Founder's Story

I’m Raymond Gross. 62. Founder of Fireborn Agency.
LinkedIn profile

I spent decades in trucking logistics, then taught myself to code, then dove deep into AI. I know how to build systems that work—whether it’s a fleet of semis or an AI model.

But here’s the part not on LinkedIn:

Fifteen years ago, a friend hijacked the company I built and sold it for millions. Years later, my wife—who survived Wilms' tumor at age 3 and carried a lifelong phobia of doctors because of it—was diagnosed with stage-4 cancer. Advanced. Brutal. We faced eviction because I couldn’t leave her side to work.

I asked him for the $200k that was mine.

He laughed me off.

One week later, I burned his house down.

First felony. Thirty days in county jail. Two years probation.

In that tank we had no phones, no tablets, no internet—just concrete, steel, and nine men who thought hope had already left the building.

So I did the only thing I could: I told them what was coming.

I described AI so clearly they could taste it.

One guy made his public defender start using AI for case research the next week.

A barber who’ll never drive again lit up when I sketched the Lincoln Barber side hustle—robotaxi drops him at senior centers for group cuts.

A 23-year-old with three baby mamas and zero prospects started dreaming about coaching kids’ football again because AI can now write grants, design playbooks, and match mentors.

I watched eyes that had been dead for years come back alive—because for once they could see a future where the system works for them instead of on them.

That’s when I knew:

The worst thing I ever did became the door to the most important work I’ll ever do.

Today, my wife is fighting her way to remission. Miracle baby at 3. Miracle woman now. And I’m building Fireborn—because if she can survive impossible odds twice, then nobody gets to tell the men I met in that cell their story is over.

I took the fire, let it do its work, and turned the ashes into the most powerful tool on the planet for anyone still sitting in that cell.

Fireborn Agency is the promise I made to those nine men—and to every person who will ever sit where we sat:

Your story isn’t over.

The fire left a mark.

Now we make it count.

– Raymond Gross