Product: Startup.Com (2001)
Rating: 4.0
A Real and Painful View
This documentary was a voyeuristic look at the rise and fall of the dream of two young men, friends since high school. The two main players, Kaleil, a born salesman, and Tom, the techno person, go from rags to riches to rags again in the frenzied arena of the dot com revolution, with their idea for an e-commerce site that would allow people to pay parking tickets online.At the beginning, when they started to get financial backing, they were not even sure of what they were going to put online! I was amazed at the financing they were able to obtain, $60 million, based on only an idea, nothing tangible. I guess that is why I am not an enterpreneur!I liked the format and never felt that Tom and Kaleil were playing to the camera....I think they were so self-absorbed that it just did not matter. Watching their failure, even though the viewer knew in advance that it was going to happen, was really painful to see, especially the possiblity that a long-term friendship might end. The clash of their personal and business philosophies was starkly revealed by the cameras: Kaleil is confident and brash; Tom is more laid back, but capable in a quiet way. Both work at a frenetic pace with cell phones sprouting from their heads, never sleeping, never eating right. It is a wonder they did not collapse.I would have liked to have known a little more about the backgrounds of the main players in this drama....what they had done after college, their family dynamics and so on.