# Cosmin Nicolaescu

> Cosmin Nicolaescu is the co-founder and CEO of Accrual, which builds AI software for accounting firms. A Drexel computer science graduate born in Bucharest, he worked on early Azure and Office 365 systems at Microsoft, led global engineering and helped build Terminal at Stripe, and served as Brex CTO. He writes about company building, executive transitions and software at Pragmatic Optimism, and has publicly described his mentoring and angel investing.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Accrual
- **Organizations:** Accrual, Brex, Stripe, Microsoft, Drexel University, Sequoia (scout affiliation stated on personal investment page)
- **From:** Bucharest, Romania
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Drexel University
- **Known for:** Helped scale Stripe from about 100 to more than 1,400 employees, including engineering expansion in Seattle, Dublin and Singapore., Built Stripe Terminal engineering and product teams., Served as Brex CTO during growth from roughly 40 to more than 1,000 employees.

## Career timeline

- **2003–2008** — Studied computer science at Drexel, worked as a departmental systems administrator and interned at Microsoft.
- **Before 2014** — Worked at Microsoft after graduation, contributing to early Azure, Office 365 and commerce infrastructure.
- **2014** — Joined Stripe in July; later led global engineering work and built the Stripe Terminal engineering and product teams.
- **2019** — Brex announced his appointment as VP of Engineering in January; he subsequently served as CTO.
- **2024** — Transitioned day-to-day Brex responsibilities to his successor and wrote about becoming a founder.
- **2024** — Co-founded Accrual with former Stripe colleague Siddarth Chandrasekaran.
- **2026** — Accrual launched publicly in February with $75 million raised across its first two rounds.
- **2026** — Co-announced a September agreement to acquire Puzzle’s accounting-firm technology and business.

## Achievements

- Helped scale Stripe from about 100 to more than 1,400 employees, including engineering expansion in Seattle, Dublin and Singapore.
- Built Stripe Terminal engineering and product teams.
- Served as Brex CTO during growth from roughly 40 to more than 1,000 employees.
- His public investment portfolio identifies him as a Sequoia scout and lists seed and pre-seed investments including Bridge, Fragment and AtoB.
- Featured in Drexel Magazine’s 2024 40 Under 40.
- Co-founded Accrual, whose first two funding rounds were led by General Catalyst and totaled $75 million at public launch.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Published “A better return on time” on October 6, reflecting on the first Accrual Exchange and how firms can use capacity created by AI.
- **2026-09** — Accrual introduced Arc to accounting firms; its September 22 announcement describes cross-system work with professional review.
- **2026-09** — Accrual announced an agreement to acquire Puzzle’s accounting-firm technology and business; the announcement describes team integration after closing and broader availability planned by year-end.
- **2026-07** — Described Accrual as a 21-person remote company in a Product Market Fit Show interview, with equal employee salaries and lower founder salaries.
- **2026-02** — Accrual launched publicly with $75 million raised, led by General Catalyst.

## Links

- Website: https://cosn.io/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cosminn
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/getCos
- GitHub: https://github.com/cosn

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/cosmin-nicolaescu
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-22