20 Best Motivational Web Series Every Entrepreneur must Watch
best motivational web series
Everyone knows the importance of motivation in life. Every entrepreneur is always looking for some kind of inspiration in their life. The difference between an ordinary person and an entrepreneur is that a real entrepreneur never gives up no matter how tough the situations are. There are several motivational web series and movies that can motivate entrepreneurs in their lows.
For the last few years, many inspirational web series have come up related to startups and entrepreneurship that are guiding and inspiring every young entrepreneur on their journey. The trend of inspiring web series and inspiring TV shows & movies these days is touching heights and people are quite addicted to watching these series. Moreover, these series are short, entertaining, and not a lot time-consuming yet interesting to watch.
Whether you enjoy reading books, binge web series, or like to watch movies, we've got you all covered! If you are a Web-series person, go ahead and read this article to find the list of some amazing inspirational web series for entrepreneurs. A booklover can read this - Books by Top Entrepreneurs. Click here to get the List of Motivational & Business-based Movies for Entrepreneurs.
To help entrepreneurs get back and feel motivational, here are some recommendations for the top motivational web series every entrepreneur must watch.
20 Best Motivational/Inspirational Web Series to Watch -
- TVF Pitchers
- Silicon Valley
- Startup
- How I made my Millions
- The Profit
- Shark Tank
- House of Cards
- The Apprentice
- The Office
- Dragon's Den
- Suits
- Better Call Saul
- Planet of the Apps
- Billions
- Ballers
- Mad Men
- Laakhon Mein Ek
- Workin' Moms
- Dirty Money
- The Interns
TVF Pitchers
IMDb - 9.2
Where to watch - TVFPlay/SonyLiv
While talking about series related to entrepreneurs, how can one not talk about TVF Pitchers. It is the best motivational web series in Hindi for any first-time entrepreneur. The series was made by one of India’s best online content creators The Viral Fever (TVF). The series was released in 2015. It is a Drama-Comedy series that is primarily based on entrepreneurship.
The story revolves around four young men who have typical corporate desk jobs - the standard nine to five jobs. The major twist happens when the protagonist, Naveen, gets drunk and calls up his boss in the middle of the night, and quits his job. When he wakes up the next morning, he regrets what he did but that was it.
However, he had an idea that he has been brewing for the past couple of months, with his two best friends. He goes forward with that, faces a lot of breakdowns and setbacks. He convinces his friends to leave their stable corporate jobs, they dodge investors who try blindsiding them, create the perfect software, and harbor ego-clashes and friendships. In short, everything that a first-time startup founder is bound to experience.
With this, the journey has an interesting set of ridiculously humorous one-liners and comic characters. It shows all the challenges groups of people face when they decide to begin a startup. This web series is a must for any person who is willing to start their own company or any first-time entrepreneur.
Ashwini
Silicon Valley
IMDb - 8.5
Where to watch - Disney+ Hotstar
Silicon Valley is an American satirical comedy television series that was released in 2014. It is basically a comedy series that showcases the inner workings of life in Silicon Valley. It is one of the most famous motivational web series for students based on startups and young entrepreneurs. The series focuses on five young men who founded a startup company in Silicon Valley.
The show is all about six young men who co-founded a startup company despite all the heavy competition in the Mecca of the Business World. In spite of all the setbacks and problems, they just go on to fulfill their dream. The six programmers live together and try hard to make it big in Silicon Valley.
It shows that the people most qualified to succeed are the least capable of handling success. The show is a must-watch for all businessmen and also the startup founders. In conference talks, Douglas Crockford has called Silicon Valley “the best show ever made about programming”. The series has also won a lot of awards for its success and great response from the viewers.
Entrepreneurs must watch it because it is a good lesson in what it takes to turn a good idea into a profitable business. All the things that computer programmer Richard lacks, such as a level head, excellent negotiation skills, a supportive professional network, and a trustworthy mentor, can guide budding entrepreneurs.
Startup
IMDb - 8.0
Where to Watch - Netflix
The startup is another American television series that aired for the first time on September 6, 2016. The Tv series shows the emergence of GenCoin, a brilliant yet controversial tech idea centered on digital currency. This gritty drama follows unlikely tech entrepreneurs behind a brilliant idea, and a powerful FBI agent who can make or break those he comes in contact with, not always for the right reasons.
StartUp is a web drama series set in Miami, Izzy Morales creates a revolutionary, unregulated digital currency called GenCoin. A young banker named Andy decides to partner with Izzy, catering the project with cash that Andy's father is desperate to conceal. The trio ends up on the radar of FBI Financial Crimes Agent Phil Rask, who is on Andy's trail.
The series has a great ensemble cast featuring Adam Brody, Edi Gathegi, Otmara Marrero, Martin Freeman, Ron Perlman, Addison Timlin, and Mira Sorvino. While the first season of the show received a mixed response from critics (33% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes), it has slowly gained loyal fans over the years.
Devashish Shrivastava
How I made my Millions
IMDb - 8.4
Where to watch - CNBC.com
CNBC original, How I Made My Millions is, a must-watch web series for entrepreneurs, released in 2011. The series shows you the greenroom of the business world. The show reveals how everyday people have taken ordinary ideas and turned them into extraordinarily successful businesses. It shows us the entrepreneurs who took a risk, believed in their dream, and with a lot of hard work and a little luck, became millionaires.
The show mostly revolves around those businesses that have crossed the $1 million mark. How I made my millions showcases the typical ‘American Dream’ and tries to show that if you have the idea, the resources, and the willpower, you can make things happen, no matter how many hurdles come along.
How I made my Million talks about the biggest businessmen and women reveal how they took ordinary ideas and turned them into extraordinary businesses. The show can guide entrepreneurs about strategies and executions. leads you to the green room of the business world. So one must watch the series to get some inspiration for starting up your own company and make it extraordinary.
The Profit
IMDb - 8.3
Where to watch - CNBC.com
The Profit is an American reality television show for entrepreneurs premiered on July 30, 2013. It was Broadcasted on CNBC as part of each episode. The Profit tells that just being a successful entrepreneur is not all part of happiness. It shows the raw, challenging, and often ugly side of starting your own business.
It revolves around a real-life businessman Marcus Lemonis who has been one of the biggest players in the business world. The series shows us how the businessman invested in struggling companies and turned them into highly profitable ventures, and in return took a percentage of both business and profit. The show is a great inspiration and lesson for all entrepreneurs.
A part of the show also shows what NOT to do as an entrepreneur. The motto of the show emphasizes the three P’s – People, Process, and Product which is the triangular mantra of success for any startup founder and members. So anyone who needs some business motivation, should go ahead and watch The Profit.
Shark Tank
IMDb - 7.6
Where to watch - Netflix
Shark Tank is a business-related reality TV show and best motivational web series on Netflix where investment-seeking entrepreneurs make business presentations to a panel of five investors aka sharks who then choose whether to invest in their company as business partners. The show first premiered on August 9, 2009, as the American franchise of the international format Dragons’ Den.
Here's a guide on How to approach investors for funding.
Longstanding panel members of the show include business tycoons such as Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O’Leary, Daymond John, and Lori Greiner; while Richard Branson, Ashton Kutcher, and Chris Sacca have all appeared as guest sharks.
It is an unscripted TV show for entrepreneurs wherein entrepreneurs from around the globe pitch their business model to a board of speculators and convinces them to invest in their ideas. So far, the shark tank had invested in many startups and gave billions of dollars as a return to investors. One can take notes on the product pitches that resonate with the sharks and trigger multiple offers.
Baishali Das Adhikari
House of Cards
IMDb - 8.7
Where to watch - Netflix
American political thriller - House of Cards is another best motivational web series on Netflix released on February 1, 2013. House of Cards is a great example of how to stack the deck in your favor. Though there is some heavy drama if you want to learn how to negotiate tricky tactics in business relationships, as there are a lot of these.
Majority House Whip Francis Underwood takes you on a long journey as he demands his vengeance on those he feels wronged him including his own cabinet members including the President of the United States himself. Dashing, cunning, methodical, and vicious, Frank Underwood along with his equally manipulative yet ambiguous wife, Claire, takes Washington by storm through climbing the hierarchical ladder.
House Of Cards is a political show which shows you that everyone has a motive and can pull strings at some point to get what they want of course! This show motivates you to keep calm during a tough phase and deal with various encounters you have during each phase of life. It teaches you things go on behind the scenes that you can’t control and that things don’t happen unless you make them happen.
The Apprentice
IMDB Rating - 7.2/10
Where to Watch - bbc.co.uk
The Apprentice is a British reality game-based tv series directed by Mark Burnett. Modeled on the American original with the same name, the first episode of The Apprentice came out in Feb 2015 and is distributed by Fremantle and broadcasted by BBC.
In the storyline, The Apprentice has a group of 20 young entrepreneurs who must compete with each other on a series of tasks or business-related challenges, which are set by Alan Sugar, a British business tycoon. These businesspeople should undertake all the assignments set aside for them and survive the weekly firings and throughout the assignments, Alan will be assisted by two close businesspersons with barely any involvement outside observing the tasks. Eventually, one of them would finally emerge as the best entrepreneur and worthy of a prize offered by Alan.
As you too might feel, The Apprentice is based on a competitive business environment similar to what we face in our work and would therefore be quite motivational a web series for the working professional and budding businessperson.
The Office
IMDB Rating - 8.9/10
Where to Watch - Amazon Prime Video
The Office, as it is titled, is based on a typical office setting of a commonplace paper company. The American TV series that was aired in 2005, is an adaptation of the British tv series of the same name and went as long as nine seasons so far with Randall Einhorn as the most frequent director of the series.
As mentioned, the web series is based on the employees of a paper company that goes by the name, Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, and is filmed with a single-camera setup with the absence of a studio audience and a laugh track, which might otherwise have spoiled the look and feel of a documentary. The Office is a mockumentary, which captures the typical office environment of the company and goes beyond it to explore humorous and bizarre encounters of the manager and the other employees. The storyline of the series covers the office episodes and the management of the paper company under Michael Scott, Branch Manager, Scranton, PA.
The Office seeps into the office environment bringing an all-around experience in a workplace, which strives to satisfy the curiosity of the budding professionals. It is shot incredibly well with a comic take, which will balance the serious and the casual episodes of our day-to-day life in an office.
Dragon's Den
IMDB Rating - 6.8/10
Where to Watch - bbc.co.uk
Based on the Japanese series “Money no Tora,” Dragon’s Den is a British television program presented by Evan Davis, owned by Sony Pictures, and broadcasted by BBC.
The show presents five wealthy investors, the eponymous “Dragons” of the series, who will be pitched a range of business ideas by the budding entrepreneurs, investors, and small business people that they can invest in while offering a stake of the company in return. The five “dragons” symbolize the real-life investors and multi-millionaires, who need to be convinced by the entrepreneurs to be to receive the money they require to fulfill their business dreams.
Suits
IMDB Rating - 8.4/10
Where to Watch - Netflix and Amazon Prime Video
Suits is an American legal drama produced by Universal Cable Productions that premiered on June 23, 2011. The Aaron Korsh-created series is based on a fictional New York City law firm where Mike Ross, a talented college dropout, will be hooked in by Harvey Specter, one of New York City’s best lawyers to close cases together.
Mike, a fresh college dropout and running from a drug deal gone bad, will luckily be saved by Harvey, who will gamble Mike against the cookie-cutter law graduates, relying on his raw talent and photographic memory. Though Mike and Harvey’s team seems strong enough, and Mike is a true genius, he has to learn the ropes of the profession.
The Suits explores the legal landscape and how a fresher is slowly absorbed in it. With the legal trade as an example, The Suits can be an exemplary series for all the fresh graduates and working professionals to draw information from and learn and grow as guided by the circumstances under our mentors, often at the cost of sacrificing our emotions against the cold, brutal grasp of reasoning.
Shubham Kumar
Better Call Saul
IMDB Rating - 8.8/10
Where to Watch - Netflix
American crime drama Better Call Saul is created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould and is a spin-off, prequel, and sequel of Breaking Bad, an Albuquerque-based crime drama. Better Call Saul further explores the journey of Saul Goodman, the lawyer who featured in Breaking Bad as Walter White’s defense lawyer and strategist under his agency Better Call Saul. The Gilligan directed sequel takes the audiences through the journey of Jimmy McGill, a lawyer who is slowly embraced by greed and ambition, subduing his conscience and turning into Saul Goodman.
Though Better Call Saul is not a series that can be termed as an inspirational web series in one breath, it is a retrospective of the things that the budding lawyers and other professionals must not give in to avoid their lives going bad.
Planet of the Apps
IMDB Rating - 6/10
Where to Watch - Apple Music
Planet of the Apps, directed by Ryan Polito, is a one-season American reality television show that was broadcasted on Apple Music in 2017. The first season of Planet of the Apps consists of 10 episodes, the core of which is the story that revolves around the world of mobile apps.
Planet of the Apps, as it sounds, is created around a world of mobile apps where each of the software makers will have a minute to pitch in their ideas to impress the advisors, Jessica Alba, Gwyneth Paltrow, will.i.am and Gary Vaynerchuk, much like elevator pitches.
The show clearly is a reflection of what we have in the modern-day world of gaming, advertising, IT, media, business, corporate or other industries, where the employees barely get a minute to win the attention of their bosses by their sheer hard work, innovativeness, and dedication.
Tanusha Verma
Billions
IMDB Rating - 8.4/10
Where to Watch - Disney+Hotstar
Billions is American web series, created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin that focuses on the power politics in the world of New York high finance.
Billions bring shrewd and savvy U.S Attorney Chuck Rhoades and the ambitious, genius hedge fund king, Bobby "Axe" Axelrod together in a battle soaked in smarts, power and influence to outsmart each other with billions at stakes.
Billions, as a series, is a complex drama about power politics, which is not unknown to us in the present world we live in that houses the current sectors we work in. It is in fact one of the best business web series should an entrepreneur in the making consider one to watch.
Ballers
IMDB Rating - 7.6/10
Where to Watch - www.hbo.com
An American comedy-drama television series created by Stephen Levinson, Ballers premiered in 2015 on the American cable television network, HBO. Ballers is created with Spencer Strasmore, Dwayne Johnson, a retired NFL player, in the center, who must assume the new role that of a financial manager for the other NFL players.
Ballers explore the sports industry and the changing course of one’s job life, where one needs to embrace any and every opportunity that might cross their way and wield them successfully to his/her benefit. The television series is one-of-a-kind web series that will help future entrepreneurs and working professionals to adapt to the changing job profiles and environments in the ever-changing world of the present.
Mad Men
IMDB Rating - 8.6/10
Where to Watch - Amazon Prime Video
Mad Men is an American period drama, which is set at the beginning of the 1960s and revolves around New York’s most coveted ad agencies. Created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television, Mad Men depicts the time between March 1960 to November 1970 in the fictional narrative and was first aired on the cable network AMC in 2007.
The story of Mad Men is based at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency of Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, and later at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. Mad Men revolves around Don Draper, the talented, erratic, and mysterious creative director of Sterling Cooper, who has an enviable reputation and a creative genius, who would eventually be the founding partner of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
Mad Men, as a drama, is excellently woven around the world of a charismatic advertising executive, Don who assumes a new position, where he is at risk of losing his hard-earned reputation. Pacing beautifully across the changing companies and mental faculties, shuffling moods and societies and shows the uncertainty of job life and the transience of our reputation in it. It is undoubtedly an inspirational web series for working professionals and entrepreneurs and budding professionals.
Laakhon Mein Ek
IMDB Rating - 8.2/10
Where to Watch - Amazon Prime Video
Laakhon Mein Ek is an Indian television series created by Biswa Kalyan Rath and produced by OML Production, which premiered in 2017 on Amazon Prime.
The Amazon Prime Video original series helps us visualize the struggles of Aakash, the protagonist of the series, who is a teenage student based out of Raipur and is sent to Genius Infinity for coaching in Visakhapatnam to prepare for the IIT examination.
The first installment of the series was a successful run overall and was followed by season 2, which was released on April 12, 2019, and was about Dr. Shreya, who will have to fight with the government for the healthcare of Sitlapur Village.
Both the first and the second installment of the series explores mental tensions and are drawn against a common enemy, fear. It is fear, which the main characters had overcome in order to usher strength to continue bravely against all odds, be it a personal or for a social cause, and is undoubtedly one of the most motivational web series created during the last decade.
Workin' Moms
IMDB Rating - 7.6/10
Where to Watch - Netflix
Workin’ Moms is a Canadian sitcom created by Catherine Reitman and has working mothers at the core of the narrative. The sitcom that first aired on CBC Television in 2017, focuses on the lives of four working mothers from Toronto, Canada, who tries to juggle their careers with their families and love lives.
The Netflix series, Workin’ Moms is not only an inspirational web series for the women but for the men too, who are living their modern lives where they have to continue focusing on their jobs along with giving an equal focus to their families and lives in general.
Dirty Money
IMDB Rating - 8.1/10
Where to Watch - Netflix
Dirty Money is a Netflix original web series that consists of different stories, all of which are almost an hour-long, and are meant to expose the greed, corruption, and crime spreading worldwide.
Dirty Money, as the title reflects, is a collection of stories based on the acquisition of money through a path blotched by greed, corruption, and crime. The series powered by Netflix is not a motivational web series at the first glance but an informative one that empowers the working professionals of today with the knowledge of how things usually get lucky when money comes into play.
The Interns
IMDB Rating - 6.8/10
Where to Watch - Netflix
The Interns is a Hindi web series based on the life of three interns, which is directed by Anant Singh. The series welcomes its audiences into the lives of the three young interns of Digital Diva and focuses not only on their internships but depicts how they perform outside it in their respective lives.
All of the interns are women and will have to muster courage, wit, and inventiveness to complete their internships successfully. The series, though it has been centered around the lives of three young women interns, is reflective of all the new interns and budding professionals, who need to come out with flying colors no matter how hard things seem to be.
Rishabh Rathi
Conclusion
Hope you loved the above list of business-related motivational web series for entrepreneurs. Do let us know your comments.
These Series can inspire you, motivate you, and can help you give a kick start to your life. Also, it can give you a boost to your career. But when you come to reality all these shows will only be emotional support and energy booster. At the end of the day, you have to work hard to get the desired result. Keep striving, keep hustling, keep going. Believe in yourself. Put effort to get the desired result. Till then, keep reading such articles to know more about such interesting topics.
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