STARTUP.COM

Every citizen should be able to apply for a fishing permit in the middle of the night. That is more or less the idea behind govWorks.com, the company set up by two friends, Kaleili Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman. Their website aims to offer all kind of services by municipal authorities, so that people will be able to apply for a driving license or pay a parking ticket online. Within a short time, the two manage to raise fifteen million dollars in investments and transform govWorks.com from a two-man operation into an enterprise employing two hundred people. This documentary closely follows the rise and inevitable fall of the company. Tuzman and Herman, best friends since their schooldays, are confronted with success (which reaches its height when they pay a visit to President Clinton), stress in their relationship and at work, and very tough competition. The enormous pressures attendant on this life in the fast lane demand great sacrifices in both their private lives, the tragic low being a conflict around the leadership of the company and the consequent rift between the two friends. Omnipresent without becoming obtrusive, the camera records events, while at the same time unveiling the underlying tensions and intimate emotions.