Startup.com insights...

Gina DiNardo

Professional vs. Personal Relationships

In the video Startup.com it was readily apparent that personal relationships can get in the way of business, and can even be the cause of its ultimate failure. It seems to me that going into business with a friend might appear to be a good idea at the time, but will never work out in the end. Tom and Kaleil may have dreamt of and started govworks.com together, but it was quite evident that Kaleil had taken the reins, and had much more expertise in keeping the business afloat. Tom’s lack of knowledge in the field of technology and ability to manage his division of the business would’ve have certainly led to the company’s demise much sooner had he not been terminated. The termination; however, took a toll on Tom’s relationship with Kaleil, and caused him to reevaluate what was important to him. At one point Tom said that he would rather see the business fail than lose his friendship with Kaleil. If this is what he valued all along, than he should not gone into business with a friend. Business can be ruthless and harsh, and if you’re not willing to play the game, as Tom clearly was not, then you will fail. Kaleil, on the other hand, was in fact willing to play the game. He knew that he would have to terminate his friend, and fellow co-CEO, for the sake of his business. He did not let his personal relationships get in the way of business, and this is where I believe that he succeeded.

Technology Readiness/Software Testing

I do not believe that Govworks.com was technologically ready for their go-live date, or to start the business when they did. Days before their go live, they were having problems with something as simple as the ask function. Also, they had Tom as the head of the technology division, who did not have total experience in the field, as was shown by the division’s ultimate failure. They needed more of an expert who knew the cutting edge of technology that could wow users with what they produced. Their website was below par compared with their competitor’s, and this was certainly part of the reason for the eventual failure of the business. They had a great idea, and a substantial amount of money to back them, but they needed to spend more time on the technology aspect, which should have been the number one focus of such an internet company. I think that Tom and Kaleil underestimated the extent to which superior technology played a role in their business, and were too concerned with other areas such as how to raise money and get venture capitalists to invest in their idea. What they did not realize, and probably did not expect was to be ousted by their competition simply because of their website. Govworks.com may have been more advanced, but if it was not displayed by their website then users would not be impressed.

Leadership

Kaleil displayed many traits of a good leader, with a few of a not-so-good one. He inspired people to want to work for the company by sharing his dream with them and having them feel as though what they were doing would matter, and pay off in the end. (The cheer was also a very good motivator.) He was also very professional in appearance and speech, and was visibly more dominant than his counterpart, Tom. You could tell; however, that this was one of his first times managing and leading a group of people for something as important as a startup company because he would get angry and frustrated easily and wouldn’t necessarily know what to do from there (which is obviously expected). Kaleil was successful as a leader of govworks.com. He did not overreact too much when things went wrong, or when he had to settle differences with another employee. Overall, I think his leadership skills far exceeded Tom’s, who kind of slipped into the background as the business grew over the 2 year period.

Business Strategy

To me, Govworks.com did not necessarily have a consistent and clear business strategy. This was evidenced by the beginning of the movie when they were trying to generate venture capital and they each presented conflicting stories about their company. I think that Tom and Kaleil should have taken more time to thoroughly develop a cohesive business strategy and then moved on with their plan from there. Also, I think there should have been much more emphasis on the technology aspect as well as the software development and testing of their site. They were too enthusiastic about their idea as a whole and getting money to fund it, that they did not spend enough time on their site, which is the only thing that their end users would see of Govworks.com. I agree with whoever said that their focus and business strategy should have been more about testing their software and ensuring a quality site, rather than just making money.