As an entrepreneur, taking some time out to watch yourself and get a view of how you are going can be tricky. But one of the greatest methods of learning, being inspired, and realizing how complicated business can be is by watching well made documentaries. Documentaries provide real involvement in the stories of entrepreneurs and their successes as well as failures as compared to fictional business movies.
If you with motivation in the difficult moments, if you want to learn what the most common mistakes are or you just want to learn something among the experiences of successful business leaders, the right documentary can teach you a lot. Stories of failure by startups or lives of billionaires, these well-chosen business documentaries provide an in-depth overview of the business world.
The importance of Business Documentaries for Entrepreneur.
Business documentaries are applicable to both the aspiring and practicing entrepreneurs. They give you the real life case studies which no text ever can, they are unedited snippets into the thought process, challenges and moments which make successful (and unsuccessful) ventures what they are.
The movies also assist the entrepreneurs in thinking critically as they depict tricky business situations and its consequences. More to the point, they give a humane touch to the path of an entrepreneur, demonstrating that even the most prosperous business tycoons do not know everything, can fail, commit errors, and gain new knowledge.
Startup.com (2001) – A Cautionary Tale from the Dotcom Boom
Startup.com is a highly effective documentary in which the actual life-span of a tech startup, GovWorks, brought into life at the peak of the internet boom in the late 1990s, is shown. Produced by Jehane Noujaim and Chris Hegedus, the documentary provides a raw, behind-the-scenes raw look at the emotional and financial rollercoaster that entrepreneurs Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman go through as they build their company only to see it all fall under poor management and inter-company politics.
Having raised more than 60 million in funding, GovWorks had it all with a brilliant idea, investor support and media hype. However, just at the time when the rigors of fast-paced scaling, egos, and power politics take over the establishment, cracks start to appear. It begins with very promising adventure among close friends and gradually becomes a miserable deconstruction of the business and their friendship.
Carefully polished up after more than 400 hours of recordings, Startup.com represents an insightful and authentic picture into the work of startups, well before Instagram turned entrepreneurship into a glamorized image. It is not only a business story; it is a human story with ambition, friendship and betrayal, and the mean reality of the world of startups.
Startup.com is a must-watch to anyone who showed interest in entrepreneurship and history of technology, as well as dynamics of leadership.
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (2019)
The story of Theranos centers on one of the most dramatic falls ever of a much-hyped health-tech startup that enabled to revolutionize the blood testing process. Under the leadership of Elizabeth Holmes, who was dubbed the youngest female self-made billionaire in the world, Theranos generated hundreds of millions in capital, as well as, attracted some of the most influential businesspersons and politicians.
It is an HBO documentary by the director Alex Gibney that exposes the tendency of Holmes and COO Sunny Balwani to concentrate on image and hype rather than science. The movie draws a horrifying portrait of ambition gone bad because the company in question gagged the whistleblowers, deceived the shareholders, and ignored growing signs that their technology does not work.
The Inventor, by following behind-the-scenes account and providing real footage and interviews, demonstrates how the power of charisma and marketing can mislead even the most experienced business people. It includes the voices of some of the main participants in this process such as whistleblowers Erika Cheung and Tyler Shultz, and John Carreyrou who investigated the scandal and exposed it.
An eye-opening match that goes hand in hand with Carreyrou Bad Blood, the documentary is a mandatory watch aimed both at those who are focused on entrepreneurship and the world of technology and those who are curious about the evils of unchecked ambition in Silicon Valley.
IMDB Rating: 7.1/10
Becoming Warren Buffett (2017)
Becoming Warren Buffett is a compelling HBO documentary not only because it gives a glimpse of the wealth-building secrets of the renowned investor but also because it paints one of the shrewdest men on earth in a reflective light. The so-called Oracle of Omaha, Buffett has a calculated science of successfully investing in value, being thrifty and making sane decisions, which are brought to light in interviews, aged footage and intimate discussions with his family, friends, and long-term partner Charlie Munger.
The most exceptional thing about this film is that it is devoted to the emotional intelligence of Buffett or a lack of it. Though his financial genius cannot be doubted, the documentary also tells about the changes in his personal relations through the years and his emotional struggle when trying to live and work.
Whether it is the fact that he lived in the same small house he purchased in 1958 or that he could not live without Coca-Cola, Buffett has entailed a lot of quirks which one can learn as much about him as his tactics. Being either an ambitious investor, entrepreneur, or someone wishing to gain a bit of eternal wisdom in life, this documentary is educative and incredibly humane.
It’s a rare blend of biography and business insight that reminds us success isn’t just about numbers—it’s also about character, consistency, and knowing your strengths.
IMDB Rating: 7.5/10
Inside Bill’s Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (2019)
A three-part documentary produced by Netflix explores the mind of a tech genius Bill Gates, who redefined personal computing and eventually ended up as one of the most powerful philanthropists of the modern world. Under the direction of Davis Guggenheim, the series uses archive footage, personal interviews, intimate scenes, all aimed to find out what inspires Gates, what models of decision-making he uses, and what energetic work he pursues through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
This documentary switches between the childhood of Gates, the establishment of Microsoft, and the missionary-like work performed by Gates to solve problems around the world such as clean energy, eliminating disease, and sanitation. It is an inside view of not just the genius behind the entrepreneur but the highly analytical, bookish mind behind the persona.
Released in a time of controversy and intense media coverage, some of which surrounds Gates with Jeffrey Epstein and his subsequent divorce, the documentary is still an interesting piece of analysis on a complex, brilliant mindset. Certain critics quoted it as superficial, when in fact its secret power is in being able to give a snippet of how Gates thinks and not what he has achieved.
If you’re fascinated by innovation, social impact, and the inner workings of a billionaire philanthropist, Inside Bill’s Brain offers both insight and inspiration.
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
Dirty Money (2018–2020)
Dirty Money is a docuseries on Netflix that is hard-hitting show which reveals the other side of capitalism where greed, fraud, and big-biz corruption are all the order of the day behind guarded doors and hidden closets. Executive produced by Oscar-winner Alex Gibney, this one-hour show goes deep into real-life scandals in a wide range of industries: banks and pharmaceuticals, gold mining, and politics.
In two thrilling seasons, the series gets under the hood of such explosive narratives as Volkswagen emissions cheating, HSBC money laundering with the cartels, and the payday loaning abuse Scott Tucker. Payday is one of the remarkable episodes which unfolds how Tucker swindled low-income Americans by means of addition fees and exorbitant interest rates.
Season 1 ends with The Confidence Man, which highlights rather risque business practices by Donald Trump prior to his presidency. Season 2 picks up the same steam with equally startling episodes of Wells Fargo false account scandal, Jared Kushner abuses in real estate, and the ills of the environment such as Point Comfort.
The unexpected honesty of Dirty Money is that the film does not hesitate to show how the profitability of this cult of power can destroy actual human beings. Coupled with intensive interviews, a whistleblower, and extensive investigations, it cannot be ignored by any entrepreneur or business students, as well as anyone interested in business ethics.
Want to know what a corporate greed costs in real terms – Dirty Money leaves no punches.
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn (2021)
This Hulu documentary unlocks the incredible journey and quick decline of WeWork, the co-working company which reached a valuation of $47 billion. Member in the middle of the madness is the hyper-aggressive, charming-charismatic-controversial founder Adam Neumann whose huge personality, high-flown rhetoric, and extreme lifestyle created a company that was positioned to transform the consciousness of the world no less, though had hardly a profitable business operation in place.
Directed by Jed Rothstein, the film highlights the two pivotal month periods prior to the failed IPO of WeWork that reveal a hostile combination of frat-boy culture, prophetic marketing, and financial irresponsibility. It was a real estate leasing business at heart but was being sold as a technology company and investors were willing to believe the lie until peer review opened the curtains and the truth was revealed.
The failure of WeWork is not simply another example of a startup that made it, but it is also a cautionary tale in modern times when it comes to following a cult of the founder, unregulated venture capital, and hyping over substance. Any businessman, investor or entrepreneur should not miss to watch this.
want to be even more immersed in this crazy story? Watch the documentary along with Reeves Wiedeman book, Billion Dollar Loser or Apple TV+, WeCrashed, a show that has Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway as stars.
IMDB Rating: 6.6/10
Triumph of the Nerds (1996)
Triumph of the Nerds An award-winning 1996 technology documentary, Triumph of the Nerds follows the history of the personal computer industry in America since its post-World War II dawn through the mid-1990s technology and internet explosion. The series, written and hosted by tech journalist Robert X. Cringely (Mornfic Lane) was based on his best selling book Accidental Empires.
The triple episode documents the origins of Silicon Valley using a combination of archive footage and intimate interviews to document the time when tech titans and the most influential innovators were getting their startup on their feet: Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Steve Zozniak, Paul Allen, Steve Ballmer and more. It debunks the myth of how a band of so called nerds came to dominate an entire industry, and eventually the contemporary world, with insightful and tongue-in-cheek narration and remarking.
Science fiction author Douglas Adams also made an appearance in the documentary and a useful piece is contained on Gary Kildall, one of the lesser-known founding fathers of the PC era. Its name is a jocular twisting of Revenge of the Nerds as the unforeseeable came true about tech geeks gaining power all over the world.
Triumph of the Nerds is a must watch to anyone into the history of technology, innovation, and startup culture in general as it is one of the most thought-provoking documentaries on the early computer revolution.
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
Final thoughts
The business documentaries provide an all-inclusive picture of entrepreneurship, including both the overwhelming successes and the failure lessons. They show that, in order to develop a successful business, one should not only have a good idea, but also make ethical decisions, follow sustainable business models, establish good partnerships, and learn both what to and what not to do.
If you are a novice entrepreneur and want to step into the world of entrepreneurship, or you are already in business and want to grow, here are several documentaries that offer very helpful advice that will guide you through the maze of the entrepreneurship. Although there will never be an identical experience of all entrepreneurs, experiences of real professionals can be a goldmine of knowledge on the path to success.
