How Fakes Destroy Brands in Days

⚡ This is the highlight version of my conversation with Jesse Xu. Jesse shared hints of the technical challenges that he's working on. If you are looking for jobs, watch the full interview for the complete technical deep dive: [https://youtu.be/oMYNKUtC1WA] Fakes are getting smarter. Counterfeiters now use AI to spin up pixel-perfect fake websites in HOURS. JESSE XU reveals why platforms profit from looking the other way - and why no human should be doing this work. Jesse Xu is CTO and Co-Founder of Podqi, transforming brand protection from a cost center into a revenue engine. A former Google engineer who built generative AI features for Google Docs, he left to tackle the $2-3 trillion counterfeit crisis with his Penn roommates. Their platform now protects Netflix, Warner Brothers, and Fortune 10 companies. In this highlight, he covers: ◼️ The "Baby Shark problem" - when your favorite toys get ripped off ◼️ How counterfeits evolved from fake Supreme hoodies to AI-generated phishing empires ◼️ Why platforms have ZERO mandate to proactively remove fakes ◼️ The $2-3 trillion problem that's "very quick to lose" brand value ◼️ Why "no human should be doing this work" 🎬 WANT MORE? The full interview includes: → The distributed scraping architecture processing millions of listings → Detection methods: Classification vs LLMs → Custom brand profiles & fine-tuning for each client → Precision vs recall trade-offs in brand protection → How they handle hallucination in their ML pipeline → Hiring & the technical challenges they're solving right now → How 70% of their revenue comes from referrals 👉 Watch the full interview: [https://youtu.be/oMYNKUtC1WA] ⏰ TIMESTAMPS: 00:00:00 Cold Open: "No human should be doing this work" 00:00:57 Introduction 00:01:12 The Problem: Fakes From All Angles 00:03:44 Origin Story: The Most Boring Problem 00:05:33 Three-Level Explanation (Baby Shark!) 00:07:47 College Student Level: Fake Everything 00:10:15 The $2-3 Trillion Problem 00:12:33 Platform Conflict of Interest 00:14:49 Book Recommendations: Boys in the Boat & Foundation Trilogy 00:17:51 Where to Find Jesse & Podqi 🎯 WHO IS JESSE XU: CTO & Co-Founder, Podqi Former Generative AI Engineer, Google Docs Penn CS Graduate, Summa Cum Laude Building AI that protects brands at scale Team of 11, based in Bay Area 🔗 RESOURCES: Podqi: https://podqi.com Connect with Jesse: jesse@podqi.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessexu/ Books mentioned: Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov 💰 Starting a business in US? https://tidd.ly/3OYKuqn 💬 JOIN THE CONVERSATION: Is your brand getting ripped off? Have you seen counterfeits of products you love? Comment below 👇 📧 CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/i-am-angelina Newsletter: Subscribe on LinkedIn Twitter/X: @angelina_magr #BrandProtection #Counterfeit #AIStartup #Podqi #IPProtection #Ecommerce #TechInterview #StartupFounders #LegalTech #MachineLearning #FraudDetection