Startup.com

Jun 1 2001 R 1h 47m
Documentary

Friends since high school, 20-somethings Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman have an idea: a Web site for people to conduct business with municipal governments. This documentary tracks the rise and fall of govWorks.com from May of 1999 to December of 2000, and the trials the business brings to the relationship of these best friends. Kaleil raises the money, Tom's the technical chief. A third partner wants a buy out; girlfriends come and go; Tom's daughter needs attention. And always the need for cash and for improving the site. Venture capital comes in by the millions. Kaleil is on C-SPAN, CNN, and magazine covers. Will the business or the friendship crash first?

Plot

Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman have had a dream since they became friends at age fifteen: get rich by developing their own dot com company, in some aspect of computer technology interface. Now in their late twenties, they have now come up with the idea they believe will make their riches, namely as Tom refers to it, "parking tickets": the company will be the on-line revenue collection interface for municipal governments. GovWorks.com came into existence in May 1999 with only an idea. The process of building the business focuses on obtaining venture capital based solely on the idea, with the actual mechanics of the website seemingly almost an afterthought, or at least one left primarily to the hired help. Regardless of the strength of the idea itself in raising this capital, another initial problem they face is what they see as non-commitment by a third partner, Kaleil's friend Chieh Cheung. In early 2000, they do manage to go live with their product to what seems to be a promising and lucrative future. However, the success of the business is fraught with many obstacles including the competition who may have a better product or one introduced in the marketplace earlier, the whims of the economy especially as it concerns the equity market, and the fact that the business has few assets beyond intellectual capital. In addition, their personal focus is solely on the business which places a strain on their personal relationships, Tom's with his young daughter Tia Herman, and Kaleil's with his girlfriend Dora Glottman. Their relationship with each other is also tested as it is and always was an inequitable one - Kaleil being the self-admitted alpha dog - and one which may be usurped by business concerns.

Written by

N/A

Directed by

Chris Hegedus, Jehane Noujaim

Production Countries

United States of America

Languages

English

Awards

10 wins & 6 nominations

Scores
# of Votes
3,481
Average Rating
7.1 out of 10
Metascore
75
Popularity
NA