

The Entrepreneur - mynameishere
http://www.hulu.com/watch/85122/the-entrepreneur
This is a documentary about serial entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin, who introduced the Subaru and the Yugo the US.
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rokhayakebe
This was actually a good watch. It teaches entrepreneurs a few important
lessons:

1- Don't waste time trying to raise capital unless the money is crucial to
your survival.

2- Persistence is almost the single most important quality of successful
entrepreneurs.

3- A deal is never truly a deal even if it is on paper. Sometimes the guys
across the table will make it so difficult you wish you never signed a deal
with them.

4- If a partner cannot make his mind in x days, move forward and when they
come back, respectfully turned them down.

5- (Repeating 2) Never ever quit. "Be water" and adapt to the market.

~~~
iamwil
While I agreed it was a good watch, instead I found it taught me what not to
do and what to watchout for.

What struck me was how he often talks about the future as the obvious, when in
fact, he doesn't know. "Everyone knows that Chinese cars are going to flood
the US market". I guess that's what some call entrepreneurial optimism or
being a visionary, but to not admit that your vision won't pan out doesn't win
me over.

There were a couple scenes of him saying, it's his way, or the highway. Table
pounding, everyone's-an-asshole, I make the final decision. In fact, they
start off arguing about the logo. That doesn't inspire any sense of
leadership, and doesn't make me want to help him achieve his vision.

It struck me also that his company didn't make anything. So when a single deal
fell through, they went under as well.

He does have good qualities, like persistence and making arguments for how a
deal might benefit the other side, but in the end, it seemed like he'd be a
person really hard to work for and with. Life's too short to deal with that,
and there are plenty of other entrepreneurs.

~~~
rokhayakebe
I agree. They do not necessarily talk about the making of a company,
essentially because there was no company. Only people trying to raise money
for it.

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spitfire
Any links for those outside of the US?

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garply
I'm using a US proxy - in China - and somehow Hulu is still blocking me:
'Sorry, we are unable to stream this video. Please check your internet
connection and try again.' How does Hulu know?

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kierank
Flash connects to the RTMP server directly unless you firewall it correctly
and thus can do the geolocation there.

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garply
Ah, so I need to re-route another port. Thanks.

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xiaoma
" _We're sorry. Currently our video library can only be streamed in the United
States._ "

I hate Hulu.

~~~
PStamatiou
Spotify is the same way... but US users cant use it. :-(

"Unfortunately, due to licensing restrictions we are not yet available in your
country. We understand that you are currently in United States"

~~~
paul9290
I'd rather have Hulu then Spotify!

I have YouTube and million other sites for music.

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mynameishere
I'm in the middle of this still, but it's a pretty interesting look at Malcolm
Bricklin, who brought the Subaru and the Yugo to the USA. He's at retirement
age, working on his latest venture.

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devin
Great movie. It is so sad to watch the old man bumble with the Chinese,
though. He is incredibly clueless about how they do business. The Chinese take
their time, and even a successful deal with the Chinese rarely results in a
signed contract.

I haven't finished it yet, but the only thing that could possibly save him
with the Chinese is his age.

~~~
devin
Real quickly I just want to say I hope this comment didn't sound ageist. I
didn't mean that he is less talented because he is old, only that I really
wondered if he understood a post-WWII China instead of modern China.

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cellis
For those that are interested, I found the Wall Street series on hulu to be
absolutely captivating.

<http://www.hulu.com/wall-street-warriors>

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rmason
Superbly inspiring movie. Seeing Malcolm in action against impossible odds
time and time again has only raised my already high opinion of him.

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wishful_thinker
Outside of the USA you can watch it using this tool:
<http://hotspotshield.com/>

~~~
inovica
I've just tried via this and it didn't work. The message is that "based on the
IP address we notice you are trying to access Hulu via an anonymous proxy...".
Any other ideas? Anyone seen this film anywhere else?

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vaksel
This guy seems to have a knack for crappy little cars:

1965 - Started selling the Subaru 360, which was named most unsafe car in
America. Then was selling Subaru franchises(back then Subaru was worse than
Daewoo)

1970s - Started his own sports car company, that had horrible sales and was
forced to close.

1980s- Started selling Fiats(crap in the 80s).

1980s- Started selling Yugos. And we all know how great they were.

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Dauntless
Exciting, and real life stuff... thanks, great view.

