Things I Learned from Great Animation Movies About Building Startups (Part I)
When you build a startup, you eventually realize something unexpected.
You are not just building a company. You are building yourself; you need to be the hero of your own startup living inside a story.
And like every good story, startups are messy, emotional, nonlinear, and deeply human.
Some of the clearest lessons I’ve learned as a founder and while backing founders did not come from business books or success frameworks.
They came from animation movies.
Here is my perspective on a few truths great animation movies quietly teach us about building startups.
1. Just Keep Swimming
Early-stage startup founders rarely have clarity. You do not see the full map. You do not always know which metric will matter in the early days. You are often unsure if you are even moving in the right direction.
Even worse, there will be days you feel like everything’s collapsing.
Money will be limited, key teammates will sometimes be discouraged, your game/product will not grow as fast as you hoped, users will roast your product features, and investors will keep expecting the best.
You’ll sometimes feel like nobody’s seeing you, no real support, total loneliness.
And yet, real progress happens through constant motion in the worst times, not certainty.
The founders who win are not the ones with perfect plans. They are the ones who have the nerves to keep building through confusion and chaos.
Relentless iteration, staying on the road, and staying in motion will eventually bring you the momentum.
Momentum creates information. Information creates direction. Direction brings your people together around successful execution.
Startups don’t mostly fail because of a lack of money, a key teammate leaving, or bad product features.
Startups die only when the founder gives up. Stopping kills more startups than bad ideas ever will.
So in the toughest days, when it becomes hardest to keep moving, try saying to yourself,
When life gets you down, do you wanna know what you’ve gotta do?
Just keep swimming. - Finding Dory
2. There Is No Secret Ingredient
If you watched Kung Fu Panda, you’ll remember that Po is not supposed to be the hero at first. He does not look ready. He does not sound convincing. He does not match the “perfect hero” template.
Neither do most great founders.
Startups are full of comparison traps. Too early. Too late. Too small. Too different. Smart founder, visionary, seems confused, too emotional, too direct, leader, boss, hacker, hustler, not convincing…
Kung Fu Panda reminds us of something essential.
What matters is not where you start. What matters is whether you keep becoming.
You do not become the founder by fitting the role. You become the founder by growing into it.
This is just the key that you need to realize your true powers, what you’re very good at, and what needs improvement. Becoming the hero your startup needs is all in your hands.
Self-belief, hard work, resilience, and not being a jerk will eventually help you become the founder you meant to be.
There is no secret ingredient. - Kung Fu Panda
3. Anyone Can Cook
Ratatouille is not just about cooking. It is also about legitimacy, self-authorization, and courage.
Remy teaches us to dare to do what we love, the courage to begin without external approval.
He cooks without permission, and he continues despite doubt. Gives himself permission to try before he feels ready, be different from what the world expects. Permission to be underestimated.
Some of the best startups come from people who, others think, were never supposed to build them. Not from the right school. Not from the right geography. Not from the right background.
Founders do not need permission from the ecosystem. They need passion and commitment to the craft.
You need to learn as much as you can about your market, surround yourself with the best people in what you do, and constantly iterate until you find something your users/players will eventually love. To be able to create a hugely successful startup, you don’t have to have cool degrees from top universities or be an ex-FAANG, or get permission from the investors.
Anyone can build fantastic products and businesses. Go find that one thing you’re very passionate about and good at, dare to build, innovate, and keep iterating every day.
Anyone can cook. But only the fearless can be great. - Ratatouille
4. Beware the “Zone”
There is a moment in Soul that feels uncomfortably familiar if you’ve ever built something you deeply care about: Zone.
In the movie, the Zone is a liminal space between life and the afterlife. It is where people go when they are so deeply engaged in what they love that the rest of the world fades away. Time dissolves, the body disappears; only focus remains.
Musicians enter the Zone while playing. Athletes while exercising. Artists, while creating.
And in the startup world, this is the moment founders are taught to chase. The late nights that don’t feel late. The hours that vanish into work. The feeling of being completely absorbed by what you’re building.
And some people get lost there.
In the movie, a mystic soul surfer, Moonwind, who can move freely between life, the afterlife, and the Zone, tells us the difference between visiting the Zone and being trapped in it.
Zone is full of people who once followed their spark, but slowly became consumed by it. What started as a passion turned into an obsession. What once connected them to life began pulling them away from it.
In startups, when you stay in this phase long enough, there is sometimes a point where loving what you build turns into disappearing inside it. You keep working, pushing, producing. From the outside, everything looks fine. From the inside, something starts to feel distant.
Not like a burnout or failure. Just a quiet disconnection.
In Soul, we see this as a rare idea to see explored so gently. Not passion as something to eliminate. Not ambition as something to fear. But passion as something that must not become your entire identity.
There is also a moment where you care so much about one thing that you stop being present for everything else. Founder culture often celebrates this state. Calls it dedication, focus, or commitment. But Soul asks a much harder question.
What if building your life is as important as building your company?
Soul does not argue against caring deeply. It warns against letting one thing replace everything else.
Our main character Joe’s realization is not that music doesn’t matter. It’s that life was never supposed to be postponed until after success.
Founders don’t usually lose themselves all at once. They drift. It starts with one missed moment, one ignored conversation, or one joy delayed until “after this milestone”.
And then sometimes, suddenly, the thing you worked so hard for feels strangely empty. (We see something very similar in Jack London’s Martin Eden as well. But let’s postpone this catch for a different post.)
Soul doesn’t tell you to stop building; it tells you to stay connected while you do. Because building something meaningful should not require losing yourself in the process.
And because there is a bigger tragedy than failing at what you love. It’s succeeding, and realizing you were never fully there to feel it.
Remember:
“The Zone is enjoyable. But when that joy becomes an obsession, one becomes disconnected from life.” - Soul
What This Means for Founders Applying to Lorien
When we look at founders, we are not searching for “perfection”. We look for builders who keep moving, learn fast, dare to build, and constantly evolve.
People who understand that this is a long journey.
If you have applied before and kept building, that matters.
If you are applying for the first time and feel not ready enough, you probably are closer than you think.
Progress compounds.
Apply to the Next Lorien Batch
Applications for our upcoming Lorien Accelerator batch are closing on January 15, 2026.
If you are building a game or gametech startup and you are serious about turning it into a sustainable, high-growth company, we would love to see what you are building and support you along the way.
Every great story starts with a builder who decides not to stop.
Are there any other inspirations that help you keep building? Comment below, let’s share our learnings from our beloved heroes who inspire us to stay on the road.
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