Dan Kokotov
Dan Kokotov (Daniel Kokotov) is an engineering executive and entrepreneur, a co-founder of the speech-to-text company Rev, where he served as chief architect and as VP of engineering for speech technologies overseeing its automatic speech recognition work; since 2022 he has been co-founder and chief technology officer of the carbon-credit platform CNaught.
Contents14 sections
Key facts
2001Master’s Degree from MIT
Kokotov graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with bachelor’s and master’s degrees, finishing in 2001.[1]
2004–2011At Vecna and 5AM Solutions
His profile lists him at Vecna Technologies from 2004 to 2007 and at 5AM Solutions from 2007 to 2011, finally as director of R&D.[2]
Before Rev, he worked on software for cancer research and infectious disease tracking.[1]
2010Co-Founds Rev
Rev says that in 2010 five MIT classmates set out to build a marketplace connecting skilled freelancers with customers, and after trying services from certified translations to math homework help settled on speech-to-text; Kokotov is one of Rev’s co-founders.[3]
2011–2022At Rev
His profile lists him as Rev’s chief architect from August 2011 to December 2018 and then as VP of engineering for speech technologies until July 2022.[2]
2016Rev Turns to Deep Learning
After the deep-learning revolution took off in 2016, Rev trained its own speech recognition engine on data from years of human transcription; Kokotov said it is now “humans and machines working together.”[4]
October 24, 2019Rev.ai Launches Real-Time Transcription
On October 24, 2019, Rev.ai, Rev.com’s automatic speech recognition service, launched real-time audio transcription, letting developers use its API, powered by Rev’s proprietary speech engine, to build recognition into applications and return transcripts or captions of live audio or video in real time.[5]
January 4, 2021Appears on the Lex Fridman Podcast
On January 4, 2021, he appeared on episode 151 of the Lex FridmanLex FridmanLex Fridman is a Soviet-born, US-raised computer scientist and podcast host who works as an MIT research scientist on human-AI interaction and autonomous driving. His Lex Fridman Podcast is known for hours-long conversations with guests including heads of state and technology leaders.Open the full entry Podcast, which introduced him as VP of engineering at the automatic speech recognition company Rev.ai; topics included Rev, translation, the gig economy, automatic speech recognition, creating products people love and the future of podcasts.[6]
July 29, 2021Rev.ai Supports 31 Languages
On July 29, 2021, Rev.com announced that Rev.ai’s automatic speech recognition was available in 31 languages; the company said more than 170,000 customers and 60 percent of the Fortune 500 used Rev at the time.[7]
November 22, 2021Guest on the AI in Action Podcast
On November 22, 2021, episode 285 of Alldus’s AI in Action podcast featured him as Rev’s VP of engineering for speech technologies; the show notes describe Rev as founded in 2010, headquartered in Austin with an office in San Francisco, with topics including the role of AI and data science in Rev’s products and the evolution of its tech team.[8]
March 2022On Body-Camera Transcription
In a March 2022 Wevolver interview he described Rev transcribing body-camera audio for maker Axon to help officers write reports, and said a major challenge for speech recognition over the next five to ten years would be more languages and cross-language situations.[4]
2022Co-Founds CNaught
His profile shows him as chief technology officer of CNaught since August 2022.[2]
Founded in 2022 by Mark Chen, Steve Siger and Kokotov, CNaught offers diversified portfolios of carbon credits that can be bought in minutes; it soft-launched in April 2023, and on October 11, 2023, it announced a $2.25 million pre-seed round led by Greycroft.[9]
May 6, 2025CNaught Raises a Seed Round
On May 6, 2025, CNaught announced a $4.5 million seed round led by Bow Capital and launched the CNaught Guarantee, under which credits bought through its platform that are canceled by their registry or suspended for more than a year within three years of purchase are replaced at no extra cost.[10]
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dkokotov/ (opens in a new window)[1]
Rev: Official website: https://www.rev.com/ (opens in a new window)[6]
CNaught: Official website: https://www.cnaught.com/ (opens in a new window)[10]
Sources
- Daniel Kokotov | TEDxMIT (opens in a new window)
- Dan Kokotov | Office Hours (opens in a new window)
- Dan Kokotov; Episode 131 | The QTS Experience (opens in a new window)
- Fireside chat with Rev.com's Daniel Kokotov, VP of Engineering within Speech Technologies (opens in a new window)
- Rev.ai Launches Real-Time Automated Transcription and Captioning (opens in a new window)
- #151 - Dan Kokotov: Speech Recognition with AI and Humans | Lex Fridman Podcast (opens in a new window)
- Rev.com's industry-leading speech recognition technology now available in 31 languages, helping developers build for global audiences (opens in a new window)
- AI in Action E285: Dan Kokotov, VP of Engineering within Speech Technologies at Rev.com | Alldus (opens in a new window)
- CNaught Secures $2.25M Pre-Seed Investment to Build a Better Way to Buy Carbon Credits (opens in a new window)
- CNaught Raises $4.5M to De-Risk Carbon Credits for Buyers, Solving Carbon Market’s Biggest Challenges Through Science-Backed Approach and Industry-First Backstop - Silicon UK (opens in a new window)