Startup.com

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=80 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="04000500dvldtc.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Arial" ><B>Reel Movie Critic.com</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reel Movie Critic.com"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id1738.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="ScoobyDoo"><U>Scooby-Doo</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1750.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Scorpion King"><U>The Scorpion King</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1845.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Second Skin"><U>Second Skin</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1865.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Secret Society"><U>Secret Society</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1862.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Serving Sara"><U>Serving Sara</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1866.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Seven Men from Now"><U>Seven Men from Now</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id1864.htm" 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ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=400 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> Startup.com</div> <div> <IMG SRC="126bb0bc0.png" border=0 width="176" height="188" ALT="Bitmap Image" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">    <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0273650912/reelmoviecriticc">Startup.Com : Everything You Need to know about starting up an internet company...$52.50 from Amazon.com</A>  </div> <div>  <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005N5QV/reelmoviecriticc">Startup.com on DVD</A>  </div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="501" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 1400 WIDTH="495"><div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 20 WIDTH="575"><div> <B>Startup.com </B>***1/2 ( R )</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By George O. Singleton</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 ><NOBR><div> An insiders look at the world of get rich .dot coms</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 ><NOBR><div> Kaleil Isaza Tuzman: Himself</div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Tom Herman: Himself</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Director: Chris Hegedus</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Co-Director: Jehane Noujaim</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: A true life drama about making it in the Internet world and how a friendship is tested when best friends are CO-CEO's of a company that gets into deep financial difficulty.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Kaleil Tuzman and Tom Herman (K&T) are featured in a documentary that creates as much human drama as <I><B>Along Came A Spider</B></I> or <I><B>Cast Away</B></I>. K&T are bright young men doing well in corporate America. They decide to start their own business when they see a solution to a problem that many of us can understand….. making it easier to deal with our state and local governments. For example, we should be able to pay a parking ticket online, get a fishing license at 3 AM, attend a town meeting on TV in your underwear from the comfort of your home or not miss a day from work to renew your drivers license. The solution is to use the power of the Internet. The business they create is called <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="http://www.govworks.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.govworks.com"><U><U>www.govworks.com</U></U></A>.</FONT> They had what appears to be an idea whose time has come.</div> <bR> <div> However, as Kaleil states at one point in the film, most industry segments on the Internet will have one company that is the market leader and one or two others at the most that can survive. Everyone else will fail. K&T invest a small amount of money on their own and with considerable difficulty raise over $50 million by working with various venture capital (VC) firms. For money, the VC's gain equity and /or control over a your business. At some point, a return on the investment must go to the VC's or they will become the day to day business owners. </div> <bR> <div> As the revenues grew, so did the number of employees. From just August of 1999 when they had 30 employees, by May of 2000, it was up to 223. One problem was that from a technical point of view, they were not keeping up with their competitors. In addition, they had a long sale cycle, typical of government business and no clear path for their cash (especially typical of government business as they tend to pay closer to 90 days rather than the normal terms of 30). Mix that with a bloated infrastructure and it's a going out of business strategy.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: Tom is a man dedicated to his business who has a enviable loving relationship with his daughter. When we see him braid her hair, we know that Tom is a good man. <I>Startup.com</I> is a hopeful window into the world in other ways as well. There is no mention of race or ethnicity anywhere in the film whether things are going good or bad. We see what looks like the United Nations working for the firm in a variety of capacities. </div> <bR> <div>  On paper, K&T became millionaires in a short period of time. When sales stagnated and cash got tight, Kaleil was starting to put pressure on Tom, the technical leader to get more done faster. Their friendship was tested like none I've ever seen before. I've heard the words "I love you" before and seen men embrace, but I've never seen anyone in business that had the mental toughness and true respect for each other to weather the storm as we do here. K&T go from millionaires to zeronaires. We feel empathy for them because they are ethical to their customers, employees and everyone they deal with. </div> <bR> <div> Even though they are broke at the end of the film, as the credits are rolling, you learn something that will make you applaud both Kaleil and Tom. </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> R (language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> George O. Singleton © 2001</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:Reelmoviec@aol.com"><U><U>George@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>