Posted by Jonathan Iannacone on Sat, May 09, 2009 @ 03:08 PM
Tucker is a great movie for those of you that have big ideas. The true story centers around Preston Tucker a "dreamer, visionary and inventor" who tried to revolutionize the auto industry in the late 1940's. It also is a cautionary tale to remind those who evangelize disruptive technologies that they will probably feel the wrath of the powerful companies that they intend to overtake.
Hold That Tiger!
"Hold That Tiger!" This is the phrase that Preston Tucker exclaims when he has a eureka moment. You can just see the excitement as his mind siezes on an untapped opportunity. The beginning of the movie centers around this big idea...the Tucker, a revolutionary car boasting many technological advances. What is great for the entrepreneur of today is that the formula for a big idea in the 1940s is very much the same as it is today:
Have Big Idea > Try to Raise Funds > Get Rejected > Advertise > Demonstrate Demand > Get Credible Board Signed On > Get Funded > Hit the Ground Running
Early on it is almost all smoke and mirrors and very little reality. It is basically Tucker's drawing and charisma that gets things going...oh and a well place magazine ad that creates a groundswell of demand for the proposed automobile.
Preston is the typical entrepreneur...dynamic, hungry, and often frustrated by the inability to realize his ideas immediately.
A Loyal Group
Another thread that flows through the movie is how loyal a group Preston puts around him. He doesn't discriminate or pass judgment, if you have passion about the Tucker you gain entry into his inner circle. He also instills an incredible amount of loyalty in his team. You see them working ridiculously hard to make impossible deadlines with very little to work with. The plight should be familiar to those of you who have been part of a startup....not enough funding, not enough time, crazy hours but really gratifying. Whenever they fall short they are met by the frustration of Tucker, but also the knowledge that he is with them working just as hard to realize the dream.
At one point he stops everything and looks at the group and says: "Is there anyone in the room who can look me in the eye and tell me we can't do it?" Later, the man who orchestrated his financial backing, who admittedly began working with Tucker for the money states, I never thought that if I got too close to you that I would catch your dreams. They all bought into the vision.
Creating Buzz
Another great entrepreneurial trait that Preston Tucker had was the ability to create buzz. With the car, it started with the magazine advertisement which received 150,000 responses from around the country. It continues when he chooses the largest building in the country to be his factory for his cars. Probably the height of the buzz occurs at the unveiling of the Tucker. Preston kept everyone but his closest confidants in the dark about the car. The reasons were twofold: 1) create buzz, 2) he didn't want anyone to know that the car really was not ready and only resembled the advertised Tucker in appearance. However, despite the scramble to get everything ready, he went ahead with a huge launch, complete with a band and all sorts of fanfare. It was a harrowing experience, but in the end it was a huge success.
The Steadfast Belief of the Entrepreneur
The story turns much darker after the initial launch as the big automobile companies use their significant powers to smear and ultimately ruin Tucker's company. There is a messy trial where Preston Tucker is facing serious charges and possibly looking at significant jail time.
At the closing arguments of the trial Preston Tucker speaks on his own behalf and has this to say:
"We invented the free enterprise system where anybody, no matter who he was, where he came from, what class he belonged to, if he came up with a better idea about anything, there was no limit to how far he could go. I grew up a generation too late I guess because now the way the system works, the loner, the dreamer, the crackpot who comes up with some crazy idea that everybody laughs at that later turns out to revolutionize the world, he's squashed from above before he even gets his head out of the water because the bureaucrats, they'd rather kill a new idea than let it rock the boat... If big business closes the door on the little guy with the new idea, we're not only closing the door on progress but we're sabotaging everything we fought for, everything the country stands for."
After the trial, as he is outside looking at the 50 beautiful Tuckers fresh off the production line he says, "50 or 50 million, it's the idea that counts, the dream". An entrepreneur through and through.