Startup com

Startup com

Directors Chris Hegedus (The War Room) and Jehane Noujaim couldn’t have imagined the drama that awaited when they began documenting the creation of the pioneering e-commerce site govWorks.com. For over a year they followed the company, the brainchild of childhood-friends-turned-business-partners software geek and doting single dad Tom Herman, and ambitious young business-school-grad-turned-company-CEO Kaleil Isaza Tuzman. During the rise of the Internet investment frenzy and the subsequent crash of the dot-economy, the cameras remain keyed into the human dynamic: the lifestyle compromises, the personal sacrifices, and the clash of philosophies and personalities that ultimately tear boyhood buddies Tom and Kaleil apart…almost. Startup.com’s portrait of the cutthroat nature of American business culture and the choices one makes (or doesn’t) to succeed poses the one question most documentaries ignore: Is it worth it? –Sean Axmaker

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Great Film for Business Student & Entrepreneurs of what NOT to do!
Just saw this film for the first time on IFC and let me begin by adding to the multiple accolades about this film primarily because it’s a great film for business school students of what NOT to do in the world of being an entrepreneur. I’m very glad to see the failure of these guys and I’m sure they are still paying for it till this day to a certain extent, if not financially, then psychologically and emotionally.

I am a IT tech guy who was a part of the dot com bubble, but knew even back then it was not going to last. I was trained from the “old school” corporate environment (ie. The Big Blue IBM culture, apparently, that was “uncool” to the dot-commers) of a SOUND business plan along with a SOLID structure and NOT JUST PURE VISION. These guys were just over-glorified, ego-centric, slippery salesmen. They SOLD a dream to which they crashed and burned and THANK GOD FOR IT!

I won’t waste my time regurgitating the well-deserved harsh words of what real and successful entrepreneurs have already given them through the years, but my message for Kaleil to which I’m sure he has figured out now is “less glory” and “more humility”. Dude, successful people are “behind the scenes” not seeking glory and making things happen and are the REAL “Go To” guys/gals. It isn’t about your RICH image and your Tiffany cufflinks, but rather the BIG debt that only YOU know really exists!

I run a small tech consulting company based on pure personal passion and servitude to others. Although I am not making millions, I am comfortable AND, I am NOT incurring debt. I am also not spending much on marketing. WHY? Because my humble attitude and kind approach not only strengthens my positive reputation amongst my business peers, but it leads to a return in revenue which ALSO leads to others speaking kindly and the word of mouth spreads like wildfire.

I really wouldn’t comment too much on a film, but after seeing these two guys, I needed a place to vent my anger due to the sheer stupidity of these guys. I am sure they are “good” men in general, but they suck in business to put it bluntly and I’m hoping they both wised up after a good decade!

3 Stars Enjoyed watching these guys crash and burn.
They give you little reason to care about them besides they tried to be successful at something they knew nothing about. However, they are so smug about their enterprise I was glad that they not only failed but failed badly.

Leonard Maltin said “I defy anyone to find a fictional film as compelling as this”! Now is he just talking about the few months this film was out or in the whole history of motion pictures? If it is the latter I would laugh in Maltin’s face. Many cartoons are deeper and more “compelling” than watching one chubby guy and one gay-acting guy argue forever about what to call their “company”, how to raise money, how to save money, hire and fire, etc. We get to see the chubby one talk about dating, talk on the phone (a lot), eating pizza, everything but doing his job. WEEE!!! and we get to watch the gay-acting one braid hair and cry. That is a bore to me.

The break-in at the company that they stress in the “film” turns out later to have been done by someone who was already in jail when he is caught.

You can find out more about these two GovWorks.com millionaire wannabes at: http://www.windsormountain.org/pds/index.htm

A positive spin is attempted on everything but nothing hides the fact they fell flat on their face, lost lots of other people’s money and never really recovered.

Chubby man is in the Middle East trying another thing and gay-acting man is running a camp in Vermont.

The last half hour is the only interesting part as I watched them turn on each other like two starving animals fighting what little was left of a carcass. That was good. Well, until they make-up and go to the circus together. End film. The rest of the documentary is a real yawner.

5 Stars Friends To The End
This documentary is about more than just the failure of a company. This movie is about friendship. Set against the backdrop of the dot com bubble burst, what I loved about this movie is that it is basically a story of two guys with a solid friendship. I can’t blame them for starting a business on a dream. Everyone was doing the same thing in the late 90’s. I don’t blame them for the business failing. Most of these ventures failed. During the rise and fall of the company there is a lot of drama between the two founders of the company. They have been friends since kids and the failing business almost tears their friendship apart. In the end I got a great sense of hope that there is more to life than just making profits and that true friends can get through anything and come out on top at the end. I think too many people go into this movie wanting to know all the details about why the business failed and what went wrong. A lot of people have bashed this movie because it focuses on the relationships of the players but that is the same quality of this movie that endears it to me. Money comes and goes. Sometimes you may fail at something. It’s easy to lose sight of what is truly important in life. To me, this was a beautiful movie because it shows the true meaning of friendship… through thick or thin.

5 Stars Startup.com
Anyone with the faintest un-suppressed memory of the Internet boom should watch the cautionary “Startup.com,” an intense look at the treacherous waters of American business start-ups. Chris Hegedus (”The War Room”) and Jehane Noujaim (”Control Room”) were lucky enough to capture the full dramatic arc of Tuzman and Herman’s venture, from the height of the Internet frenzy to the dot-com bubble’s big burst. “Start-up” demonstrates how the rules of cut-throat modern entrepreneurship can transform positive human ambition into nerve-shredding obsession.

4 Stars What price are we willing to pay for
As I write this review,I am two days removed from hearing of the tragic and senseless suicide of an acquaintance who had it all, risked it all,lost his family,fell into depression and substance abuse and hung himself.Why?…..his life WAS his startup and it came crashing down around him and he couldn’t bear it.

STARTUP.COM is a timeless look at the rise and fall of businesses and the people who rise and fall with them.Some people who will view this film will only want to know one thing:How do I succeed in building a business and make money? Others will view this film and learn about the trmendous sacrifices to self and interpersonal relationships that comes from examining the failures of others driven by an intense desire or need to “succeed”.This documentary examines both aspects of business-the technical and the personal.The two aspects are always competing.The lives of the “twentysomething”founders of gov.WORKS.com are examined in intimate detail as Kaleil and Tom are followed from the infancy stage of their internet organization,through it’s quick rise to fame,(they were on every major mag cover and even had audience with President Clinton!!!)and it’s crashing in 20 months.Loyalties and passions are questioned.This is a very realistic look at the down -and -dirty business world as portrayed in the .com rush of a few years back.What this film has to teach us is about the price that one pays in blood for what one thinks is necessary for “success”.This film is a sobering look for anyone,any age who needs to possibly reexamine their priorities in business and in life.

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