Starring: Documentary
Director: Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus
Rated: M15+
EVERY so often a documentary team falls on their feet more than they could ever have imagined when the project began.
This is what happened to directors Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus. This is what makes Startup.com such a riveting film.
The idea was always a good one. From day one we follow the fortunes of computer whiz Tom Herman and business wonderboy Kaleil Isaza Tuzman as they found GovWorks.com, an Internet company that helps people deal with the complexities of local government.
GovWorks sets out to enable ratepayers to do everything from paying parking fines and speeding tickets, to voting for the re-election of the mayor.
The first part of this story is an education for those of us who do not know much about being an entrepreneur in the cut-throat business of raising finance, pitching ideas to investment bankers and keeping the creative team focused.
Flights, hotel rooms, no sleep, meetings, lawyers, deals, agony, ecstasy – it’s all here. Eventually the deal is done and the company expands rapidly. It launches into the market with initial success.
Three things go wrong quickly. GovWorks’ software program is found to be less efficient than that of its main competitor.
As a result Tuzman, the CEO, turns against his lifetime friend and co-founder Herman, the IT guru. And then, out of the blue, Tech Stocks crash on Wall Street drying up all fresh capital. GovWorks.com melts down.
The personal fall-out that ensues gives us one of the best studies of human nature caught on film. Relationships are sacrificed and pride, riches and greed become the driving forces for survival. Startup.com is a modern version of the parable of the buried treasure. One of the songs used throughout is Money, that’s what I want.
One of the reasons this film works so well is because of the loving relationships at its core. Herman and Tuzman really like each other and want to stay friends and do business together. It is worth sitting until the very end of this film to see where they are now.
As befits a documentary about two corporate raiders in their late twenties, the language in this fil
m is, at times, very coarse and will offend some people. The jumpy hand-held camera takes some getting used to, as does the amusing “counselling-speak” Kaleil uses in the midst of every crisis meeting.
The directors of Startup.com had no way of knowing that their film about business success would narrate a far greater tale of human failure. Teachers of upper secondary students could use it effectively in commerce, economics, business studies and RE classes on business ethics, personal relationships and greed.
At the beginning of the film we see the creative team agonise over what name to give the new company. Kaleil wants “untoceasar.com”. From our perspective that would have said it all!
