How I Survived $4M in Dogpiles and Got Paid to Walk Away

Day 1: They tried to extract over $1M from me.
Day 621: They paid to walk away.

What is a dogpile?

A disorderly heap of people formed around one person on whom the others jump.
That’s the dictionary version.

In real life, dogpiles happen in boardrooms, class action courtrooms, group chats, investor threads, and sometimes around a family dinner table.

In my experience, dogpiles aren’t driven by truth.
They’re driven by narrative momentum.

They rely on coordinated pressure used to isolate one person and exploit a power vacuum.

The mechanism isn’t always malicious but the effect is the same:
A story gains traction through alignment and volume, not accuracy.

The Only Defense That Worked

My only reliable defense over the past five years has been structured truth — built to survive scrutiny and outlast spin.

Structured truth = verifiable behavior, recorded in real time, surfaced before it needs defending.

It’s not built on trust.
It’s built for when trust breaks.
A proactive paper trail designed for asymmetric conflict and the total absence of grace.

Why I’m writing this:

I neutralized over $4M in coordinated, sustained legal threats from multiple parties with billions in assets and decades of experience with no legal team, no capital, and no institutional support.

Just 620 consecutive days of structured, disciplined action:

• Collecting proof

• Operating in good faith

• Shouting it from the rooftops

Result:

Day 1: They tried to extract over $1M from me.
Day 621: They paid to walk away.

• No litigation threats — I couldn’t afford to make them

• No lawyers — I couldn’t afford to hire them

This essay isn’t advice.

It’s a deconstruction of what actually worked for me under pressure — without protection — against coordinated actors 1,000x more powerful than me.

Step 1: Understand Your Dogpile Risk Profile

I used to think dogpiles only happened to people who couldn’t hold their ground.

I assumed that once I became sharper and more principled, they’d stop.

They didn’t.

The stronger I got, the more the tactics evolved.

So I stopped spiraling into frustration and started treating each dogpile like a Rubik’s Cube.

By January 2024, I stopped asking “Why me?”
And started asking “Why now?”

That’s when I stopped studying people and started studying systems.

Business books didn’t help by the way.
Animal behavior did.

What Orcas Do to Other Predators

• Kill sharks for their liver, then leave the rest

• Slam porpoises for hours without eating them

• Steal kills from whales and sometimes kill calves they don’t consume

Scientists call this non-consumptive violence.
It’s not about hunger.
It’s about dominance, training, and territorial control.

2022 to 2024: Full-Spectrum Pressure

I faced coordinated attacks from:

• Investors

• Teammates

• Teammates colluding with investors

• Consumers

• Influencers

• Agencies

• Family

At first, I froze.
Then I realized fear wasn’t useful.

So I stopped asking for mercy.
And I studied the playbook.

The Four Pillars That Replaced Fragility With Structure

These aren’t theoretical.
They’re the only reason I’m still standing.

1. Operate in Good Faith

🛡️ Analogy: Black Box Recorder

When a plane crashes, investigators don’t rely on memory. They check the black box.

Good faith is your black box: a defensible log of behavior that holds up even if no one’s left to vouch for you.

You don’t need to be perfect, just auditable.

I wasn’t always calm or polished.
But I kept my side of the street clean, and continuously proved it without being asked to.

That record became my leverage.

2. Choose Partners Who Do the Same

🧬 Analogy: DNA Contamination
Principle: Misaligned values scale faster than bad code.

One contaminated sample can compromise an entire case.

Misaligned people are DNA contamination inside your operating system.
Their panic, silence, or betrayal under pressure will distort everything.

Every dogpile I survived began with someone I let in while ignoring my instincts:

• A warm intro

• A strong credential

• A thought: “Maybe this time’s different”

It never was.

Now I filter for consistent good faith, even over skill.
That one reordering cut my surface area in half.

3. Make Your Record Visible

📸 Analogy: Surveillance Without Signs
Principle: Truth only protects you if it’s seen.

Private documentation helps — but only after the fact.
Public, timestamped records are like visible cameras with warning signs.

Predators don’t just avoid risk.
They avoid sunlight.

At first I thought emails, updates, receipts were enough.
They weren’t.

When a power vacuum opens, memory doesn’t fade. It rewrites itself.

If no one else saw the truth, proving it means re-litigating everything.
That makes you sound reactive, even when you’re right.

Eventually I learned: the record must be:

• Durable

• Timestamped

• Witnessed

• Backed by higher perceived authority

• In real time

That’s not performance. It’s protection.

When your record is public:

• Your values can’t be distorted

• Your actions can’t be re-narrated

• Your intent becomes verifiable

It’s not for attention.
It’s for durability.

4. Declare Your Boundaries

⚠️ Analogy: “Beware of Dog” Signs
Principle: Clarity deters. Ambiguity invites.

Most break-ins happen where lines are blurry.

Public commitments are perimeter signs:

• Private Property

• Surveillance in Use

• Beware of Dog

They signal:

• We’re watching

• The line is clear

• Crossing it has cost

In high-stakes settings, you don’t need to bite.
You just need them to believe it’ll hurt.

People don’t need proof of force.
They need belief in consequence.

When that belief is visible, the most dangerous actors don’t even approach the line.

Dogpiles thrive in ambiguity.
Private expectations can be ignored.
Public ones get harder to violate quietly.

This isn’t about optics.
It’s about building guardrails that hold when history gets rewritten.

Closing Note

I’m not immune to future dogpiles.

But I’ve reduced the conditions under which they happen and built systems that withstand the ones that do.

That same infrastructure now powers my personal conduct and my company’s product:

A Defense OS for Advertisers and Creators — built for today’s world where:

The average American consumer:

⚫ Sees 10,000 UGC ads a day
⚫ Spots $43K-per-violation ad breaches on TikTok in seconds
⚫ And files $100M class actions by Friday (source)

SwayID wasn’t built to win.
It was built because I almost didn’t make it.

And I wanted the next version of me — or you — to have a system that doesn’t collapse when orcas start circling.

-Kaeya