotzler wrote: post #149
aiCodeMonkey wrote: post #45

Uhh so where does the 2.4B go to? For the "licensing" rights but without equity to Windsurf? Does the whole 2.4B get distributed amongst the talent that Google acquired or is it shared amongst all Windsurf employees?

Windsurf employees left behind by their executives get none of that Google money. It went to the selfish exec team and a few top employees that abandoned their teams and projects for Google's cash, and what didn't go to those selfish jerks went to Windsurf's investors. The rank and file that were abandoned by their leadership got totally screwed. Startup executives will never again be trusted to deal fairly with the…

[dead]

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#259

Post by andrewmutz »

ttrmw wrote: post #242
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Sooner or later the bubble's gonna burst" and "There's definitely something there" aren't mutually exclusive - in fact they often go together. It makes me perhaps a little sad to say that "I'm showing my age" by bringing up the .com boom/bust, but this feels exactly the same. The late 90s/early 00s were the dawn of the consumer Internet, and all of that tech vastly changed global society and brought you companies li…

what're you finding better than cursor now?

Cline is absolutely fantastic when you combine it with Sonnet 4. Always use plan mode first and always have it write tests first (have it do TDD). It changed me from a skeptic to a believer and now I use it full time.

Re: Cognition (Devin AI) to Acquire Windsurf

#260

Post by Graphon1 »

Hansenq wrote: post #144

This is the logical, satisfying, and probably best conclusion to an un-ideal and optically terrible situation all parties were placed in. First, OpenAI wanted to acquire Windsurf. Terrific move! Win-win for OpenAI (who needs more AI product) and Windsurf (for the deal price). But this fell apart because Windsurf didn't want the IP to go to Microsoft (which imo should not have been not a big deal, especially if you kn…

> -all existing investors and vested employee/equity holders are paid out;

But the statement from Cognition was:

  >    100% of Windsurf employees will participate financially in this deal
  >    100% of Windsurf employees will have vesting cliffs waived for their work to date
  >    100% of Windsurf employees will receive fully accelerated vesting for their work to date
The details matter. "vesting cliffs waived" meaning what? Windsurf shares exchanged for Cognition shares? at what ratio?

"Participate financially" means what exactly? They could all get a coupon for a free doughnut, and that statement would be true.

I'm not saying the employees are getting nothing, or even a raw deal. I'm saying we have no idea if the deal is good for them, without details.

> theoretically the remaining company could pay accelerate vesting, then pay out the cash to their remaining employees, and then shut down, to give everyone the same exit as an acquisition, or better.

unlikely that will happen. More likely the investors and VCs will take the lion's share of the $2.5B, that is what they do. That is why they exist. And they'll distribute as thin a slice as possible to the employees.

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