I really enjoyed the movie Startup.com. It showed how a couple of people with a new idea can make a company and fail. It seemed to embody what the whole dot com dive was all about.
A few friends got together with a new idea for an Internet company that would try to make local government more efficient in some aspects. Their company govWORKS.com was going to put local governments on the Internet so people could pay for parking tickets, fishing licenses, and potentially marriage licenses online.
Soon after they start trying to find investors one of the friends doesn’t want to be a part of it any more and wants what he feels is rightfully his: $800,000. He settles on $400,000. After the episode with the disenfranchised founder the remaining founders go on to work on finding enough investors and cities that would like to put their government on the internet. They find a few cities to make their dream happen and they are given enough money to start up. Other companies start popping up with the same idea and the wind is slightly taken out of their sail. Soon after though their offices are ransacked and important files and their computers are stolen. They seem to recoup after this and have more and more people working with them.
Eventually the friends’ feelings start to change about the company and about each other.
One of the founders, Tom, is actually asked to resign and escorted out of the building. It’s hard to see what this does to the friendship of two of the founders, Tom and Kaliel.
A few months after this falling out the business has almost completely fallen apart and the last of the people working admit defeat. It’s a sad point in the movie but it’s true. They could not keep the company together.
I thought the movie was very well made and it showed me exactly what it was like for the failed companies of the dot com boom. I want a sequel though!
