Business Opportunities Weblog

January 20, 2005 by Dane Carlson | 0 Comments

Barry Moltz:

Kaleil Isaza Tuzman of Startup.com movie fame has a new book out this week, The Entrepreneur’s Success Kit : A 5-Step Lesson Plan to Create and Grow Your Own Business. KaleilLike 60 million other people, I have watched the movie several times. It does not leave a very favorable impression of Kaleil and the business govWorks that he tried to build during the bubble.

Kaleil was in town yesterday promoting his new book and I had a chance to have dinner with him. After last night, I have an all new view of him and he impressed the heck out of me as a smart and savy entrepreneur.

After much soul searching, he views the film and govWorks really “blessed his life”. The movie put on the silver screen “my worst characteristics, so I could not avoid or deny them”. He goes on to say that he “felt like dirt and people reminded him that I felt like dirt”. He reveals how he received hundreds of horrible emails from people who held him responsible for everything bad in the internet bubble.

He takes total responsibility for his failure where he lost $55M of money from VCs, his friends and family. He states that he let his ego take control of the business. He was pursuing fame and recognition instead of selling govWorks solutions. Kaleil says that at the time, he prioritized business over relationships. He thought that he was out to change the world, but all he really wanted was recognition. He now realized that this was his Achilles Heal.

Kaleil said that before failure, he thought he was smart. After govWorks, he realized he was lucky for his previous successes.

He wrote the book to help entrepreneurs come face to face with their strengths and weaknesses. He believes they need to determine what success looks like for them. He now counsels that starting your own business is not a get rich quick scheme. He believes that the most important thing is for you to know yourself.

“The problem is that most people are not brutally honest with themselves.Successful entrepreneurs knows what drives them and how to be channel that.”

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