Greg Drocz
Strategy
While watching the movie it becomes apparent that GovWorks’ strategy is flawed. The first thing that stuck out to me was during the visits to the venture capitalists. Kaliel and Tom made it look like amateur hour and did not convey that they were truly serious about running a business. From not being on the same page and contradicting each others statements with regard to the purpose of the business to not being able to get in contact with their lawyer, Kaliel and Tom’s actions showed they did not have a concise plan. Even when told that their plan was flawed by highly respected venture capitalists, they shook it off as the VC’s not understanding or not knowing. A second questionable strategy was to invite the competition into the office and give them a tour, allowing them to see the inner workings of GovWorks. This allowed the competition to get a handle on where GovWorks stood at that point in time and also allowed for the competition to launch their product prior to GovWorks. This in turn put pressure on the company to release a service that was flawed and not ready for launch. I still believe that the burglary that occurred was a direct result of Kaliel’s “strategy” to bring the competition into the office. The competitor had the opportunity to see where everything was and, as seen in the movie, the burglary was highly focused in certain areas – mainly Tom and Kaliel’s offices.
Professional vs Personal Relationships
As with any business, dealing with friends from a professional standpoint – especially when working together, is extremely difficult and can often lead to the downfall of the business. Relationships such as these are found at GovWorks – friends who created a business and now are working together. The first evidence of the mixing of professional and personal relationships can be seen when Kei, one of the original creators, is bought out of his share of GovWorks. In order to do so Kaliel and Tom entered into negotiations with Kei to buy his shares. Rather then play hardball and stick to a price, Kaliel and Tom let their personal relationship with Kei get in the way and ultimately wound up paying money out of their own pockets to satisfy their friend’s demands. Personal relationships also hurt not only the professional relationship between Kaliel and Tom, but GovWorks as a whole. Kaliel knew that Tom had no business being in charge of the technology aspect of the project as he had no experience. However, rather then bring in someone from the start that knew how to handle the technology, Kaliel let his personal relationship with Tom override the professional relationship and let Tom stay as head of that project aspect. This ultimately hurt GovWorks by having a subpar service launched. Kaliel would later realize his mistake and bring someone else in – however at that point the final nail in GovWorks’ coffin was already there.
Leadership
Leadership was another important factor in both the original success of GovWorks and also its decline. Kaliel is a born leader. He has poise, fire and determination. I suspect this is precisely why Tom brought Kaliel in as CEO. From television interviews to meetings with the venture capitalists, you could just tell that Kaliel had a vision for GovWorks. He inspired those who worked around him and they felt apart of something big, something special. Tom on the other hand was the complete opposite. It appeared his idea of leadership was a retreat to listen to the wind through pine needles. By the looks on his co-workers faces, you could tell they thought Tom had lost it. Tom’s lack of leadership skills is also evidenced when threatened with the idea of getting fired, his professional reputation being tarnished, and GovWorks going under. Tom’s response of brushing it off and not caring shows his inability to be a leader.
Technology Readiness/Software Testing
When watching startup.com, it becomes clear that GovWorks was far from being an operational site and service at the time it was launched. Search features, such as Ask, were extremely flawed and the design was poor. Tom who had no experience in the technology aspect, as previously mentioned, was in charge of this aspect. It should take weeks, if not months to test a service website in which people will be paying through – not days. After spending 8.5 million dollars the website should’ve been flawless. In an environment where the user is choosing you over the competitor you need your business to run smoothly, or else the customer will go to the competitor. It just seems to me that after seeing their competitor launch their site, that GovWorks was just eager to put whatever they had on the web rather then be left behind.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
I Blame Tom.
Ryan Cunningham
Startup.com’s relationship-focused perspective brought to light many of the interpersonal hardships faced by young professionals while developing their own unique idea. The idea is driven by its own potential and, more so, Kaleil’s decisive, charismatic leadership. The film surfaced the importance of soft skills and how they intertwine with technology to create a business out of an opportunity--and how to squeeze the life out of a business.
You hear it all too much from executives, “Our business is only as good as our people,” but do they really mean it? In Startup.com’s case, they do and they don’t. Tom, the self-proclaimed “Co-CEO” of GovWorks.com, is caught it the crosshairs when his communication and technology skills begin to lag behind that of the competition. While he was the co-creator of the business and a parent of the idea behind GovWorks.com, no amount of loyalty can stop a business from making decisions critical to survival. Although he was deemed expendable at the end of the film, Tom was a perfect example of a hard-working MIS professional. He was fully dedicated to his business and employees, and committed a fervent amount of effort into team development. He saw that with his new company he would have to assemble these would-be strangers into a cohesive team of professionals, but ultimately did not have the technological skills to out perform the competition.
The rise of GovWorks.com came with a scary amount of time and effort from Tom and Kaleil. Everyday was a full work day involving travel, business meetings, hotels, continental breakfasts, and zero sleep. It was as if they were both entry-level investment bankers, entering the black hole of dreadful hours required to . Despite these conditions, Kaleil and Tom treaded forward, disheveled as ever, to the venture capitalists and other investors in hopes of their idea coming to fruition. It was clear from the get-go that our heroes were not in harmony in that they snapped back and forth at each other, sent mixed messages to VC’s, and were somewhat directionless in their endeavors. They both knew they needed the money. They knew they needed employees. They knew what anyone would.
As time moved forward, GovWorks.com was prematurely launched in a competitive rush to be first in production. What they failed to realize was that being first in a business with no identifiable barriers to entry does not carry much meaning. They’re site apparently functioned, but every site out there can function. What keeps customers coming back to any particular website is ease-of-use and look-and-feel just as much as that basic functionality. GovWorks.com was missing that core technology competency, resulting in mediocre revenues and inexperienced leadership. It felt like Kaleil was driven to succeed but had a sense of looming defeat that consistently equaled his determination. That seemingly inevitable defeat was paralleled by the gradual disconnect between he and Tom during the latter half of the film. The altercations between Kaleil and Tom at the end were more than symbolic representations of the downfall of the business; they were literal interpretations of the failure of their collective idea.
My Thoughts on Startup.com
Technology Readiness
One of the most obvious parts of the film Startup.com is the fact that the company was not ready to go live when they did. They lacked the necessary knowledge to run their site effectively. Tom was simply not capable of running this portion of the business. It would have been better off in the hands of someone else. Countless problems, including even the simplest tasks, should have been a clear message that they were not ready. Instead, they pursued the live date. To run a company such as GovWorks.com which runs on technology, the software, servers, etc should all work. This should be and is a priority for similar technologies. For GovWorks to ignore that and continue towards releasing their product that is far from working properly is careless.
Project Management and Business Strategy
The concept behind GovWorks.com was new and useful at the time. Unfortunately, Kaleil and Tom's inability to effectively manage the company helped lead to it's demise. As stated above, had they been able to better manage the technology aspect of their business, they may have been more succesful. If your business is based on technology and your only real presence is on the internet, it seems logical that more focus would be spent in that area. However, that was not the case with GovWorks.com.
I agree with several people who said they focused too much on making money. Sure, everyone wants to make money. But if you can't get your product to function properly, there is no way you are going to succeed. There was heavy focus on venture capitalists. You need to have a good business plan to make money and you if your investors do not feel your plan is strong enough, they will not be as willing to contribute.
Leadership
Leadership was one of the most positive elements of the company. To me, the film effectively showed that as well. The passion and drive that Kaleil showed proves he has what it takes to be a leader. If someone does not exude confidence and charisma, people will not be as willing to follow. So while Kaleil may not have made the best business decisions, his natural ability to lead allowed GovWorks.com to grow to what it was. At the same time, I feel his leadership also aided in the downfall of the company.
Professional vs. Personal Relationships
As much fun as it may seem to go into business with friends, I sometimes wonder if it's really worth it. It's nice to share in great experiences with friends but experiencing trouble can often strain and test even the strongest friendships. Kaleil and Tom were best friends but their friendship was certainly put to the test during their time in business together. The eventual firing of Tom must have been hard on Kaleil. Had they not been best friends, I'm sure such a move would have been much easier. Even if things work out in the end between friends after a situation like Kaleil and Tom were faced with, things would never be the same.
One of the most obvious parts of the film Startup.com is the fact that the company was not ready to go live when they did. They lacked the necessary knowledge to run their site effectively. Tom was simply not capable of running this portion of the business. It would have been better off in the hands of someone else. Countless problems, including even the simplest tasks, should have been a clear message that they were not ready. Instead, they pursued the live date. To run a company such as GovWorks.com which runs on technology, the software, servers, etc should all work. This should be and is a priority for similar technologies. For GovWorks to ignore that and continue towards releasing their product that is far from working properly is careless.
Project Management and Business Strategy
The concept behind GovWorks.com was new and useful at the time. Unfortunately, Kaleil and Tom's inability to effectively manage the company helped lead to it's demise. As stated above, had they been able to better manage the technology aspect of their business, they may have been more succesful. If your business is based on technology and your only real presence is on the internet, it seems logical that more focus would be spent in that area. However, that was not the case with GovWorks.com.
I agree with several people who said they focused too much on making money. Sure, everyone wants to make money. But if you can't get your product to function properly, there is no way you are going to succeed. There was heavy focus on venture capitalists. You need to have a good business plan to make money and you if your investors do not feel your plan is strong enough, they will not be as willing to contribute.
Leadership
Leadership was one of the most positive elements of the company. To me, the film effectively showed that as well. The passion and drive that Kaleil showed proves he has what it takes to be a leader. If someone does not exude confidence and charisma, people will not be as willing to follow. So while Kaleil may not have made the best business decisions, his natural ability to lead allowed GovWorks.com to grow to what it was. At the same time, I feel his leadership also aided in the downfall of the company.
Professional vs. Personal Relationships
As much fun as it may seem to go into business with friends, I sometimes wonder if it's really worth it. It's nice to share in great experiences with friends but experiencing trouble can often strain and test even the strongest friendships. Kaleil and Tom were best friends but their friendship was certainly put to the test during their time in business together. The eventual firing of Tom must have been hard on Kaleil. Had they not been best friends, I'm sure such a move would have been much easier. Even if things work out in the end between friends after a situation like Kaleil and Tom were faced with, things would never be the same.
Kaleil, Tom, and Govworks.com
Kaleil and Tom both had a dream. They both wanted to start a company, be their own bosses, and be part of something new and exciting. The difference between Kaleil and Tom was essentially that Kaleil was a business man and Tom was not. I felt as though Kaleil was the actual brains of the operation. Even though his plan did not prove to be the best, he was the one who had an idea of how to get the company up and running. Throughout the documentary, I wondered what exactly Tom was doing and what he brought to the table. It seemed as though he just got a thrill from being part of Kaleil’s million dollar idea and taking it for a ride. Because Kaleil was good friends with Tom, dating back to their high school years, I felt as though additional pressure was put on Kaleil to include his friend in the business at a level beyond Tom’s abilities. I think this pressure started out as a small annoyance but towards the end was hindering the businesses success in a major way.
From the start Tom’s presence put strain on Kaleil’s ability to raise capital for the company. In the middle of critical meetings with venture capitalists, Tom would go on tangents about things that did not have to do with their actual business. This frustrated Kaleil because to the VCs it appeared that the company did not have a clear idea of what its business plan was. Tom did not understand the importance of presenting and acting like a professional, nor did he fully grasp what Kaleil was trying to achieve.
Because of Tom’s professional deficiencies, and perhaps because of others managers’, I think that Kaleil ended up feeling as though he had to micromanage everything. During a meeting close to the point of product launch, Kaleil was trying to explain to Tom and others that he should be more involved in all aspects of the company instead of just raising money from VCs. I think Kaleil felt this way because he did not have faith in his colleagues to execute the product launch.
Even though he was probably not qualified for the position, Tom was put in charge of the technology department of the company. Like others, I believe that the technological arm of the company needed some improvement. The software did not seem to be revolutionary, and they could not distinguish themselves from their competitors. In addition, the break in did not help their strategies and technologies remain confidential. These things were a huge problem considering technology should have been one of, if not the most important core competency the company possessed. Tom’s relationship with his subordinates and his control over the department appeared to be less than ideal. When in a disagreement with one of his colleagues, he went on a side about how he and Kaleil were basically co-CEOs. This was not true. I think that perhaps Tom never fully took on his role as a technology head because of this co-CEO idea that was engrained in his head. He didn’t understand that there did not need to be two leaders, especially since Tom often preached what he thought was good for the company, not necessarily what Kaleil and the board thought was good for the company. This type of dual management would have lead to even more disastrous leadership and communication issues.
Kaleil made some mistakes as well. He often had expectations of his friends that were different from those that were not. While the first founder to leave the company would only accept a somewhat unreasonable payout, it should have been expected that in the end, for some people, it is not always about personal relationships when they have their money or career on the line. This expectation was placed on Tom when Kaleil decided to remove him from his place in the company. Kaleil seemed to think that because he told Tom that it was not personal that Tom should have not right to make business demands that any other person would have made in his situation. Kaleil could have done a better job managing these relationships.
Kaleil could have also done a better job managing his human and capital resources. As mentioned already, govworks.com quickly burned through millions of dollars somehow. It is unclear what these expenses were due to and if the spending was moving the company forward or not. If Kaleil could have fixed one thing, I think it would have been his management of the product launch. While I know that he was concerned about putting out a quality product, I still don’t feel as though what they were doing was revolutionary technology. I don’t understand why the product wasn’t developed and tested more efficiently. That doesn’t mean I think they should have skimped on quality, but it seems as though nothing separated it and its competitors in terms of the services they were providing. Getting their product to the market seemed of utmost importance to their long-term existence.
Like others have mentioned, govworks.com was only a middleman, their time in the sun would probably be brief at best. I personally think that the initial business plan was somewhat far fetched to think that people would really care about paying for this type of convenience. The market turned out not to be as profitable as Kaleil made it out to be and his company was somewhat of a mess anyways.
This documentary provides for an interesting and somewhat scary perspective from people who have already gone through the process of starting a company and making some mistakes. The risks that they took professionally and personally were large and unfortunately didn’t work out in their favor.
- Scott Anglehart
FallApart.com
Joe Piscetta
When two friends from high school, who are willing to put their own time and money into a new startup internet site; one gets the sense that this movie will have such a happy ending. That feeling gets stronger and stronger throughout the movie with the enthusiastic speeches, wilderness retreats, and near-breakout singing of kumbaya. Kaleil Tuzman and Tom Herman seemed like the perfect fit to be in charge of this new dot com business, and why not? Tom is the bearded, geeky, techy who can always be seen wearing khakis and t-shirts. And then you have Kaleil, the king of charisma. He’s always wearing some very expensive suit, and he’s always sweet-talking some potential VC and telling them what they really want to hear; how much money they can make if they invest in his company. They are two totally different people, but together you believe that they can make this thing work.
During the movie, I found myself wanting to be a part of GovWorks.com. You had the sense that this thing was going places and that if you had known about it back in 2000, you would have tried to get a piece of the action. You see all the top guys of the company enjoying the quest to find “money” and you watch them laugh about how Kaleil has favorite words to use in his sales pitch and it makes you like them and their company more. And this is all within the first 20 minutes of the film.
Then you get a peak into some of the arguments between Tom and Kaleil. First it’s the name of the company, what should we call it? Then it’s Kaleil getting frustrated with Tom for not presenting the true focus of the company in meetings with potential investors. Kaleil yells at Tom for this, and Tom takes it all in, this is the first time you kinda see Kaleil taking control. There is also an incident with Kaleil and Tom when they are trying to get in touch with their lawyer when they are offered a $17 million deal. This is more of an insight into how they are not well organized or prepared, but they would have you think otherwise. They keep saying that they are going to fire their lawyer, and that its his fault not theirs; you never really know who’s fault it was but I feel like they should’ve had their lawyer come so he could actually look at the documents. Then everything is all good for a while, and then the office gets burglarized, and you see how quickly something can go wrong. Was it coincidence or sabotage that certain hard drives were picked out specifically and taken?
The main problem with GovWorks.com was that they had two CEO’s. That’s pretty unheard of. I worked for a private equity firm this summer and worked directly for the President. The entire firm consisted of about 10 employees. The Chairman and CEO was in France the entire summer, and I never even met him. So the President was pretty much in charge for the summer, yet he still had to email the CEO and let him know what was going on and get approvals for things. He has three guys under him, one was a 70 year old man who they paid as a consultant, and he would come in 3 days a week and look over the potential acquisitions and give his advice. This is what I think Kaleil should have paid Tom to do. Their personal relationship got in the way of their professional relationship. It was clear that Tom was not capable of being the head of the technology department. He even said so himself in the film.
I couldn’t believe that they went live when they did; it looked pretty obvious that they were not ready to. The Ask function was so screwed up, and I feel that with a brand new website the Ask or How-To function would be very important. This is where they needed to have someone with more expertise than Tom. The efficiency of their website should have been the key goal to GovWorks.com.
It was crazy how quickly the company died. I was just thinking how badly I wish I thought of this idea, now I’m thanking God that I didn’t? But that’s what happened with all of these dot comers in the later 90’s. Many failed after short-lived success, while few are still around today still profiting. I believe that Kaleil and Tom had a great idea, did wonders in raising capital, but failed in managing the company successfully. One suggestion I thought of was to maybe outsource the software and website production; that way it gets done by professionals, and you can keep Tom on as an advisor of some sort, or as a consultant. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and it opened my eyes to how hard it is to startup a business, especially with your best friend.
Joe Piscetta
When two friends from high school, who are willing to put their own time and money into a new startup internet site; one gets the sense that this movie will have such a happy ending. That feeling gets stronger and stronger throughout the movie with the enthusiastic speeches, wilderness retreats, and near-breakout singing of kumbaya. Kaleil Tuzman and Tom Herman seemed like the perfect fit to be in charge of this new dot com business, and why not? Tom is the bearded, geeky, techy who can always be seen wearing khakis and t-shirts. And then you have Kaleil, the king of charisma. He’s always wearing some very expensive suit, and he’s always sweet-talking some potential VC and telling them what they really want to hear; how much money they can make if they invest in his company. They are two totally different people, but together you believe that they can make this thing work.
During the movie, I found myself wanting to be a part of GovWorks.com. You had the sense that this thing was going places and that if you had known about it back in 2000, you would have tried to get a piece of the action. You see all the top guys of the company enjoying the quest to find “money” and you watch them laugh about how Kaleil has favorite words to use in his sales pitch and it makes you like them and their company more. And this is all within the first 20 minutes of the film.
Then you get a peak into some of the arguments between Tom and Kaleil. First it’s the name of the company, what should we call it? Then it’s Kaleil getting frustrated with Tom for not presenting the true focus of the company in meetings with potential investors. Kaleil yells at Tom for this, and Tom takes it all in, this is the first time you kinda see Kaleil taking control. There is also an incident with Kaleil and Tom when they are trying to get in touch with their lawyer when they are offered a $17 million deal. This is more of an insight into how they are not well organized or prepared, but they would have you think otherwise. They keep saying that they are going to fire their lawyer, and that its his fault not theirs; you never really know who’s fault it was but I feel like they should’ve had their lawyer come so he could actually look at the documents. Then everything is all good for a while, and then the office gets burglarized, and you see how quickly something can go wrong. Was it coincidence or sabotage that certain hard drives were picked out specifically and taken?
The main problem with GovWorks.com was that they had two CEO’s. That’s pretty unheard of. I worked for a private equity firm this summer and worked directly for the President. The entire firm consisted of about 10 employees. The Chairman and CEO was in France the entire summer, and I never even met him. So the President was pretty much in charge for the summer, yet he still had to email the CEO and let him know what was going on and get approvals for things. He has three guys under him, one was a 70 year old man who they paid as a consultant, and he would come in 3 days a week and look over the potential acquisitions and give his advice. This is what I think Kaleil should have paid Tom to do. Their personal relationship got in the way of their professional relationship. It was clear that Tom was not capable of being the head of the technology department. He even said so himself in the film.
I couldn’t believe that they went live when they did; it looked pretty obvious that they were not ready to. The Ask function was so screwed up, and I feel that with a brand new website the Ask or How-To function would be very important. This is where they needed to have someone with more expertise than Tom. The efficiency of their website should have been the key goal to GovWorks.com.
It was crazy how quickly the company died. I was just thinking how badly I wish I thought of this idea, now I’m thanking God that I didn’t? But that’s what happened with all of these dot comers in the later 90’s. Many failed after short-lived success, while few are still around today still profiting. I believe that Kaleil and Tom had a great idea, did wonders in raising capital, but failed in managing the company successfully. One suggestion I thought of was to maybe outsource the software and website production; that way it gets done by professionals, and you can keep Tom on as an advisor of some sort, or as a consultant. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and it opened my eyes to how hard it is to startup a business, especially with your best friend.
The Rise and Fall of GovWorks.com
Steven Ishak
Being able to view a failing business from an outside perspective is something that is extremely rare and also extremely interesting. The movie Startup.com gives us, the viewers, that rare experience and allows us to draw our own conclusions of why exactly their business failed. In the same right, it also does a terrific job in displaying many of the very first important things it takes to get a business up and running. In the quest in making Govworks.com successful, you can’t help but notice how managerial skills, technology issues, and personal relationships all have a great influence in supporting the eventual demise of the business.
The entire movie seems to be based around the ideas and control of the lead entrepreneur, Kaleil Tuzman. Being the lead entrepreneur, Kaleil faces many hard decisions all while trying to keep the opportunity, his resources, and his team in balance.
Kaleil’s opportunity is a website which will help users facilitate the payment and use of certain government regulations and procedures, such as being able to pay for parking tickets on the internet. Kaleil seemed very determined to make his opportunity as focused as possible when talking to potential investors so it does not appear that he and his team are out of focus. He truly believes there is a lot of money to be made by creating this website and is willing to devote as much time and energy it takes to make this opportunity successful. In contrast, towards the end of the movie, the viewers saw that his opportunity was quickly becoming obsolete and could no longer survive. His resources and his team seemed to be the main reason to cause the eventual collapse of his business.
Kaleil’s resources at the beginning of the project were few and far between. We, the viewers, witnessed that he didn’t even have a chair at his desk and had to sit on a computer cardboard box. He began by only having 8 educated employees, a couple of computer systems, a relatively small office, a car, airplane tickets, and his most hated resource of all, time. Kaleil always seemed to be pressured by time. He wanted to get things done quickly because he knew how fast the internet and Dot Coms were growing. He wanted to be the first to market his opportunity, but at the same time be sure that he was getting the best investors and the best employees he could afford. On the opening day of the business, Kaleil greatly increased his resources. He now had over 200 employees, generated over $17 million from investors, and was now also generating income due to the operation of the business. However, as we all saw, those resources then began to decrease at an uncontrollable rate. Due to a lack of security there was a break-in of the office which led to a suspicion of corporate espionage. This lack of security implies that Kaleil and Tom didn’t have the proper software and technology to help protect against possible intruders. Also due to uncontrollable events such as a recession in the stock market, it limited investors to investing any more money in Kaleil’s ailing business.
Kaleil’s team seemed to be the most interesting aspect of the film. He seemed to have a love/hate relationship with his best friend and partner Tom. He loved the fact that Tom was always there for him and meant well, but gave the impression that he believed Tom was not a very good communicator. He felt some of the things Tom would say to investors were completely wrong and it made his company and his opportunity appear to be not focused. In addition to Tom, there were at least 2 other team members who we the viewer didn’t really get to see much of except for the very beginning when they were debating what the name of their company should be. Lastly, the most drama causing team member, Key, made for an interesting moment in the movie. Kaleil and Tom we forced to decide how much money to give Key in order to buy out his shares of the company because Key no longer wanted to be a member of their team. Key wanted nearly double the amount Kaleil and Tom were offering and thus forced Kaleil and Tom to have to dig into their own pockets to pay off their one time friend for his shares of the company. Kaleil and Tom took this to be a personal slap in the face and were devastated by Key’s apparent “backstabbing.” Also, towards the end of the film we see how Tom is asked to no longer work for the company because he was not the best person for the job in regards to the technology aspect of the company. Kaleil’s “Team” was now reduced to himself and those 2 other men which we were introduced to in the beginning of the film. With the firing of Tom, and all other resources quickly diminishing, it was easy to conclude that GovWorks.com would quickly fail.
To be on the outside and witness the rise and fall of GovWorks.com makes for an interesting hour and half. I seemed to find myself instinctively putting myself in place of Kaleil and thinking about what I would have done differently. First and foremost, Kaleil seems to be driven by the idea of making “Billions” of dollars as oppose to being driven by the idea itself. Having said that, I would have made sure never to lose focus on the core competences of my business. His passion is clearly there, but it’s there for the wrong reason. He also seems to be too immature in handling his business practices, and it seems like he allows his emotions to get the best of him.
However, having said all that, I also should acknowledge the genius of their idea of making a documentary of their journey of starting GovWorks.com. By developing this film they were able to create a number of interesting assets for themselves. First, they created another source of revenue which the movie would produce which they could use for the support of their business. Secondly, in the event that their business had become successful, they also created an advertisement for GovWorks.com. Lastly, if the business had failed, which it obviously did, they created credibility for themselves in which they could use this film to show all the work they’ve been through and thus create even more opportunities for themselves.
Being able to view a failing business from an outside perspective is something that is extremely rare and also extremely interesting. The movie Startup.com gives us, the viewers, that rare experience and allows us to draw our own conclusions of why exactly their business failed. In the same right, it also does a terrific job in displaying many of the very first important things it takes to get a business up and running. In the quest in making Govworks.com successful, you can’t help but notice how managerial skills, technology issues, and personal relationships all have a great influence in supporting the eventual demise of the business.
The entire movie seems to be based around the ideas and control of the lead entrepreneur, Kaleil Tuzman. Being the lead entrepreneur, Kaleil faces many hard decisions all while trying to keep the opportunity, his resources, and his team in balance.
Kaleil’s opportunity is a website which will help users facilitate the payment and use of certain government regulations and procedures, such as being able to pay for parking tickets on the internet. Kaleil seemed very determined to make his opportunity as focused as possible when talking to potential investors so it does not appear that he and his team are out of focus. He truly believes there is a lot of money to be made by creating this website and is willing to devote as much time and energy it takes to make this opportunity successful. In contrast, towards the end of the movie, the viewers saw that his opportunity was quickly becoming obsolete and could no longer survive. His resources and his team seemed to be the main reason to cause the eventual collapse of his business.
Kaleil’s resources at the beginning of the project were few and far between. We, the viewers, witnessed that he didn’t even have a chair at his desk and had to sit on a computer cardboard box. He began by only having 8 educated employees, a couple of computer systems, a relatively small office, a car, airplane tickets, and his most hated resource of all, time. Kaleil always seemed to be pressured by time. He wanted to get things done quickly because he knew how fast the internet and Dot Coms were growing. He wanted to be the first to market his opportunity, but at the same time be sure that he was getting the best investors and the best employees he could afford. On the opening day of the business, Kaleil greatly increased his resources. He now had over 200 employees, generated over $17 million from investors, and was now also generating income due to the operation of the business. However, as we all saw, those resources then began to decrease at an uncontrollable rate. Due to a lack of security there was a break-in of the office which led to a suspicion of corporate espionage. This lack of security implies that Kaleil and Tom didn’t have the proper software and technology to help protect against possible intruders. Also due to uncontrollable events such as a recession in the stock market, it limited investors to investing any more money in Kaleil’s ailing business.
Kaleil’s team seemed to be the most interesting aspect of the film. He seemed to have a love/hate relationship with his best friend and partner Tom. He loved the fact that Tom was always there for him and meant well, but gave the impression that he believed Tom was not a very good communicator. He felt some of the things Tom would say to investors were completely wrong and it made his company and his opportunity appear to be not focused. In addition to Tom, there were at least 2 other team members who we the viewer didn’t really get to see much of except for the very beginning when they were debating what the name of their company should be. Lastly, the most drama causing team member, Key, made for an interesting moment in the movie. Kaleil and Tom we forced to decide how much money to give Key in order to buy out his shares of the company because Key no longer wanted to be a member of their team. Key wanted nearly double the amount Kaleil and Tom were offering and thus forced Kaleil and Tom to have to dig into their own pockets to pay off their one time friend for his shares of the company. Kaleil and Tom took this to be a personal slap in the face and were devastated by Key’s apparent “backstabbing.” Also, towards the end of the film we see how Tom is asked to no longer work for the company because he was not the best person for the job in regards to the technology aspect of the company. Kaleil’s “Team” was now reduced to himself and those 2 other men which we were introduced to in the beginning of the film. With the firing of Tom, and all other resources quickly diminishing, it was easy to conclude that GovWorks.com would quickly fail.
To be on the outside and witness the rise and fall of GovWorks.com makes for an interesting hour and half. I seemed to find myself instinctively putting myself in place of Kaleil and thinking about what I would have done differently. First and foremost, Kaleil seems to be driven by the idea of making “Billions” of dollars as oppose to being driven by the idea itself. Having said that, I would have made sure never to lose focus on the core competences of my business. His passion is clearly there, but it’s there for the wrong reason. He also seems to be too immature in handling his business practices, and it seems like he allows his emotions to get the best of him.
However, having said all that, I also should acknowledge the genius of their idea of making a documentary of their journey of starting GovWorks.com. By developing this film they were able to create a number of interesting assets for themselves. First, they created another source of revenue which the movie would produce which they could use for the support of their business. Secondly, in the event that their business had become successful, they also created an advertisement for GovWorks.com. Lastly, if the business had failed, which it obviously did, they created credibility for themselves in which they could use this film to show all the work they’ve been through and thus create even more opportunities for themselves.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
StartUp.com "What Went Wrong?"
Kevin Fisher
Technology Readiness:
For govworks.com it is my opinion that the company did not have the technological ability to go live as soon as they did. I feel it was evident in the filming of the documentary you can witness the evolution of the firm. When first going live one witnesses the capacity of the company by looking carefully in the background. For what they were trying to accomplish the man power and coding expertise that was needed was extreme and the company had no where close to what they needed in order to accomplish their goal. I agree with Gina that Tom should have not been put as the head of the technology department and someone with a great deal more expertise with technology should have been hired. I think the readiness of the company was seen the most in the part in which the company was broken into and stuff was stolen from the company. For one thing when running a company that deals with personal information in car tickets and sensitive material such as credit card numbers and addresses security is a huge priority. Then when coming to realize what was stolen and trying to observe if any information was compromised the company during filming was only able to find out about, about being the key word what time the break in happened.
Project Management / Business Strategy:
Management throughout any project is very important to running a successful business and I think goes hand and hand with Business Strategy. Management in govworks.com consisted at first of Kaleil and Tom. These two dreamed up and started the site. Throughout the film their management styles sometimes disagreed. In these cases Kaleil’s more aggressive and somewhat abrasive style usually won out and ultimately led to the termination of Tom. As the company brought in more employees the management was responsible for keeping track of these people and at sometimes in the film one witnesses that there was not a great deal of communication going on in the company outside the meetings and retreats. In running a internet based and customer relation strategy it is very important keep an eye on a great deal of different aspects. Management must keep track of technological advances and many other aspects and take advantages that will help the firm. I feel that Kaleil and Tom did not do this and in turn this led to the downfall of company.
Software Testing:
In terms of software testing I do not think that govworks.com did enough testing. They were too worried about going live as soon as possible and this was evident in what happened just before the launch. They had the money and I feel if they took more time and tested many different software vendors along with a number of different ways in which they could have accomplished their goal they could have found a better way in which to perform what they set out to do. Especially in the software field are so many vendors all with good programs. All govworks.com had to do was test a number of different vendors and I feel they could have found a very good company to perform their goal. They definitely needed to implement and test and security package due to the fact that they were broken into and that break in could have compromised a great deal of sensitive customer data.
Professional versus Personal Relationships:
This was probably the most profound thing seen in the film. Tom and Kaleil were best friends growing up and dreamed and started the company. As the filmed progressed the friendship of Tom and Kaleil was eventually broken and it goes to show that friendship and business relationships conflict that one should be very careful in attempting to work with friends. In the film Kaleil got killed when it came to his relationships. He lost his best friend and his girlfriend. The girlfriend however was crazy and you could see from the beginning that that was probably not going to the last but the Tom and Kaleil relationship was almost harsh to watch. Kaleil’s passion towards the project was amazing but in any venture is necessary to also have a life outside of the company. If one does nothing other than work eventually you will go crazy no matter how much you enjoy what you are doing. Kaleil did not so this and it was not until the company went completely under that we realized what had happened.
Leadership:
This was probably the thing that the company did best. Kaleil was the obvious leader and throughout the film showed his leadership style in a very obvious way. In the film you see the meetings and retreats that the company holds to bring the team together. In all the meetings it is Kaleil and his enthusiasm that brings all the people in the company to share in his passion. Kaleil is truly dedicated to his project and like a good captain goes down with his ship. As the company falls further and further into debt and eventually dies Kaleil attempts to stay positive and up beat but it is too late.
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