You're probably wasting 80% of your time on the wrong synthetic media tasks. This single mindset shift will unlock more growth than you thought possible. Let me explain.
For years, I struggled with synthetic media, making every mistake in the book. I burned through more cash than I’d like to admit on projects that went nowhere. I saw teams at my portfolio companies spin their wheels on the same problems. But through hundreds of failures and a few massive wins, I’ve developed a personal playbook. This is my attempt to distill those lessons and help you shortcut your path to success.
I’m not a developer or a researcher. I’m an entrepreneur. I’ve built and sold companies, and now I invest in the next generation of founders. My perspective on synthetic media is shaped by one thing: results. I don’t care about the hype. I care about what works.
The 80/20 Rule of Synthetic Media
It turns out, the Pareto principle applies just as much to synthetic media as it does to anything else in business. 80% of your results will come from 20% of your efforts. The problem is, most people spend all their time on the 80% that doesn’t matter.
What’s the 20% that matters? It’s not about creating the most photorealistic images or the most complex animations. It’s about finding the right leverage points in your creative process. It’s about using AI to do the things that are either impossible for humans to do, or so tedious that they kill creativity.
When we were building MovieLaLa, we had a team of designers creating promotional materials for movies. It was a slow, manual process. We started experimenting with AI to generate variations of posters and trailers. At first, we were obsessed with making them look perfect. We spent months trying to get the AI to generate images that were indistinguishable from the real thing. It was a total failure.
Then, we had a breakthrough. We realized we were asking the wrong question. The question wasn’t “Can we make a perfect AI-generated poster?” The question was “Can we use AI to help our designers make better posters, faster?”
That’s when we shifted our focus. We started using AI to generate rough concepts, to explore different color palettes, to create dozens of layout options in minutes. Our designers then took these AI-generated assets and used their expertise to craft the final product. The result? We tripled our output without hiring a single new designer.
That’s the 80/20 rule in action. Stop chasing perfection. Start looking for leverage.
Your Obsession with Photorealism is Killing Your Creativity
Everyone seems to be obsessed with photorealism. They want AI-generated images that look like they were taken with a camera. They want AI-generated voices that sound exactly like a specific person. I think this is a huge mistake.
First of all, photorealism is a moving target. The technology is getting better every day, but there will always be a gap between synthetic and real. And the closer you get to reality, the more jarring the small imperfections become. This is the uncanny valley, and it’s a dangerous place to be.
But more importantly, the obsession with photorealism is a failure of imagination. Synthetic media is a new medium. It has its own unique aesthetics, its own strengths and weaknesses. Why are we trying to make it look like something else?
Some of the most exciting work I’m seeing in synthetic media is not photorealistic at all. It’s stylized, it’s abstract, it’s surreal. It’s using AI to create things that we’ve never seen before.
I have an investment in a small gaming studio that’s using AI to generate entire game worlds. They’re not trying to create a realistic simulation of the real world. They’re creating fantastical, dreamlike landscapes that would be impossible to create by hand. The results are breathtaking.
So I challenge you: forget about photorealism. Embrace the artificial. See what happens when you let the AI be an AI.
The “Generative” in Generative AI is a Lie
This might be my most controversial take, but I believe it’s true. The idea that you can just press a button and have an AI generate a masterpiece is a fantasy. The best synthetic media is not generated. It’s co-created.
It’s a partnership between a human and an AI. The human provides the vision, the taste, the direction. The AI provides the raw material, the processing power, the endless variations.
At RemoteTeam, we used AI to help us write job descriptions. We didn’t just ask the AI to “write a job description for a software engineer.” We gave it a detailed brief. We told it about our company culture, our values, the specific skills we were looking for. We gave it examples of other job descriptions we liked. Then, we took the AI’s output and we edited it, we refined it, we made it our own.
The AI was a powerful tool, but it was just that: a tool. It was the human touch that made the final product great.
I see so many people making the mistake of treating generative AI like a black box. They put in a lazy prompt and they get a lazy output. And then they complain that the AI is not creative enough. The problem is not the AI. The problem is you.
Stop Chasing the “Next Big Thing”
There’s a new AI tool coming out every week. It’s easy to get caught up in the hype. It’s easy to feel like you’re falling behind if you’re not using the latest and greatest model.
This is a trap. The most successful creators I know are not the ones who are constantly jumping from one tool to the next. They’re the ones who have mastered a few tools and know how to use them inside and out.
My investment philosophy is similar. I don’t invest in every hot new startup. I look for founders who have a deep understanding of their market and a clear vision for their product. I’d rather invest in a team that’s using an “old” technology to solve a real problem than a team that’s using a “new” technology to chase a trend.
So my advice is this: pick a few tools and get really, really good at them. Learn their quirks, their limitations, their hidden features. Push them to their limits. That’s how you’ll create truly original work.
The Future is Not What You Think
I’m not going to end this with some cliché about how synthetic media is going to change the world. You already know that. What I will say is this: the future of synthetic media is not going to be created by the big tech companies. It’s going to be created by people like you.
It’s going to be created by artists, by entrepreneurs, by creators who are willing to experiment, to take risks, to break the rules. It’s going to be created by people who are not afraid to be a little bit weird.
So go out there and make something weird. Make something that no one has ever seen before. Make something that only you can make.
I can’t wait to see what you create.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which item on this list has the highest impact?
It depends on your stage and context, but in my experience, the items near the top of the list tend to have the broadest applicability. That said, sometimes the less obvious items create the biggest breakthroughs for specific situations.
How do I know which items apply to my situation?
Start by honestly assessing where your biggest bottleneck is right now. The items that address that specific constraint will give you the highest return on your time and energy.
How were these items selected?
Each item on this list comes from direct experience, either from building my own companies or from patterns I've observed across the 200+ startups I've invested in. I prioritize practical, actionable items over theoretical concepts.