Extra Credit - Startup.Com

     Startup.com is about three men, Kaleil Tuzman, Tom Herman, and Chieh Cheung who come together and start a dot com company, Govworks.com. Govworks.com was a site where people can visit to pay city fines, taxes, and user fees. Like many other companies during the dotcom era, the company's pitch and aspirations were too over hyped. When Kaleil pitched the product to investors Kaleil often emphasized that this was a 600 million dollar market. Govworks.com reminded me of the 2011 NFL Eagles team whose own backup quarterback, Vince Young, declared a Dream Team

     Startup.com did have success. Govworks.com grew to 200 employees and 50 million in cash. Kaleil started becoming famous, appearing in magazines, and even meeting up with/ handing President Clinton a business card. However not everything was uphill. Kaleil had a battle with his co founder Tom about Tom wanting to be a CO-CEO. Tom was eventually forced out of the company. This really opened my eyes to the risks of starting a business with a friend. When I talk ideas with friends, my friends typically get excited about the idea and want to quickly implement. We never think about the possible damage getting a business can do to our personal relationship.

     The third partner walked away from the company after selling his shares. Andrew in class pointed how this was similar to the Winkelevoss twins and how they were able to get Facebook equity after a legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg. From the Winkelevoss story, if I were to get involved in a business idea with others, I should try to ensure good relations with the founders so if there's mutual agreement to leave, there won't be major disputes over equity.