Startup.com? More like this startup bombed...

 My first impression of Startup.com is that I don't particularly like any of these people. It's a good way to dissuade me from getting into this sort of business with friends. I know that the actions of these people make sense given the situation, but why put yourself in this situation in the first place? Seeing friends turn on each other over money is a sad sight.

I also think that everyone in the story is in over their head in one way or another. Tom wasn't ready to be a co-CEO, but Kaleil wasn't either. Of the two, Kaleil was the more competent, but he also had massive shortcomings. He had trouble suppressing his ego and he wasn't able to articulate solutions, only criticisms. In the end, the third founder, Chieh made the most money. Tom and Kaleil were left high and dry due to the dotcom bust.

During the whole saga, one point of intrigue did catch my attention, but perhaps not in the way you might expect. I think the break-in exemplified how the GovWorks crew, and perhaps most companies in the dotcom bubble, weren't prepared to accomplish what they were selling. Whether the break-in was an inside job or not, it shows that the company did not take security seriously. They didn't think to protect sensitive data, and Kaleil didn't think of anyway to protect the data he stored on his personal computer. Given that the security computer was shutdown, it was probably a disgruntled employee. Who would I have fired? I would never be in that position, but the board should have removed the leadership and replaced them with veterans.

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