Generation Start Up is a film that celebrates entrepreneurship. It showcased several young people who decided to act on their dreams of starting a company, or joining the growth efforts of newly budding companies. Throughout the film, the audience gets a chance to see the not-so-pretty side of the ladder to success. It revealed the struggles, doubts, failures and other issues that the participants endured. Above all, the film is an inspiration for today’s young people who are the future leaders of the world. One take-away message of the film was the uselessness of excuses. Problems will always arise and those who face them head-on are the people who will be successful. This film shows people from different racial, ethnic and economic backgrounds. They all have a great educational base, creativity, passion and drive. These are the attributes that enabled these participants to be successful.

The average person has no clue about how difficult it is to start a business. Some people leap towards their dream with a parachute of faith and it is very hard. In fact, in some ways it is harder to fertilize, nurture and birth an original, new idea than it is to spend years working at a job that may, or may not be totally fulfilling. It is hard because success feels like an uphill battle and there is an inherent risk of losing everything. In addition, it is hard to manage unknown variables while developing a new skill, but having a great education helps tremendously. All these potential barriers to success are explained in a movie entitled, “The Start Up Generation”.
(Houser & Wade, 2016) It chronicles the lives of 6 college graduates whose vision drove them to start new businesses in the city of Detroit, Michigan.

The movie showed different entrepreneurs who wanted to start a new company from scratch. There was one problem that each person had in common. Their common factor was the fact that they didn’t have all the answers in the beginning. Not having all the answers leads to self-doubt. One young man questioned himself by asking, “Am I really capable of building this company?” (Houser & Wade, 2016) Self-doubt leads to immense stress. The movie pointed out that starting a business will not always begin with knowing all the answers. The stress makes a person feel as if all the odds are stacked against them. It is like trying to climb a hill, with a heavy bag of rocks, while wearing roller skates, with wind in the face. The other common factor among the 6 participants in the film, was their tenacity. They felt as if they were in over their heads. The young lady named, Dextina said that she took on more than she could handle. She also said, “I don’t know what I am doing and it makes me extremely nervous” (Houser & Wade, 2016) Although they faced an inner fear of failure, they each recognized that they had no choice but to keep moving forward.

Launching a brand-new company, they take incredible risks. For example, they risk the chance of running out of money. This happened to two of the people in the film who found themselves having just a few more weeks of funds. However, they eventually made their situations better. A second risk is spending large sums of money to purchase or create a product that never sells. One young man stated that he could be spending years of his life investing in his business only to have it fail. Two of the entrepreneurs created 18 thousand pounds of a product that was no good. They truly had to “learn to fail”. (Houser & Wade, 2016) One entrepreneur whose name is Kate Catlin stated that she failed every day. She learned after reflecting on her failures that hard times are necessary for growth. Potential money-loss is a standard risk when starting a new business. Everyone sacrificed countless hours of relaxation time and outings with friends.

In conclusion, the film emphasized the fact that all these people had a strong educational background. This made is why they were so creative and enduring. Brian Rudolf, the founder of Banza was not able to find a good pasta. He began the creation process of starting his own company. Avery Hairston worked with Brian on the Banza company. However, he also helped is brother to open a great restaurant called, The Nugget Spot. Entrepreneurship may also include joining other companies that are brand-new. For example, Dextina Booker made a success out of joining a company called Shinola. She also fulfilled her dreams of traveling abroad and working with underprivileged youth in Detroit. In addition to attended good universities and earning degrees, everyone in the film took risks, endured hardships and remained focused on their goals. They are great inspirations for anyone who wants to start a business. This film serves as excellent proof that gender, culture or class background are irrelevant when someone is passionate about their dreams.