Break it All — Building in Public #2
We are paving the way to the next iteration of our studio. We are leaving the comfort of service-based work for the madness of world-building at scale.
Read here what it looks like inside a chaotic startup using AI for original IP creation.
Here’s a full breakdown of what we did and learned this week.
How to Pivot? Take the Team to the Countryside.
Last week we wrote about our pivot towards Original IP. To put it in motion we went on a two-day off-site to the countryside, two hours away from Montevideo. The mission: brainstorm the foundations of the new world where our IP will live.
Monday
Romi, our Head of Marketing, kicked off the morning as facilitator. The morning was all about getting into the creative mood and talk about the core of our IP: the themes and values we want as our bedrock. With a list of questions as guide, we debated about what makes us human, and how to reflect that humanity in the world we create.
After lunch and a short walk to let ideas breathe, we got back to the board. Splitting into groups, we each defined how we saw the world manifested, then defended our ideas before distilling common ground.
The toughest aspect was defining our target audience. Decision paralysis hit hard and we circled back again and again. It was evident that consensus was not going to be found. We called it and let the ideas ferment overnight.
That night, burgers and wine in hand, we sat around the fire and we had the magic moment of the day. Cata, our AI director, started freestyling a possible narrative arc. One by one, we built on it; and there it was: the spark of our next IP.
Tuesday
The next morning started with fresh energy. We took the seed we planted the last night and we watered it. We defined conflicts, characters, formats, worldbuilding, and most important how to get started as small as possible.
After this conversation we wrote everything down to bring back to the office. We had asado, we walked, we played some games and we headed back to Montevideo.
Overall the off-site was a bigger success than we expected. Not only did creativity flow freely but we went home with a clear path forward.
Other wins this week
Delivered new project
As we pivot to a more “product” based approach we want to finish our services we agreed in a way that makes us proud. This project, as all AI-based video projects has challenges. In this case the biggest challenge was the realism in the images of the product. Hybrid workflows always deliver the best result.
Some cool commercial conversations this week
Exploring synergies with a production company: From pre-production tools to a new way of thinking about audience creation, the possibilities are crazy.
Advance on partnering with Uruguay based IP: We are very excited by a specific IP and mostly for the passion of the CEO.
Connection with other founders. Community is everything and this week we had intros with startups to share our learnings and opportunities.
First Run of Our AI-based RPG
We are developing an AI-based Role Playing Game (RPG) based on our original IP, both to help us develop our stories but also as a way of allowing fan fiction to adapt what we create. The team at VAPAI was the guinea pig for this first user test. A promising product still with rough edges.
Started Our Company Manifesto
At VAPAI we stand for a lot, and we want to write an internal manifesto as guide. It will help us take better decisions and define the path towards following our values.
Key lessons from the week
Our team is our greatest advantage: Our off-site was a success, and it was so because we have the greatest team.
We need to combat decision paralysis: In many cases we try for the best decision possible, but many times this doesn’t exist. Just take the shot and then make it work.
Changing environments changes creative exploration: If you are stuck, maybe work from somewhere else today. Things will flow differently.
If a tool is not hard to use, we are late: This week we fought with two tools that were so hard to get running. This is a sign that we are using state-of-the-art tools.
What’s next?
We will finish the first version of our manifesto. Deliverable will be a short printed flipbook for internal use.
We will start all-in building content related to our IP. Content will be up soon.
Quarterly feedback sessions with the team. Focusing mostly on career paths and how to help everyone become their better versions.
We have some upcoming changes to the company’s visual identity that we can’t talk about right now, but stay tuned.
Tools we loved this week
WAN 2.2 First and Last Frame: The most exciting model family of this month released a new addition. Now we can add a first and last frame to guide the generation.
Multitalk: We did a deep-dive this week on how to use Multitalk to build multi-avatar videos. Results below but it’s definitely exciting. This is based on Wan 2.1 so big leaps should come soon.
GPT-5: Not as big of a leap as advertised but no doubt that this is a powerful step-up. Where we notice the most the advance is in how more natural the text reads.
Reading Recommendations
This week we recommend Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull. It tells the whole story of Pixar from the inside and gives great advice on how to foster a culture of creativity inside an organization.
How you can help
Do you know people interested on reaching a wide audience with original IP? Or with experience monetizing it?
Maybe you know the best AI-based filmmakers in town? Or ComfyUI engineers?
We’d love to connect. Reach out!
Final thoughts
This is the second week of posting regularly. Writing is a great way of being held accountable but also of acknowledging all that was done in the last 5–7 days. Sometimes we get lost in the day to day stuff and this activity keeps us grounded.
