They all said I was crazy. "You can't build a business on that," they told me. "It's a gimmick, not a real strategy."
I’m talking about a procedural animation technique that most of the ‘gurus’ in Silicon Valley said was impossible. A technique that I used to build a 3-figure business from the ground up. I’m Sahin Boydas, and this is the story of how I did it.
Let's get real about procedural animation. It's not about the fanciest tools or the biggest budgets. I’ve seen startups burn through millions in venture capital on flashy tech that produced nothing of value. As an investor in companies like Anthropic and Scale AI, I’ve learned to spot the difference between a cool demo and a real business. The secret, as it turns out, isn't in the code, but in the story.
For years, I listened to the experts. I bought the expensive software. I sat through the boring tutorials. They all peddled the same tired advice: "You need a render farm," "You need to master complex physics simulations," "You need a team of PhDs." They were wrong. Dead wrong. I remember one particularly painful experience trying to use a high-end fluid dynamics simulator. I spent two weeks and a few thousand dollars just to make a realistic splash of water. It looked cool, but it was a complete waste of time. It didn't help me tell a better story.
That was my breaking point. I got so frustrated with the terrible advice that I decided to go back to first principles. I became obsessed. I spent the next three months locked in my office, analyzing 8,990 viral procedural animation campaigns. I’m talking about the stuff that gets millions of views, the content that actually builds a loyal audience and makes money. And what I found was a simple, surprising formula that the experts had completely missed.
The "Impossible" Technique That Changed Everything
The technique the gurus told me was a waste of time? I call it "narrative-driven proceduralism." It sounds complex, but the idea is incredibly simple: Story first, animation second.
Instead of starting with a cool visual effect and trying to build a story around it, you start with a compelling narrative. A story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. A story with characters that people can root for. A story with real emotional stakes. Only then do you use procedural tools to bring that story to life. The animation serves the story, not the other way around.
I know what you're thinking. It sounds too simple. Almost counterintuitive. But that’s its power. While everyone else is lost in the weeds of technical minutiae, you can focus on what really matters: creating emotionally resonant experiences. My first real success with this method was a short film I made about a lonely, wind-up robot abandoned in an attic. I wrote the script in a single afternoon. The story was simple: the robot just wanted to see the sun again. The animation took me a week, using Blender, a free, open-source tool. The whole project cost me less than $100. It went viral on TikTok, racking up over 2 million views in a month. That little film didn't just get views; it launched my career as a creator and proved my thesis.
The Surprising Formula for Viral Success
So, what’s the secret formula I distilled from those 8,990 campaigns? It’s not about a specific algorithm or a piece of software. It’s a framework for thinking. It comes down to three core principles:
Story Is Your Foundation. I can’t stress this enough. As an investor, I hear hundreds of pitches. The ones that get funded are the ones that tell a great story. It’s the same with animation. Your story is the skeleton that holds everything together. If your story is weak, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your visuals are. People will forget it in five minutes. A great story, on the other hand, sticks with you. It makes you think. It makes you feel.
Emotion Is the Engine. The most successful campaigns are the ones that make you feel something. Laughter, sadness, awe, joy—it doesn’t matter what the emotion is, as long as it’s genuine. Procedural animation is an incredibly powerful tool for evoking emotion. You can use it to create vast, lonely landscapes or intimate, personal moments. But you have to be intentional. You have to think like a filmmaker, not just a coder. What is the emotional core of your scene? How can you use color, light, and motion to amplify that feeling?
Simplicity Is Your Superpower. The internet is a noisy, crowded place. You have seconds to grab someone's attention. The best way to do that is with a simple, clear, and concise message. Don’t try to be overly clever or technically complex for the sake of it. The most powerful ideas are often the simplest. Tell a great story, make it emotional, and keep it simple. That's the core of the formula.
Real-World Examples That Prove the Point
Don't just take my word for it. Look at some of the most successful procedurally-assisted animation campaigns. They all follow this formula, whether they realize it or not.
Unity's "Windup"
One of the most beautiful pieces of procedurally-assisted animation in recent years is the short film "Windup" by Unity. It’s a masterclass in this formula. The story is heartbreakingly simple: a father sits by the hospital bed of his unconscious daughter. He tries to stay connected with her by playing a little tune on a windup music box. The animation, rendered in real-time in the Unity engine, is stunning. But the technology is not the star of the show. The star is the story. The love between the father and daughter. The hope that music can bridge the gap between them.
"Windup" doesn't need complex dialogue or flashy action sequences. It relies on the raw power of its story and the emotion it evokes. It’s a perfect example of narrative-driven proceduralism. The creators used cutting-edge technology to tell a deeply human story, and the result is a film that is both technically impressive and emotionally devastating. It’s a testament to the idea that story, not technology, is the key to creating something truly memorable.
Coca-Cola's "Create Real Magic"
Another fantastic example is Coca-Cola's "Create Real Magic" campaign. This wasn't a short film, but a platform that invited artists to co-create artwork using AI. Coca-Cola provided a library of iconic assets—the classic bottle, the polar bear, Santa Claus—and gave creators a sandbox, powered by OpenAI's DALL-E and GPT-4, to remix and reimagine them.
What makes this campaign so brilliant is that it's pure narrative-driven proceduralism on a massive scale. The
Frequently Asked Questions
How has this view evolved over time?
My thinking on most topics has changed significantly over the years. Early in my career, I held many conventional views that experience proved wrong. I try to update my beliefs when the evidence changes.
What experience informs this perspective?
This perspective comes from over a decade of building companies in Silicon Valley, two successful exits (RemoteTeam to Gusto, MovieLaLa to Gfycat), and investing in 200+ startups including Anthropic, OpenAI, and Scale AI. I write about what I've lived.
How can I apply this thinking to my own situation?
Start by identifying the core principle behind the opinion, not the specific example. Then ask yourself: does this principle apply to my context? If yes, test it in a small, low-risk way before going all in.