The world of finance and business is an embodiment of the failures faced by entrepreneurs at various stages of life before carving the path to glory. CEOs are always ready to share their mindsets for success – while every leader swears by reading inspirational CEO books, listening to business podcasts, or staying active on LinkedIn, one cannot overlook the emotions that are evoked by visually communicative mediums like movies.
In all of its nitty-gritty ropes of excessive risk-taking, comedy, ingenuity, disappointment, and motivation, financial movies are portrayed in an unflattering light to create gripping storylines. Entrepreneurs can learn how to revamp, self-develop, and thrive in the competitive business landscape from the experiences of others.
Films often hold the power to imprint on the audience. Any entrepreneur seeking to resonate with startups or surprising successes for their unpredictable and invigorating stories can binge-watch these 6 movies that are recommended by CEOs and financial experts. These inspirational movies are bound to reignite the passion for your goals with stories composed of secrets, obstacles, sacrifices, and how successful entrepreneurs overcame difficulties.
6 Money Movies Recommendations For Every Entrepreneur:
The channel of movies can provide interesting perspectives and unique ideas that could conclude in breakthroughs. While the Academy (Oscars) recognizes films through their critics, what about the finance-oriented movies that have stayed with us? Have you ever pondered on how a movie could transition your predicaments into a magnificent success?
Here are 6 movie/ documentary recommendations that every CEO should watch to gain business acumen, learn how to face fears, balance emotions and strategize new finance-generating tactics, from the stories of inspirational or fictitious individuals.
1. StartUp.Com:
Box Office: $1.8 million
Year: 2001
In the era of the dotcom bubble, StartUp.com is a business documentary film that is based on the troubled trajectories of internet companies. The Tom Herman and Kaleil Isaza Tuzman-starrer throw light on the story of GovWorks, a propitious startup whose mismanagement due to authority conflicts led to its striking downfall.
Interspersed with the rise and bust of internet companies, StartUp.com also observes the spectacle that internal politics can ruin friendships into feuds.
The film is incredibly underrated because it’s laced with sensitive dynamics of an intimate crisis between inflated ideals and a harsh reality of the economy.
2. Moneyball:
Box Office: $110.2 million
Year: 2011
Often considered a powerful motivating movie, Moneyball is a sports biopic starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill in lead roles. Based on the 2003 book authored by Michael Lewis, the film deals with Oakland Athletics baseball team manager Billy Beane’s unique journey to assemble a competitive team of undervalued talent, given the franchise’s budget. Beane (Pitt) chooses the sabermetric approach of evaluating team players to achieve significant results in the Major Baseball League.
Beane was aware of his team’s shortcomings yet took daunting risks and decisions to adapt and survive in the sports world. The message of the movie establishes that in the business world, one has to overcome fear and take innovative risks to work favorably with minimal resources.
The rules of the game keep changing and so should the strategies.
3. Wall Street:
Box Office: $43.8 million
Year: 1987
If there is one movie that an entrepreneur shouldn’t miss, it is Wall Street. This classic is directed by Oliver Stone starring Charlie Sheen as protagonist Bud Fox and Michael Douglas as his idol, Gordon Gekko.
Created more than three decades ago, Wall Street depicts the journey of an ambitious and greedy stockbroker who treads on the dangerous waters of Insider trading in the footsteps of his idol and how gets entangled in the hedonist world. Gekko’s famous saying, “Greed is good” reminds audiences of how there are no limitations in the basic principles of business.
The film presents cautionary insights for entrepreneurs who can make reprehensible decisions based on greed and fall onto the unethical path.
4. Pirates Of Silicon Valley:
Box Office: Television release
Year: 1999
Pirates of Silicon Valley is a cinematic and humorous masterpiece which uses soft storytelling to convey unpredictably satirical situations between two of the biggest rivals – Apple fame’s Steve Jobs and Microsoft owner Bill Gates. A tagline that sticks with the audience is, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
The film plot revolves around the conflict between utopian geniuses, Gates and Jobs between 1971 – 1999. Adapted from the book, Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer, the film justifies the humble beginning of the iconic tech companies, Apple and Microsoft and chronicles the rise of the two men at its helm.
The real Jobs, Gates and Wozniak appreciated the film and confirmed the depth accuracy of their characters as pretty precise. The first thread of the plot focuses on the rise and fall of the success of Jobs and Wozniak ‘borrowed’ concepts and the second thread recounts how Gates learned from the mistakes of Apple and made Microsoft, one of the leading powerhouses today. The setting perfectly encapsulates the obscurity of their dorm rooms to the very publicized battle for supremacy.
5. Pursuit Of Happyness:
Box Office: $163 million
Year: 2006
The Will Smith starrer is based on the true life events of entrepreneur Chris Gardner. The Pursuit Of Happyness shares the story of how Gardner is a salesman who has trouble pulling himself out of impoverished conditions. He invests all his energy and does the impossible – from being homeless with unpaid taxes, and unpaid internship as a stockbroker to a millionaire, just for his 4-year-old son.
The movie emphasizes how persistence and commitment to making it big actually manifest into the dream life and teaches the importance of financial stability through unemployment.
Gardner’s relentless efforts to eradicate his struggles finally reward him with a new job and elucidate how kindness and positivity can influence a person’s strengths and help them survive downfalls. The movie depicts the message to Never give up and Smith’s portrayal of Gardner earned him an Oscar nomination.
6. The Wolf Of Wall Street:
Box Office: $406 million
Year: 2013
The Wolf Of Wall Street is a Martin Scorsese biopic that chronicles the real-life rise and fall of the infamous stockbroker, Jordan Belfort. Featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, Matthew McConaughey and Margot Robbie in pivotal roles, the film follows the events of the brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont which grew notoriously popular during the late 1980s and 1990s.
Their penny stock trading and securities scam drew the undivided attention of the FBI, leading to the conviction of Belfort for money laundering. Living a life of extreme debauchery with no empathy for all his cons, Belfort teaches entrepreneurs to not follow in his footsteps on how to be successful.
The unethical business practice of defrauding customers to lead luxurious lifestyles would never work in the long-run. The film is critically acclaimed as one of the best finance movies made, demonstrating how greedy ambitions and illicit intentions always pave the way for the law to punish you.
