Rating: 
Summary: Arrogance Gets Its Due
Review: First off, this is a horrid "documentary". A little narration would have gone a LONG way.I gave it two stars because I thought it made a good dark comedy. These guys are living characatures. Let's be honest about this: $60M ... 18 months. That's $3.33M per MONTH. To go through that kind of money without producing anything of any value takes serious (bad) talent. The co-founder who bailed early was the only smart one in this travesty. The rest of it is just ego-stroking and "poor me" when things fall apart. Now they are saying that they don't receive any money from this movie. That they're using it as a promo piece for their new business. After seeing THIS ... what idiot would trust these two?
Rating: 
Summary: I went to high school with this jerk
Review: Both Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and I took the same bus to Amherst Regional High School every day. He would always be mouthing off, pontificating about some garbage about culture or business. I remember one day he was going on about how the New England dialect of English was the closest to the true accent of the language. To whom he was talking I have no idea, no one could stand the guy and no one could listen to him beyond half-hearted attempts at humoring him. I think he may have been in the Future Business Leaders of America too, though I don't care enough to check the yearbook. So it's always satisfying to see someone make a widespread documentary about some loudmouth putz you went to high school with. But you needn't have gone to school to laugh at this clown's repugnant personality, it comes through fine in the film as one can tell from all the praise the movie has gotten from people who never even knew him.
Rating: 
Summary: A not-so-good glimpse at failure
Review: After seeing this movie, it is obvious that the reason for govWorks.com's failure is not due to unfortunate stock market circumstances but due to poor interpersonal skills. From the start of the film, it is easy to see that the characters starting this company lack the discipline and true customer dedication to make this company a success. Throughout the movie, Mr. Kaleil tries to impress the viewers with his use of foul language, angry tones, and cell phones. These two obviously do not have a concrete business plan. As can be seen in the scenes negotiating with venture capital firms, Mr. Herman deviates from their original 'vision', spontaneously talking about giving people directions to government buildings. They apparently did not have any focus on why people would pay money for their service. Their lack of customer interaction sticks out like a sore thumb - nowhere in the development of govWorks.com do the founders actually perform any market research. They obtain large sums of venture capital, and celebrate without considering what they will use their funds for. They pile on the millions, but make no reference to their NEEDs in their cash flow statements (if they even had one). Finally, this company failed due to poor interpersonal skills. The business itself did not tear friendships apart - it was a lack of clear direction and communication with the founders. How do you expect people to buy a product when the people at the helm constantly fight with each other? Overall the video is poorly directed - even for a documentary. There is no narration and the movie is acted out in a series of "scenes" taken by a home video. It is very much like "reality TV". All of the steps in building (and destroying) their company are implicit through dialog, rather than explained. I am a young entrepreneur on my way to starting my own corporation. I bought this video as a source of motivation and an opportunity to learn by example. Much to my disappointment, this video was not very encouraging, but offered much to be learned in terms of govWorks.com's failure. If you are looking as a warmup for charging into your own personal business, this is not the film you are looking for. You may even feel quite disenchanted about starting your own company after watching this movie. If you want to learn why many of the dot-com companies failed and learn how to NOT run a business, this movie offers a useful learning tool.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Docudrama with Flawed Protagonists
Review: Startup.com tells the story of Govworks, one of the many dotcoms that crashed and burned during the Internet boom and bust of the late 1990s. The story focuses on the company's two founders, Tom Herman and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman. (A third founder, Chieh, plays only a bit part; he is bought out by Tom and Kaleil halfway through the film.) Shot in reality TV fashion, this is more of a documentary than a movie. Startup.com captures the major motifs of the dotbomb era. We have two entrepreneurs who are eager to charge forward with a poorly conceived business plan. Bootstrapping is of course out of the question; a reliance on other people's money (venture capital financing) is a foregone conclusion. The scenes in the venture capitalist's office illustrate the poor planning behind so many of the initial dotcoms. Why didn't Govworks' investors ask more questions? Why couldn't anyone see that online access to government services is basically a commodity business which would soon be flooded with competitors (including governments themselves)? This film demonstrates why the early incarnation of the New Economy spawned so many failures. At times the director of Startup.com does successfully portray Tom and Kaleil as heroic pioneers battling for a lost cause. Most of the time, however, they do not arouse much sympathy. Kaleil is a charismatic leader, but his overblown ego becomes grating by the end of the movie. Tom is too wishy-washy; throughout the story he is completely overshadowed by Kaleil. Ironically, Chieh was the only partner who escaped the Govworks implosion with anything tangible (the six-figure settlement from Kaleil and Tom.) This movie shatters one of the key myths of the late 1990s: that New Economy managers were inherently more enlightened than their Old Economy forbears. Throughout Startup.com, Tom and Kaleil reveal their callousness toward their investors and their employees. One of the most telling moments occurs when Govworks is beginning to sputter. Tom assures Kaleil that everything will be alright even if the venture fails, because the two founders both have a comfortable lifestyle, and both of them will move on to good jobs. They seem to have no compunction about the venture capital money that they burned through, or the workers they displaced. (Review by Edward Trimnell, author of "Why You Need a Foreign Language and How to Learn One" (2003) ISBN:1591133343)
Rating:
Summary: The story of two chuckleheads
Review: Two jackasses are funded for an otherwise brilliant idea. Problem is, the two chuckleheads, Kaleil (this guy is self-inflated throughout the whole movie) and Tom couldn't run a toaster let alone a business. Not surprisingly, the whole 'empire' comes crashing down on the both of them. The most work I think they ever did in the movie was film themselves and show everyone how important they thought they were. This is a typical case study of how not to run a business. It is a great behind the scenes of who was running the "new economy". It will be no surprise to you after watching this movie why the bubble burst.
Rating:
Summary: Adoring film crew is clueless.
Review: I was very interested in seeing the decline and fall of a dotcom from the inside. Unfortunately, that wasn't what the filmakers thought they were filming. They thought it was going to be an inside look at a buff, young entreprenuer who makes an empire worth billions during the dotcom boom. They didn't seem to care much about showing how the company operated and what it's plan to make money was. It's almost as if during filming they viewed the company's success as a guarantee and what they really just wanted to do a personality piece on Kaleil so in the future others could look back at the life of an industrial giant. In the process, they squandered the opportunity for the real story (which was the fall of the company and why). That makes watching the documentary very frustrating, to be so close to the real story but miss it all. (but they manage to capture some stuff suitable for a Kaleil fitness workout video ... how fascinating). I give it 2 stars because there are a few interesting bits in there. And the personality of the CEO (or, "co-CEOs") is part of the story I wanted to see, but I was looking for something more. Who were they hiring and why? How were they choosing to spend the VC money? What milestones had they set and did they reach any of them? How were they going to stave off competition? Maybe they just didn't have executive staff meetings, or maybe the camera wasn't interested/invited. My poor rating speaks more about the filmakers than the subject matter itself. As for Kaleil and Tom, I found both of them loathesome and fake, even worse than I expected. They seemed genuinely clueless about what to do after raising VC money. Almost as if rasing the money was the real success and the rest would just fall into place after that. In all honesty, Kaleil seemed to do his job ... raise money and be a face guy. But who's responsibility was it to make the company work? We never get to see. In the end, you will laugh remembering the early co-founder who was "bought out" (driven out) for $700,000. Was this the guy who was going to make it all work? What skills did they lose when they played their hand against him? (unfortunately, that is not answered). The other founders thought they were cutting him out, but as it turns out he got the only parachute. Ironic.
Rating: 
Summary: From STARTUP.COM to STARTUP.BOMB.
Review: STARTUP.COM is a fascinating documentry/ cautionary tale centering around Kaleil Tuzman and Tom Herman, two childhood friends who hit upon the bright idea of establishing a company named govworks.com. The film chronicles 18 months in their lives as the pair strive to make their dream a reality; eventually reaching a level of success uncanny for such a short period, rubbing shoulders with President Clinton (I was disappointed that Bill didn't produce one of his famous cigars and ask Kaleil for a light, all the while wiggling his eyebrows like Groucho Marx) and then ultimately watching it come crashing down around them. Could Tuzman's astronomical ego and jet turbine sized motor-mouth be to blame? Watch this and judge for yourself.
STARTUP.COM is possibly one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, despite the two main protagonists being self- absorbed poindexters gone haywire. Essential viewing for anybody who harbors similar ambitions; this will give you an idea of what NOT to do. It's only Tuzman's arrogance that prevents STARTUP.COM from getting 5 stars; though Herman is equally bad by neglecting his adorable little girl and attractive wife (How is it possible?) in order to become rich and powerful.
Finally, it's interesting to note that throughout the film from shot to shot Herman's face keeps changing: One shot he has a beard, then he's clean shaven, then beard again, then he's trimmed it to a goatee. Directors Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus even go so far as showing a sequence of Herman shaving his beard off. Is this a subtle attempt at demonstrating the "cut-throat" world of entrepeneurship? A case of "hair today, gone tomorrow?" I'm still scratching my noodle at the complexity of it all.
DVD extras include a commentary track, the trailer and profiles for the Directors and Herman and Tuzman.
Rating:
Summary: There Is No One To Like Here
Review: The biggest problem with this movie is that after five minutes of viewing, you pretty much weren't rooting for anyone to succeed. I mean, out of the gazillions of dot coms with exactly the same story to tell as govworks.com (a couple of moderately-bright and over-ambitious young guys with a lukewarm idea hit up their family and friends up for money, get a round of financing, and fall on their faces as soon as it's clear that the whole thing was rushed into and had a flimsy foundation), it is a shame that this movie followed the travels of the two ... in charge. Furthermore, this documentary somehow took footage from a spot on the front line of one of the most bombastic, hectic, and electrifying times in this nation's economy, and distilled it into a drab and boring story. Trust me, this felt every bit like a documentary (you know, the bad kind- the kind which every good documentary clearly distances itself from). Kaleil Isaza Tuzman was OK but had too big of an ego (he'd make a better cheerleader than businessman, use of corporate buzzwords and catchphrases notwithstanding), Tom Herman was a creep with a wet-blanket liberal personality, and the prevailing quality that comes to mind for everyone involved in the project is "spoiled." Plus, the movie's editing job is such that it never really conveys that these guys had to work too hard to achieve any measure of success; they should have been thrilled to make it as far as they did, given the flimsiness of their game plan, their lack of preparedness for key interviews and opportunities, and the grave errors still in existence at the time they launched. This movie was a barely-watchable dot bomb.
Rating:
Summary: You'll Watch it Once and then Never Again
Review: This is a great documentary on the beginning and end of an internet company. As soon as you watch this movie once, you won't ever need to watch it again. It's insane how much of the rise and fall of their company they were able to capture. If you love/collect documentaries, then this would be a must have, but if you're looking for a great movie on a dot com failure, then go out and rent it.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely engrossing and fascinating!
Review: An absolutely fascinating document of the rise and fall of an internet company (govworks.com) as the bubble was preparing to burst. Kaleil Tuzman and his buddy Tom decide to create a web site that would work with governments to do things like handle parking ticket payments, license applications, etc...on-line, for a fee, of course. The movie begins with the two friends, along with some business partners, brainstorming over what to call the business and then going out to venture capitalists to raise the funds...tens of millions of dollars. Early on, the ask a "man on the street" what he thinks of the name of their web site. He declares he doesn't like it...doesn't trust the government. An early potential investor tells them they're three years too late with their idea and that it will fail. These words turn out to be prophetic...but these guys are mostly amused and laugh the criticism off. Tuzman is the focal point of the movie. His is an ego run rampant. We see him scheming...this is a real, live type-A internet tycoon. His temper flairs, he's foul-mouthed, he's full of himself. But he can be convincing and charming too. Tom, his oldest, dearest friend, is very soft-spoken in comparison, and the two occasionally fight...and occasionally hug in reconciliation. The raise a bunch of money and really start living high on the hog. But when things go downhill, Tuzman turns on Tom and the disintegration of the company and relationship is luridly fascinating. We'd like to turn away, because what we see is real...but we can't. These guys are getting thier comeuppance...and that's fun to see. But we've also learned to empathize with them...to hope that THIS TIME the story won't turn out the way you know it will. The movie is fun. The filmmakers were SO lucky to get this kind of access at this point in internet history. A few years earlier and maybe govworks might have made it, and then the story wouldn't have been interesting. A few months later, and there would have been no funding and thus no story to tell. Some viewers who aren't very familiar with venture capital and such might get lost at a few points in the film, BUT, you can certainly understand what's going on by the roller-coaster of emotions these guys are going through. There's no narration to tell you what, factually, is happening...we see it all through the conversations of these guys we're following. Powerful stuff and worth putting up with the only occasionally esoteric financial details. It's interesting that we never get a really clear idea of how govworks.com is supposed to work...I suspect these guys didn't really either. It was a time when just opening up on the web could yield millions. The business model would take care of itself...so they thought. So, ultimately, startup.com is a cautionary tale. Check it out...it could be the most fun at the documentaries you've had!
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