From Gaming Together at Otis College to Building a Business

Paper Triangles Co-Founders Frank Shi, left, and Xuan Buddhavong

Before Frank Shi and Xuan Buddhavong became business partners, they were Otis College students who shared an interest in games.

The two met during their sophomore year in the Digital Media program (now two programs: Game and Entertainment Design and Animation), where they took courses in visual effects (VFX) and 3D fundamentals with faculty members Raul Moreno and Chris Eckardt, respectively. Their friendship grew through a shared love of games, which continues today.

Their time in the classroom also introduced them to skills they would carry into their careers as freelancers and business owners.

Shi and Buddhavong remember how Moreno and Eckardt not only taught them software, but also detailed processes related to VFX and 3D while encouraging them to look beyond the classroom. They fondly recall being pushed to experiment with emerging technologies, follow the evolution of the industry, and pay close attention to details in their work. Through this thoughtful guidance, they began to understand what careers in VFX and 3D could look like.

For Shi, an interest in the business side of creative work led to another important faculty connection.

“As a student, I was very interested in the idea of starting a business and wondering about the business side of this industry, like getting freelance gigs, reaching out to companies, and making invoices,” Shi says. “Instructor Gregg Katano helped with this and increased my understanding of where to begin.”

From Freelancers to Founders

After graduating from Otis, Shi and Buddhavong spent nearly four years freelancing with creative agencies and studios. Over time, Shi began to think more seriously about embarking on a different professional path.

After a particularly trying freelance job, Shi felt burned out and believed he had reached a ceiling with the assignments he was receiving. The jobs began to feel similar and the working environment was increasingly difficult to navigate. Starting a company of his own offered a possibility of applying his skills differently.

The idea became concrete in a setting befitting their friendship. One day, while the two were playing video games, Shi asked Buddhavong if he wanted to start a company together.

That conversation became Paper Triangles, an augmented reality (AR) agency that creates mobile experiences for consumer brands including Minecraft, McDonald’s, Maybelline, Toyota, and many others.

In the company’s early years, Shi and Buddhavong divided their time between sourcing clients and executing projects themselves. Without employees, they could handle only one or two projects at a time. During slower periods, they experimented with new ideas and technologies while managing the administrative responsibilities required of running a business.

Their roles have since evolved. Today, each leads different parts of Paper Triangles while working collaboratively to manage and grow the team.

Shi compares their roles to running a restaurant. He manages the “front of the house,” including client relationships, project management, timelines, costs, and invoicing. Buddhavong runs the “kitchen,” overseeing production across the company’s design, 3D/AR, and developer teams, all while working with the design team on final concepts, leading production of necessary assets, and overseeing quality assurance and project delivery.

Together, they also pursue new business, create presentation decks, pitch new clients, take meetings, and look for other opportunities to generate revenue. They also focus on cultivating the company’s culture, work-life balance, and work environment.

Learning to Build—and Sell—an Idea

For Shi, entrepreneurship requires creative skills as well as an understanding of how a business operates. His advice for recent graduates interested in starting a company reflects lessons he began exploring while at Otis.

“My advice for entrepreneurs that want to start their own business is to learn how to make a compelling deck and presentation to sell an idea to a brand or company,” he says. “At the end of the day, to be an entrepreneur is to understand business, the language of business, and how the money works.”

Shi and Buddhavong also continue to pay attention to emerging technologies, an approach they trace back to guidance provided by Otis faculty. Looking ahead, they see wearables and headsets playing an important role in social AR, along with physical AR experiences including mirrors and displays. 

For current Otis students, Shi’s advice returns to a fundamental skill: making work.

“My advice for Otis students right now is to just create, make stuff, and find your voice,” he says. With new tools changing how animation, 3D, and VFX are produced, he believes taste, worldbuilding, and storytelling will remain important ways for artists to distinguish their work.

For two alumni gamers whose partnership began in Otis courses, experimentation and flexibility remain core to their process, from industry freelancing to exploring how to run a successful and dynamic company together.

Learn more about Paper Triangles.

Read about the Game and Entertainment Design program at Otis.

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