Greatest Startup Documentary of All Time? Ghostbusters.

When folks ask me for a book that could serve as an accessible introduction to startups, venturing, or entrepreneurship, I tell them it’s not a book.

It’s the movie Ghostbusters.

No. Really.

Ivan Reitman’s 1984 classic might as well have been a documentary. Consider the evidence:

1. Nothing to lose

Startup founders typically feel like they have literally or figuratively “nothing to lose”. When Dr’s Venkman, Stantz, and Spengler are kicked out of their university, they shed their curse of comfort and find themselves forced to hustle.

2. Identify an emerging market with huge growth potential

The Ghostbusters’ technical co-founders, Ray & Egon, discover what venture capitalist Peter Thiel calls a “contrarian secret”: Ghosts are real, and they can be captured. Moreover, market research suggests that ghosts are a *growing* demographic. Bam.

3. Balanced team

Bill Murray’s character didn’t necessarily understand the paranormal domain as well as Ray, or the engineering as well as Egon, but as the dedicated BD/Sales guy, he saw the path to market and owned the commercialization strategy. It takes all kinds.