Startup.com
The gripping story of the incredibly quick rise and even quicker fall of govWorks.com.
In the closing years of the last millennium, dot-com companies seemed invincible. Young computer programmers and business entrepreneurs everywhere flocked to what seemed to be a money-making opportunity of unlimited scope. The Internet had become the new frontier of technology-based industry.
But, as with all things, the golden days of e-commerce had to come to an end -- or rather, a screeching halt.
The dot-com crash shattered the dreams of many, but high on that list —- perhaps at the very top of the list -— were Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman.
"Startup.com" documents the rise and fall of the boyhood friends’ brainchild, govWorks.com, in an unbiased and engrossing 105 minutes. The idea behind govWorks is a phenomenal one (or at least good enough to snag $50 million from venture capital firms). It allowed the average American to bypass the red-tape of municipal government by paying parking tickets, applying for a driver’s license, etc., online. Anyone who’s ever been to the DMV can vouch for the brilliance of such a Web site.
"Startup.com" begins in the spring of 1999, when govWorks was nothing more than an idea with the potential to tap a multi-billion dollar market. Kaleil quit a lucrative job at Goldman and Sachs, and his roommate at the time, Jehane Noujaim, decided to start filming the initial process of starting an Internet company.
The film opens with Kaleil, Tom and a few friends rushing about Silicon Valley and NYC, making sales pitches to Venture Capital firms. In the beginning, everything is charged with energy, as Kaleil is visibly brimming with the very essence of capitalistic fervor. Soon, the fledgling company has grown to a 200-employee powerhouse, advertised on National Television and praised as the newest great business idea.
But, of course, the action is on track for disaster, and as we silently watch, the dream begins to fall apart. In one scene, Kaleil hob-knobs with President Clinton; soon after, we are shown the poignantly empty offices of govWorks, bankrupt and sold to a multinational.
The documentary is simple, succinct and follows Mr. Tuzman and Mr. Herman so innocently that you really want them to succeed. When things start to go wrong, it’s obvious it’s very, very real. The camera keeps benignly following the action, but no one is talking or paying any attention to it anymore.
The only flaw with the film is the lack of explanation for govWorks’ astronomically quick demise. While focusing on personal interaction, "Startup.com" leaves the viewer relatively uninformed as to the crucial business side of the story. It’s clear from Tom Herman’s note on the now defunct govWorks Web site that many people want to know what really happened.
Startup.com is the quintessential story of the Internet venture -- dramatic gains and even more dramatic losses. Unlimited potential for both success and failure. Through the unbiased lens of the documentary filmmaker, we come to understand a bit of the complexity, expertise and speed necessary to survive in the Audubon-paced world of Internet commerce.
Two years after the tech-stock crash, "Startup.com" is still appropriate viewing material -— fresh, gripping and remarkably free from the gapers’ block guilt of watching a train-wreck.
Directed by Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus.
Rated R for language. 105 minutes.
Written by: Alex Masulis
Reviewers Rating: 8
Reader's Rating: 7.45
Reader's Votes: 23
Added: 17-Jul-2002
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