John Kim, 29, was on day four at his job at Plumtree Software when the company cofounder Glenn Kelman asked him to fix the firm's demonstration Web site.

FORBES: The Plumtree Software Soap Opera

The chief executive of Plumtree Software was huddled with his vice president of field operations, James Flatley , and the chief information officer at Alcoa, a customer they had recently signed up.

FORBES: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Plumtree sells costly Web-portal software to corporations.

FORBES: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

One software company, he claims, told a potential client that it was about to acquire Plumtree, so it was pointless to buy from the smaller outfit.

FORBES: R-E-S-P-E-C-T