What are the best movies for entrepreneurs to watch to get motivation, ideas, and insights into growing their businesses? Adam Toren, co-founder of YoungEntrepreneur.com gives us his Top 10 list of movies that every young business owner should go out and see:
1) e-Dreams
An in-depth look at the highs and lows of a dot com. The movie follows the founders of Kozmo.com as they raise money and file for IPO. But no one has predicted the market crash in April 2000.
2) Startup.com
Traces the birth and failure of new media company govWorks.com
3) Triump of the Nerds
It happened more or less by accident; the people who made it happen were amateurs; and for the most part they still are. From his own Silicon Valley garage, author Bob Cringley puts PC bigshots and nerds on the spot, and tells their incredible true stories. Like the industry itself, the series is informative, funny and brash. Some of the episode participants include: Bill Gates (Chairman of Microsoft, the richest man in the world), Steve Jobs (Hippie co-founder of Apple Computer; CEO of NeXT Computer; and the man who wanted to change the world), and Steve Wozniak (Co-founder of Apple Computer; engineering genius, practical joker).
4) Jerry Maguire
When a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent with the only athlete who stays with him.
5) Big Night
A failing Italian restaurant run by two brothers gambles on one special night to try to save the business.
6) WallStreet
A young and impatient stockbroker is willing to do anything to get to the top, including trading on illegal inside information taken through a ruthless and greedy corporate raider whom takes the youth under his wing.
7) Boiler Room
A college dropout gets a job as a broker for a suburban investment firm, which puts him on the fast track to success, but the job might not be as legitimate as it sounds.
Barbarians at the Gate
F. Ross Johnson, the CEO of RJR Nabisco decides that the time is ripe to take over his own company and enlists American Express. This kicks off a tide of other firms swarming in to tender offers. The outline of the film follows the actual takeover of the RJR Nabisco empire in a tongue in cheek way.
9) The Secret of My Succe$s
A talented young man can’t get an executive position without rising through the ranks, so he comes up with a shortcut, which also benefits his love life.
10) Pirates of Silicon Valley
This film is the semi-humorous documentary about the men who made the world of technology what it is today, their struggles during college, the founding of their companies, and the ingenious actions they took to build up the global corporate empires of Apple Computer Corporation and Microsoft Inc..
What are your thoughts on these movies? Are there any others that you would add to the list?
Please make sure to also vote in our YoungEntrepreneur.com poll on who you think are the top celebrity entrepreneurs. The results will be coming out in a couple of weeks!
