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Dotcom entrepreneurs benefited from the illusory surge of Fast Company hyper-capitalism in the late 1990s. A business plan and knowledge of the latest techno-babble could secure venture capital. Barely rewritten press releases masqueraded as objective business news. The dotcom CEO replaced the Wall Street trader as a celebrity. Cyberculture was chic. New paradigms were touted every millisecond and different business revolutions were proclaimed everyday.

The documentary film Startup.com (2001) captures this quixotic period through the rise-and-fall of govWorks.com, seen through the fluctuating personal relationship between founders Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman, who were old high-school friends. Startup.com was shot by Jehane Noujaim, who was Tuzman's college room-mate and a former MTV producer. Noujaim was assisted by Chris Hedegus, whose previous documentary The War Room (1994) documented Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, and funded by D.A. Pennebaker, who pioneered the handicam verite aesthetic with his thirty-year old Bob Dylan documentary Don't Look Back (1967). The 103 minute film was compiled from over 400 hours of digital video footage.

Filter: Ichak Adizes and Corporate Lifecycles

The Corporate Lifecycles model proposed by Ichak Adizes also divides the narrative into an understandable structure: the opening montage (mission statement), the early discussions and venture capital sessions (Courtship), the growth of the firm and site development (Infancy) and the leadership battle that tears govWorks.com apart (Go Go). The Adizes model adds a further dimension to the documentary narrative and meta-comments on the founder's personal relationship.

Mission Statement: You Have The Right . . .

The opening montage captures the govWorks.com mission statement--to process the administration forms, city taxes and parking tickets that have been outsourced by city councils and municipal treasuries--in a fusion of the MTV video clip, the Hollywood pitch session and the American revolutionary spirit ("You have the right to apply for a fishing license at 3 AM in the morning."). Noujaim's "fly-on-the-wall" coverage begins in 1998 with discussions between Tuzman and Herman over laptops and pizza. Kaleil jokes that the site should be called UntoCaeser.com. The founders are poles apart: Tuzman is the charismatic Chief Executive Officer who quits a lucrative position with Goldman Sachs while Herman is the introverted Chief Technical Officer who fiddles with technology and constantly shaves his beard. Both have idealistic values, a grandiose vision, and their eyes on a "vertical market" worth $600 billion in municipal fees.

Noujaim and Hedegus's narrative charts the govWorks.com lifecycle (May 1999 to the aftermath in January 2001) and the founder's attempts to implement large-scale change. The narrative fractalises many key moments that successful dotcom entrepreneurs faced, from the two posing for a business magazine cover-shoot to the C-Span conference where a buoyant Tuzman has the chutzpah to play-off President Bill Clinton for the cameras. Yet many dotcom entrepreneurs also ignored the business fundamentals, and Startup.com makes even more sense if you are familiar with the basics of "business lifecycle" theory. Joseph Schumpeter and his "creative destruction" dominate the business press, one explanation of why Tuzman and Herman could raise $60 million in venture capital through several financing rounds.

Courtship Phase: The Art of the Business Pitch

Throughout their chase for venture capital funding, Tuzman and Herman drive around Boston and Silicon Valley in SUVs, constantly fine-tuning Powerpoint presentations and flow-charts, playing with their Palm Pilots. The key sequence of the Courtship phase occurs when they visit General Atlantic Partners and Highland Capital Partners. Tuzman explains to one potential investor that govWorks.com "facilitate interactions between local government and their constituents."

There are early warnings that the founders have premature business plans. "He just doesn't get it," Tuzman retorts after facing an astute critique of his pitch. "It's an East-West Coast rivalry thing." Although the Hollywood pitch culture has invaded West Coast investment firms, it can still be cut-throat. When they are offered a $17 million deal on the condition that the paperwork is signed that day, the founders play phone-tag with Wilson Sonsini, their lawyer. Pressure reveals who they really are.

The intense negotiations begin to fracture their friendship. Tuzman sees the big picture whereas Herman focuses on small details. Herman's "Devil's Advocate" tactics during one meeting, and his subsequent argument with Tuzman, convey the gap between their respective choices (liberal arts and commerce) for college education. They also rely on each other: when Tuzman's laptop frizzle-fries in mid-meeting, Tuzman attempts a quick fix solution, as the founders are forced to improvise their presentation.

What finally bonds them together are eighteen hour days and their battle with the third founder, Kee, who demands $800,000 in cash or equity for four months work. Kee's demands and his non-willingness to leave his apartment become obstacles to the much-needed venture capital, despite a $50 million valuation by potential investors. The founders resolve this crisis through a variation of the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine: Tuzman takes an aggressive and confrontational negotiation stance over the phone, while Herman visits Kee's apartment and tries a humanistic spiel about the govWorks.com team. Kee finally backs off, allowing the founders to proceed.

Infancy Phase: The Science of Rites of Passage

During the Courtship phase, the ideal vision battles with the pragmatism required to raise funding capital. Dotcom firms found out, when the money arrived, that day-to-day business suddenly became a logistical nightmare, as priorities multiplied in complexity. This nightmare ushers in the Infancy phase, when management struggles to bring its vision into reality and outpaces its competitors through fast cycles. govWorks.com grew from 6 employees (May 1999) to 30 (August 1999) to 70 (October 1999).

The founders underwent strange transformations as they confronted many challenges and problems. They began with Herman's parents writing their first check, and ended the phase when negotiator Jose Feliciano landed $18.4 million in venture capital, to rounds of applause.