Lin Qiao is co-founder and CEO of Fireworks AI, which raised about $1.5 billion in July 2026 at a $17.5 billion valuation. She tells Brian Sozzi why building on a general-purpose model is not a business anyone can defend, why someone can use a coding agent to copy almost any product built on a shared API, and why she thinks the lasting asset is a company's own data and customer feedback. She also says AI agents are only as smart as the data behind them, and that computing will move toward cheap energy rather than toward users. Fireworks sells the customization she argues for, so her claims about its value are her own. Timestamps 0:00 The gap between Silicon Valley and everyone else 1:40 Why seven people started the company together 2:49 Why a general-purpose model is not something you can defend 4:17 Finding customers and then running out of money 6:17 How smart AI agents actually are 8:54 What knowledge workers do next 10:28 Why she does not believe in the fifty-person company 12:34 Building trust, and what people said about television 15:03 The shortage nobody planned for 17:26 Why the cheapest model can cost the most to run 19:17 Why data centers may move away from you 21:33 Where the company goes next #AI #Agents #PowerPlayers #YahooFinance == AlphaSpace by Yahoo Finance: A Professional-Grade Investment Platform Built for Everyday Investors. 👉 https://finance.yahoo.com/about/promos/gold/alphaspace?ncid=100003571