In an era where artificial intelligence is both a marvel and a menace, the internet’s underbelly has never been more dangerous—or more in need of guardians. From deepfake pornography to hyper-targeted phishing scams, the digital landscape is evolving faster than most platforms can protect their users. Enter Cinder, a pioneering startup on a mission to become the internet’s ultimate “club bouncer”—and its origin story is as compelling as its technology is vital.
This isn’t just another Silicon Valley pitch. It’s a deeply human response to a global crisis unfolding in real time. And at the heart of it is Glenn Wise, a former counterterrorism analyst turned tech founder, whose journey from 9/11-era New Jersey to leading a $14M-funded safety platform reveals how personal purpose can fuel world-changing innovation.
Let’s dive into Cinder’s startup story, the urgent problems it solves, and why its approach to trust and safety might just be the blueprint for a healthier internet.
The Pandora’s Box Is Open—And Someone Has to Guard It
Glenn Wise doesn’t mince words: “The Pandora box of technology is already open.” Kids today grow up conversing with AI assistants that are trained to agree, placate, and never challenge—a dynamic that subtly shapes their understanding of truth, boundaries, and consent.
But the darker side? Far more alarming.
AI is now weaponized to create non-consensual intimate imagery (NCII), orchestrate hyper-personalized scam campaigns, and flood platforms with what Wise calls “AI slop”—low-effort, high-volume content designed to manipulate, deceive, or exploit.
Without intervention, the inevitable result isn’t just user harm—it’s regulatory crackdowns that stifle innovation across the board. “If you don’t stop those horrible things,” Wise warns, “there’s going to be regulation. They’re going to have to stop and fix things before they can innovate—and it slows down society’s ability to move forward.”
That’s where Cinder steps in—not to police free expression, but to enable responsible innovation by handling the dangerous undercurrents so others don’t have to.
From 9/11 to the NSA: The Making of a Digital Guardian
Wise’s path to founding Cinder began long before AI went mainstream. Growing up in New Jersey as a 6-year-old during the 9/11 attacks left an indelible mark. “Any opportunity to be part of a greater mission was really important to me,” he recalls.
That sense of duty led him to study national security in college—and eventually to roles at the NSA, CIA, and FBI, where he worked on counterterrorism. Later, he brought that same adversarial mindset to Facebook’s threat intelligence team, where he helped anticipate and neutralize emerging digital threats before they went viral.
“I was on a red team,” Wise explains. “You get to try to break things. That’s one of the most fun jobs you can have.” But it’s also one of the most necessary. Because while builders create, adversaries exploit—and someone must think like them to stay ahead.
The “Aha” Moment: Why Every Platform Needs a Safety Backbone
While at Facebook, Wise noticed a troubling pattern: smaller tech companies were drowning in abuse. They lacked the resources, tools, or expertise to manage trust and safety at scale. Many were reacting after harm occurred—too late to protect users or their brand.
“I was talking to so many companies struggling to get a grasp on abuse,” he says. “I thought, ‘Why not build this once—and give it to everyone?’”
That insight became Cinder’s founding thesis: Instead of every company reinventing the wheel, offer a centralized, configurable platform for trust and safety operations.
Think of it like this:
- Before Cinder: Each app builds its own moderation system—costly, fragmented, and often ineffective.
- With Cinder: Companies plug into a battle-tested infrastructure that enforces their unique rules, scales with their growth, and evolves with emerging threats.
It’s the difference between every bar hiring its own bouncer training academy—and sharing access to a certified, AI-augmented security network that knows every trick in the book.
Y Combinator, Co-Founders, and the Pivot That Saved the Company
Wise applied to Y Combinator almost as an afterthought—submitting his application just hours before the deadline. To his surprise, Michael Seibel called him personally: “The idea is great… but you need a co-founder.”
Wise doubted he could lure top talent away from Facebook. Yet within three months, he’d assembled a dream team of former colleagues who shared his mission. “It’s still amazing that I get to work with them every day,” he says.
But the road wasn’t smooth. Cinder’s first product? A threat intelligence platform—sophisticated, powerful, and… unwanted.
“We spent months building what we thought customers needed,” Wise admits. “Then we showed it to them—and they said, ‘This is interesting, but not what we actually need.’”
The real pain point? Operational chaos. Trust and safety teams were overwhelmed by fragmented tools, manual workflows, and impossible review queues. They didn’t just need data—they needed a system to act on it efficiently.
So Cinder pivoted hard. They scrapped the initial vision and rebuilt around end-to-end trust and safety operations—prioritization, case management, policy enforcement, and cross-platform signal integration.
That humility—listening before building—became Cinder’s superpower.
The Decision Spectrum: Tackling Harm from Simple to Sophisticated
Not all online harm is created equal. Cinder’s team developed a framework called the Decision Spectrum to categorize and respond appropriately:
Left (Simple): Clear-cut violations.
Example: A chat message saying “Send me your credit card.” → Fraud.
Example: An image showing explicit nudity → Policy violation.Right (Complex): Coordinated, hidden, or evolving threats.
Example: A network of fake accounts grooming minors across platforms.
Example: A nation-state actor using AI to impersonate journalists.
Most platforms fail because they treat everything as either/or. Cinder’s platform adapts across the spectrum, using AI for volume and humans for nuance.
And the scale is staggering: Over 100,000 reports submitted to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) through Cinder customers in a single year. “That’s just scratching the surface,” Wise says grimly.
The Human Cost of Digital Harm—and Why Burnout Is Real
Behind every flagged image or banned account is a human reviewer—often exposed to the darkest corners of the internet. “Everything is hurting someone,” Wise acknowledges. “And that burnout is real.”
Trust and safety professionals face moral injury, PTSD, and emotional exhaustion. Many leave the field within months.
Cinder combats this by designing for sustainability:
- Smart prioritization: Focus human attention on high-impact cases.
- Automated workflows: Reduce repetitive tasks.
- Mission-driven culture: Every team member understands they’re preventing real-world harm.
“When we take down an abuse network or stop NCII from spreading, that fuels us,” Wise says. “We’re not just coding—we’re protecting people.”
Why Experience Matters in Trust & Safety
You can’t build effective safety tools without having seen the harm firsthand. Cinder’s founding team includes veterans from Facebook, government agencies, and cybersecurity firms—people who’ve stared into the abyss of online exploitation and lived to build defenses.
“In this space,” Wise insists, “you need both experience and mission alignment. The work is too complex, too nuanced, without that drive.”
This isn’t theoretical. When a teen with a laptop can now execute attacks once reserved for nation-states, generic moderation won’t cut it. You need systems built by those who’ve fought these battles before.
The Bigger Vision: A Safer Internet Enables Faster Innovation
Cinder’s ultimate goal isn’t to become the world’s moderator—it’s to make moderation invisible.
By handling the “underbelly” of the internet, Cinder frees startups, creators, and developers to build boldly—without fear that their platform will be hijacked by scammers, predators, or AI-generated chaos.
As Wise puts it: “Someone needs to stop those horrible things so innovation can continue.”
In a world racing toward AI integration, metaverse expansion, and decentralized apps, trust and safety isn’t optional—it’s foundational.
Final Thoughts: Who Will Guard the Guardians?
Glenn Wise ends his story with a haunting question: “If it’s not us, then who else is going to do it?”
Cinder’s startup story is more than a business case—it’s a call to action. The internet’s next chapter won’t be written by algorithms alone, but by the humans who choose to build guardrails with empathy, precision, and courage.
For founders, investors, and platform builders: the future belongs to those who innovate responsibly. And for users? It belongs to those who refuse to accept a digital world where harm is the price of participation.
Cinder isn’t just building software.
It’s building a covenant of safety—so the internet remains a place of connection, not exploitation.
And that’s a mission worth backing.
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