Startup.com is a documentary about two entrepreneurs and high school friends, Kaleil and Tom (and a third), that create a company called Govworks at the end of the dot com boom and just before the internet bubble burst. The documentary captures the birth of the company from Kaleil's decision to name it Govworks, through the meteoric rise of the company's value, to the eventual tech issues, competition, bust and death. Startup.com is an informative first hand look at the struggle of building a company and bringing a product to market.
Kaleil and Tom start off with an idea for a website that would allow citizens to interact with the government in their own homes without having to show up to a city meeting or other public place. They start off with little competition and they are quickly able to raise enough money to hire a team and get started. The company is so hyped that Kaleil even gets to meet president Bill Clinton before the company has even released a product or made a dime.
The company ultimately suffers a series of unfortunate events starting with an incident of corporate espionage, likely perpetrated by one of the competitors. Next the tech bubble begins to burst and companies like Govworks begin to drop in value dramatically. The final nail in the coffin comes when the website performs poorly compared to the competitors, which leads to Tom being let go by Kaleil. Eventually they end up with nothing to show for their work except the experience of building their first company.
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