Startup.com (2001)

Traces the birth and failure of new media company govWorks.com.

Directors:

Chris Hegedus, Jehane Noujaim

Stars:

Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, Tom Herman, Kenneth Austin

10 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kaleil Isaza Tuzman	...	Himself
Tom Herman	...	Himself
Kenneth Austin	...	Himself
Tricia Burke	...	Herself
Roy Burston	...	Himself
David Camp	...	Himself
Dora Glottman	...	Herself
Julian Herbstein	...	Himself
Christina Ortez	...	Herself
Jonathan Angus	...	Himself
Chieh Cheung	...	Himself
Sean Coar	...	Himself
Ambika Conroy	...	Herself
Patrick Cromer	...	Himself
Jerry Greenberg	...	Himself

Storyline

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...

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Plot Keywords:

business | venture capital | friendship | childhood friend | entrepreneur | 

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Taglines:

The rise and fall of the American dream.

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Genres:

Documentary

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Site [es]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 May 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Business sto diadyktio

Filming Locations:

Highland Capital Partners - Two International Place, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$16,118 (USA) (11 May 2001)

Gross:

$1,280,975 (USA) (31 August 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Noujaim Films, Pennebaker Hegedus Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min 105 min (Buenos Aires Festival Internacional de Cine Independiente)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

"The Competitor" who is donning the govWorks.com cap, Bryan R. Mundy of ezGov.com, died in a house fire six days before the movie premiered at Sundance.

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Connections

Spoofed in Dot (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Skinless Boneless"
Written by Stephen Ulrich
Performed by Big Lazy

User Reviews

On-Line train wreck.

Those who are commenting on the mediocrity of the craftmanship of this movie are missing the point. The rise and fall of the dot-coms have become a meaningful part of American history and lore. Stock tickers, balance sheets and bankruptcy sales tell part of the story, but there's a difference between arriving at the scene of a train wreck and actually watching it happen.

The value of this movie is that, in spite of all of its flaws, you get to watch the train wreck knowing full well what's going to come, you can see why the principals didn't see the things that seem so obvious to us watching the film now, and you can see how their hubris, lack of technical understanding and lack of focus lead to their downfall.

I'm sure that it could been a better movie, but it's the only behind the scenes account we have of what must have happened hundreds of times all over the country. Like the Zapruder film and Hanlon & Naudet's account of 9/11, it's value comes from the fact that the cameras were there, catching history as it happened.

This movie should be required viewing for all B-School students, sort of like making student drivers watch Red Asphalt.