Unlocking visual storytelling with AI
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Linum’s goal is to enable aspiring storytellers to create animations of their creative visions without the need for expensive software or hardware. Setting them apart from other AI-generated content engines is their capability to create video footage from descriptive text. Their goal is to democratize the animation industry and unleash the creative potential of storytellers everywhere.
Sahil Chopra and Manu Chopra, brothers and co-founders of Linum, were inspired by the challenges they faced in Hollywood, where they witnessed talented writers and artists struggle to get their projects funded and produced.
Empowering others to share their story and make an impact
Creating traditional animation is expensive, takes a lot of time, and has limitations that make it difficult for independent creators to create. Talent isn’t limited to big companies with millions of dollars; sometimes, it’s found in individuals or small teams with big dreams.
Linum decided to create a platform that would allow anyone to turn their scripts and ideas into films with minimal effort and resources. They’re building it to be user-friendly, flexible, and affordable, so that anyone will be able to make their own “Pixar-quality” animation on a laptop.
The co-founders believe that the future of AI means equipping storytellers with the tools and opportunities that only large companies have had historically. Imagine the new wave of diverse, original content in the animation industry and how that could push the realm of imagination and possibility. “Now you and a group of four friends can spend three months on a laptop and put something out into YouTube,” Sahil Chopra shares.
They know all too well the impact that visual storytelling has. Animation and film have the potential to change a narrative, or challenge perceptions and norms. What better way to do that than to empower those who want to share their own story?
Massive AI generations require massive processing speeds
Complex video footage generation requires bandwidth and fast processing speeds. With the speed of interconnect between GPUs through Azure, Linum can train their text-to-video models faster and more efficiently, without losing performance or wasting resources. With the level of connectivity Linum requires, Azure allows their models to scale up or scale down as needed.
“We really take advantage of the blazing fast compute, whether that be in the supercomputer or an Azure K8,” Sahil mentions. “The incredibly fast network speeds ensure we have no bottlenecks when training these massive models.”
With the combination of connection speed, technical support and flexibility, and scalability, the Founders Hub program creates an environment that cultivates Linum’s desire to expand. With a responsive advisor prepared to help them throughout their startup journey with Azure, they have more time to focus on what makes everything click and less on the distraction of hunting down resources, finding a subject matter expert, or hours of research for Azure stack documentation.
“Having an advisor through Microsoft is incredibly helpful,” Sahil Chopra tells Microsoft for Startups. “You don’t necessarily know what every little part of the Azure stack is. Having someone who can coach you through all of those things and help you come up with a solution in 30 minutes is so essential to getting things out there quickly, versus the days you might spend otherwise.”
Bold, imaginative ideas are solutions of the future
AI is on every startup’s mind these days. So, how does an idea stand out? How do startups find their niche? Well, Linum believes startups should “think big” and not constrain themselves with the prevailing trends of what’s possible.
That’s what inspired Sahil and Manu Chopra to start the company. Linum isn’t the first idea the Chopra brothers have taken off the ground and they’ve gained valuable insight into what it takes to succeed. Every chance or “failure” is simply an opportunity to learn. There’s one piece of advice they want to impart to others hoping to make themselves known: user feedback is crucial to solving real-world problems.
“Talk to your users,” Sahil Chopra urges. “Figure out who you are building for because you might have a wrong idea of what they want, what they need. Lots of the time there is a solution to the underlying problem that your users don’t even know is possible. As a founder, you’re often at the forefront of the technology, so it’s your job to think past what’s immediately possible today and build towards a future where you deliver something your users might not imagine.”
By talking to users, founders can validate their assumptions, test their hypotheses, and discover new opportunities. Starting an AI company is not easy, and there is no perfect time or formula to do it. Sometimes, you just have to learn by doing.
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub members receive Azure cloud credits that can be used towards a variety of Azure services, including Azure OpenAI Service, as well as expert advisory from the team at Microsoft to build and deploy their solutions. Founders Hub is open to all startups and takes just minutes to apply – sign up today.
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