Occasionally, entrepreneurs need inspiration, just like everyone else. A thought-provoking movie is a perfect way to find inspiration. The movies on this list will surely inspire you no matter where you stand in your entrepreneurial journey. Everyone needs time to relax, so why not use the same wisely i.e. investing your time to make things work right for you? You should consider these 16 inspiring movies for entrepreneurs.
1. The Social Network
Featuring David Fincher as the director, The Social Network is the story of Mark Zuckerberg. It’s about how he created Facebook while studying at Harvard and was later sued by his best friend and two brothers, who claimed he stole their ideas.
Why Watch It?
Facebook’s origin story illustrates how big companies often begin small. In addition, you also have a great ensemble cast, a brilliant script by Aaron Sorkin, and perfect direction by David Fincher.
Best Scene In The Movie:
The first meeting was held between Mark Zuckerberg and Sean Parker.
2. Pirates Of Silicon Valley
It explores the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates from 1971 to 1997 based on the book named “Fire in the Valley – The Making of the Personal Computer.” As Steve Jobs flourished in his second term at Apple, this film was released in 1999. Bill Gates wins the rivalry at the movie’s end, but what follows is well known.
Why Watch It?
In chronicling two men’s rise, the film offers viewers a glimpse into the humble beginnings of two of the world’s most iconic companies.
Best Scene in the Movie:
Steve Jobs interviews an Apple employee.
3. Startup.Com
Startup.com is the perfect movie if you’re interested in internet companies’ rise and fall during the dot-com bubble. GovWorks, a promising startup that failed spectacularly due to mismanagement and power struggles, is the subject of Startup.com, a documentary film about business.
Why Watch It?
Besides telling you about the bust and boom of the dot-com bubble, the documentary also warns you about how friendships can become bitter rivalries due to internal politics. It is heavily underrated and one of the top most startup movies of all time.
Best Scene in the Movie:
To get the full scoop, it is recommended to watch the movie. Luckily, you can watch the entire movie on YouTube.
4. Wall Street
In this movie, Michael Douglas plays the charismatic Gordon Gekko, who delivers the famous “Greed is good” speech.
A tale of ambition and greed, Wall Street is directed by Oliver Stone and brilliantly portrayed by Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas. Bud Fox idolizes Gekko and falls victim to his glamorous lifestyle, only to become enmeshed in insider trading’s vicious web.
Why Watch It?
On Wall Street, we see how ambition can sometimes lead us down unethical paths. As young entrepreneurs, making morally reprehensible decisions is easy when tempted by greed.
Best Scene in the Movie:
Gordon Gekko’s famous, or rather infamous, speech is the best scene in the movie.
4. Glengarry Glenn Ross
There is no better reason to watch this movie than the fact that it stars Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, and Alec Baldwin.
Why Watch It?
A play about real estate salespeople in a tumultuous sales season, the Glengarry Glenn Ross movie is based on an award-winning play.
In the movie, you see what it’s like to work in a high-pressure sales environment and how you must use your wits to succeed. Since the movie was released, it has been used to train real-life salespeople.
Best Scene in the Movie:
Alec Baldwin gives an inspiring speech to his sales team in this movie’s best scene. Enjoy!
5. The Big Short
In The Big Short, Michael Lewis tells three separate but parallel stories of three individuals who predicted and profited from the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
Featuring Oscar-worthy performances from Steve Carell and Christian Bale, the movie is directed by Adam McKay, best known for the Anchorman franchise before this one.
Subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) are also described as complicated and supposedly boring financial concepts the film explains using unconventional techniques.
Why Watch It?
To understand the real causes of the financial crisis of 2007-08 without getting bored, watch The Big Short.
It illustrates the importance of risk-taking and conviction and is a cautionary tale for entrepreneurs. Despite being mocked and ridiculed by the entire financial community at the time, the characters in this movie (based on real people) bet against the gigantic housing market.
Best Scene in the Movie:
One of the best scenes in the movie is Mark Baum’s meeting with the shady CDO manager, played by Steve Carell.
6. The Wolf Of Wall Street
Stratton Oakmont, owned by Jordan Belfort, engaged in securities scams and penny stock trading, drawing the attention of the FBI.
Why Watch It?
This film is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, and Matthew McConaughey (just before his “McConaissance”).
Best Scene in the Movie:
A perfect example of what not to be as an entrepreneur, Jordan Belfort was driven by greed, had little empathy for the people he duped, and lived a life of extreme debauchery.
Describe what it takes to be a stockbroker with Matthew McConaughey.
Note: (Interesting Trivia – McConaughey performs chest-thumping and humming as part of his pre-shoot warm-up ritual.)
7. Boiler Room
Despite Vin Diesel’s smooth-talking stockbroker role in the movie, you’ll enjoy it. There’s no doubt that Stratton Oakmont, Jordan Belfort’s fraudulent stock trading company, will attract fans of The Wolf of Wall Street.
Why Watch It?
This movie revolves around gullible people being lured into buying penny stocks by Gordon Gekko from Wall Street.
In addition to exposing you to interesting cold-calling techniques, Boiler Room serves as a cautionary tale, especially for young entrepreneurs, to not be swayed by the lifestyles of the famous and rich.
Best Scene in the Movie:
The group interview is the best scene in the movie!
8. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
The Fyre Festival was meant to be one of the greatest music festivals ever. Among the celebrities who promoted Billy McFarland’s “luxury music festival” on Instagram were Kendall Jenner, Bella Hadid, and Emily Ratajkowski.
However, it was a complete scam devised by MacFarland, who had a great history of starting fraudulent businesses.
Netflix’s “Fyre – The Greatest Party That Never Happened Documentary” takes us behind the scenes at the ill-fated music festival.
Why Watch It?
Watch the documentary to grasp the magnitude of this fraud, as it adds ups some shocking revelations from Billy’s unfortunate team members, festival goers on the island, and the heartbreaking story of a Bahamian restaurateur who was forced to spend $50,000 of her life savings on her staff who prepared and served meals to stranded festivalgoers. Due to the sympathy and generosity of people moved by her story in the documentary, she recovered the lost amount after creating a GoFundMe page after the documentary’s release.
As well as being hilarious, it serves as a cautionary tale for young business people and entrepreneurs about making promises and not following through. To sell expensive tickets to an affluent audience, Billy MacFarland made misleading promises and misrepresented facts. He couldn’t manage a music festival of such magnitude and scale with no experience, skills, or attitude.
Moreover, the documentary serves as a reminder to entrepreneurs who spend a lot of money on marketing and advertising without investing in improving their products. Fyre had awesome marketing. Amazingly, MacFarland and Ja Rule could get away with duping their customers, considering the huge fan base of their social media influencers.
Best Scene in the Movie:
A shocking confession by event producer Andy King is the movie’s best scene. A clip of this on YouTube won’t work because of copyright issues, so it’s impossible to link the same.
9. The Aviator
As a businessman and successful film director, Howard Hughes overcame all odds to become famous and successful, despite his gradually worsening OCD, in The Aviator. One of the most superb and top-most biography movies of all time, DiCaprio is brilliant in this movie. He earned his second Oscar nomination for his performance.
Why Watch It?
In addition to competing with companies with deep pockets and movie moguls with powerful connections, Howard Hughes fought a debilitating mental illness like OCD. Although he faced several obstacles, he always remained passionate about aviation and built a powerful legacy. He is the ideal example for those starting in business who must overcome many obstacles to succeed.
Best Scene in the Movie:
The Senate Hearings are the best scene in the movie!
10. Moneyball
Rather than focusing on baseball, Moneyball is more about Oakland A’s GM Billy Beane’s unique tactics.
To achieve incredible results in Major League Baseball (MLB), Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) decides to take a sabermetric approach to build his team.
Why Watch It?
Due to a lack of deep pockets, the Oakland A’s could not compete with the big guns in the match’s league, so Billy Beane had to adapt to survive. Because of this, he had to make tough decisions and take risks to succeed. A startup faces a similar situation when competing with established businesses.
Oakland A’s success story demonstrates how risk-taking and inventiveness can lead to success.
Best Scene in the Movie:
Describing the Oakland A’s problem in the movie’s best scene.
11. The Founder
Featuring Michael Keaton in the role of Ray Kroc, the movie is a biopic of the American fast-food tycoon who founded McDonald’s, the largest fast-food chain in the world. Moreover, Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch play the McDonald brothers, the original Mcdonald’s founders.
Why Watch It?
A traveler selling milkshake mixers, Ray Kroc eventually turned McDonald’s into the world’s largest fast food chain. His story is inspiring for entrepreneurs, even though it is controversial. This biopic narrates one of the top-most influential businessmen in America and perhaps the world’s most recognizable fast food brands. As a result of bad luck, McDonald’s founders were forced out of business.
Best Scene in the Movie:
The best scene in the movie is Ray Kroc ordering his first McDonald’s meal.
12. Margin Call
A movie about the 2007-08 financial crisis, but this time from the perspective of a struggling investment bank. During the early financial crisis’ stages, Margin Call revolves around key people at a large investment bank taking action over a 24-hour period.
Many believe that the actions taken by the fictional investment bank during the crisis are too similar to those taken by Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.
Why Watch It?
This movie tells the story of a corporation characterized by greed and dishonesty, despite what Gordon Gekko says. Entrepreneurs must keep this in mind at all times. It is also a cautionary tale about greed’s corruptive power, similar to Wall Street and The Big Short.
Best Scene in the Movie:
The best scene in the movie included the emergency meeting with the bank’s senior partners.
13. Steve Jobs
As Apple’s co-founder, Michael Fassbender plays the iconic role, not Ashton Kutcher. Even though it contains only three sequences, Steve Jobs is a different type of biopic. It was written by Aaron Sorkin (who also wrote The Social Network) and directed by Danny Boyle. Fassbender and Winslet give brilliant performances in the movie.
Why Watch It?
The best Steve Jobs biopic, despite not receiving as much critical praise as the studio hoped. If you don’t have time to read Walter Isaacson’s biography, watch this instead.
Best Scene in the Movie:
In the movie’s best scene, Steve Jobs confronts John Sculley, the person who fired him from the company he founded.
14. Thank You For Smoking
Is it your goal to master the art of selling and marketing just about anything? If so, you need to watch Thank You for Smoking. Nick Naylor is a key character who defends the tobacco industry under difficult circumstances. The story focuses on Naylor’s machinations as Big Tobacco’s chief spokesman, where the father of a 12-year-old boy struggles to explain the nature of his work as a lobbyist for the cigarette industry. During the 1990s, it tells the story of a fictional tobacco lobbyist, Nick Naylor, in Christopher Buckley’s novel, which was first published in 1994.
Why Watch It?
It teaches you how to sell anything if you have the data and persuasiveness to woo your audience. Entrepreneurship is all about selling. Aaron Eckhart plays Nick Naylor, the Academy of Tobacco Studies spokesman. The movie targets the anti-smoking lobby with a dark appreciation of human nature.
Best Scene in the Movie:
Aaron Eckhart’s Nick Naylor (Aaron Eckhart) shows off his spinning skills on Joan Lunden’s talk show.
15. The Inventor – Out For Blood In Silicon Valley
Theranos and its enigmatic founder Elizabeth Holmes have fascinated me since I read Bad Blood by John Carreyrou.
Elizabeth Holmes, Theranos’ co-founder, and COO Sunny Balwani play a significant role in this documentary about the rise and fall of the company.
According to the film, Holmes and Balwani misled investors and business partners through fraudulent practices. Both were more concerned with marketing, promotion, and fame than with implementing the technology in its actual form. As a result of Theranos’ deceptive practices, they also intimidated and threatened former employees who left the company.
Why Watch It?
Silicon Valley’s reckless attitude towards valuation is illustrated by Theranos’ meteor rise and catastrophic fall. We should be reminded not to get carried away by promises that seem too good to be true.
You won’t be as enamored with the documentary as you were with Carreyrou’s book Bad Blood, which went into greater detail about the scandal at Theranos. The documentary does provide a proper overview of the Theranos scandal, but it’s highly recommended to read Carreyrou’s book Bad Blood if you want to learn more.
Best Scene in the Movie:
There is no standout scene in the movie. You can watch the documentary on HBO and Hotstar if you live in India.
Conclusion
We have shared 16 best movies that suit business owners. They all serve as a great source of motivation for them and collect humor, comedy, love, romance, education, learning, science, technology, fiction, and a bit of thrill. You can try any of them as per your business needs. You might not find your choice in the list. Therefore, you can check for more options as per your business requirements. You surely will be amazed and entertained after seeing it, and it might be possible to have some good ideas related to your business and niche. You can find most of them online (Netflix, HBO, Prime) or on YouTube. It’s highly recommended to watch the trailer first before proceeding, as it might help you make the final choice about the worthiness of the same.
