A Letter to Friends of Crossing

Friends of Crossing,

Over the past couple of days, many of you have reached out to let us know that Yonghao Luo has launched a podcast called "Yonghao Luo's Crossing" (sometimes simply using "Crossing").

We appreciate your concern. And it's precisely because of that concern that we want to share our thoughts today with those of you who have supported us all along.

First, the facts: Yes, Yonghao Luo's podcast shares our name.

In early July, we learned in advance that he had chosen "Crossing" as his podcast's name. Since then, a close friend of mine spoke with Yonghao Luo about it. The platform and several mutual friends also reached out to him and his team separately, hoping he might consider a different name to avoid confusion between two podcasts with the same title. Unfortunately, Yonghao Luo declined.

After his podcast launched on Monday, some comments mentioning "Crossing" were already pointing to "Yonghao Luo's Crossing." In other words, the potential for brand confusion going forward is real — and it's exactly what many of you have been worried about.

So, in response to your questions about "what are you going to do" and "will you change your name," here's how we're thinking about this:

First, who are we?

Crossing is a podcast and content platform focused on a new generation of AI entrepreneurs. It grew out of our curiosity about AI and our hands-on experimentation with it, as well as our desire to find a distinctive angle amid all the tech interview content out there — one that drew on our own backgrounds and interests. After some exploration, we found our direction: in-depth interviews that document and tell the stories of this new generation of AI entrepreneurs. And through community and events, we're working alongside more people to take active steps in this new era that AI has brought about.

Since our founding in January 2024, we've released 72 podcast episodes, published over 200 original articles on our WeChat account of the same name, and launched the AI Hacker House community space in Shanghai's Caohejing area. To date, our podcast has nearly 50,000 subscribers, and our WeChat account has over 100,000 — with deep penetration among entrepreneurs and investors who follow AI. We're proud of what we've built.

Second, what do we believe?

At the start of every Crossing episode, we say: We follow the industry shifts and entrepreneurial opportunities brought by the new wave of AI technology. We seek out, interview, and bring together entrepreneurs and active participants in the age of AI — to explore and embrace new changes and new possibilities alongside them.

Looking back at why we chose "Crossing" as the name for our podcast and WeChat account in the first place: on one hand, it came from Steve Jobs's metaphor for Apple — standing at the intersection of technology and liberal arts, where we believe great products are born. On the other hand, we believe that in the age of AI, everyone has been placed together, fairly and equally, at a new crossing, facing opportunities and challenges, with a strong hunger for quality AI information and perspectives. We advocate for and encourage everyone to take active steps, even starting with small things.

So this is:

• The crossing for every entrepreneur thinking about how to use AI to bring more change to our lives
• The crossing for every creator using AI, even if you're not building a company
• The crossing for everyone hoping to keep learning and seize opportunities in this new era

So, here's what we plan to do next — three things:

1. Content:

Content is the foundation of Crossing. We've built our positioning and direction through accumulated, professional output over time. People follow us because of what we provide — that's our source of value.

So we will continue making great content at our Crossing, with an even sharper focus on this new generation of AI entrepreneurs. If we were still finding our footing when we started, by the end of last year we had grown increasingly clear about who we serve: they may be young and ambitious, or they may be starting over in mid-career, but what matters is that in the age of AI, they are people who refuse to wait and choose to act.

Our Crossing will continue to exist for these new-generation AI entrepreneurs and active participants, and we'll keep going deeper in this direction.

2. Trademark:

We didn't register our trademark early on — that was our oversight. According to publicly available information from the trademark office registration system, Yonghao Luo's team has filed an application for the "Crossing" trademark (there will be a result on whether registration succeeds in six months).

We've consulted professional opinions. Under Chinese trademark law, there is a "first to use" principle. This means that even though we didn't register first, we began using "Crossing" to create content and build our brand over a year and seven months ago, and have achieved a certain level of influence — and the law will take our rights into account.

3. Whether to change our name:

The question friends have asked most: "Are you going to change your name?" Thank you for your concern. Our decision is:

We are not changing our name.

This name, along with its green logo, is our distinctive mark.

Changing it would mean conceding that everything we've poured into "Crossing" over the past year-plus can be casually redefined by someone more famous.

So, we'd like to ask you to do one thing:

Please share our Crossing with one friend.

Tell them: there's a different Crossing here — one about AI, about a new generation of AI entrepreneurs, about the values of taking active steps in a new era.

Thank you again to every friend who has reached out. We'll see you in the next episode.

-Koji & Ronghui