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