Russell Kaplan

Examiner
DISC Type : cs

President at Cognition

San Francisco Bay Area, United States

Overview

Russell Kaplan is the President of Cognition, the company behind Devin, the first AI software engineer. A Stanford University alumnus with both a B. S. and M. S. , he previously led the machine learning organization at Scale AI and was a senior ML scientist on Teslas Autopilot team, where he developed key vision models.

Originally from New York, Russells passion for programming and AI began in high school. While at Stanford, he founded TreeHacks, the universitys flagship hackathon, demonstrating a commitment to fostering innovation and building tech communities. He also co-founded Helia, a computer vision startup that was acquired by Scale AI.

He created HydraNet, the large-scale multitask neural network that became the core vision model for Teslas Autopilot system.

Personality Overview

Late Adopter

Tough To Convince

Unexpressive

They do not like taking risks at all and go for proven options in the end.  They tend to be clear about their needs and limitations and are unlikely to promise too much. They are heavily focused on quality and prefer doing things the right way, even if it takes time.

Topics They Care About

AI Software Engineering
As President of Cognition, he is at the forefront of creating autonomous AI agents, like Devin, to handle complex software development tasks from start to finish.
Computer Vision
His career is rooted in computer vision, from developing Tesla's Autopilot stack to founding Helia, a startup focused on real-time video understanding.
Entrepreneurship
He has a proven track record as a founder, having started the computer vision company Helia, which was successfully acquired by Scale AI in 2020.

Media Appearances

The Future of Software Engineering: Cognition's Russell Kaplan. Featured in Goldman Sachs

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The Future of Software Engineering: Cognition's Russell Kaplan. Featured in YouTube

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Work History

2024
President at Cognition
2020 - 2024
Director of Engineering & ML at Scale AI
2019 - 2020
Co-founder & CEO at Helia
2017 - 2019
Sr. Machine Learning Scientist (Autopilot) at Tesla
2014 - 2017
Founder & Co-Director at TreeHacks

Education

M.S. from Stanford University
B.S. with Distinction from Stanford University

More Information

Social Presence :

Prographics :

Exp : 12 Location : San Francisco Bay Area, United States Job Level : N/A Designation : President at Cognition
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Insights For Selling To Russell

During A Call Or A Meeting

DO's

  • Be firm in your communication and stay in control
  • First of all, focus on building their confidence by sharing examples, case studies etc.
  • Ask them which other stakeholders would be important for this purchase decision

DONT's

  • Don't use phrases like 'do not worry', 'i promise' etc.
  • Don't be very accepting if that is your natural style, stay firm
  • Don't rely on relationship building even if they act pleasantly

When Cold Calling

When Writing An Email

While Negotiating & Closing

    The secret to closing fast with Russell is

  • Proof of usage by others in the industry, case studies showing ROI are likely to work the best with them.
  • Will you ever get a clear answer from Russell

  • Often, they don't say no, or keep going about it in circles.

Insights For Deal Planning

    How fast (or slow) will Russell move?

  • They are some of the slowest movers and take their time reaching decisions.
  • Can Russell take some risk or not?

  • They have very low acceptance of risk even if they do not say it directly.

You And Russell

Personality Compatibility


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