The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future (24 page)

Discussing the need for immigration reform with President Obama at the White House in 2013. Immigration policy is complex and can be emotionally charged, but we need to come together to pass bipartisan reform so we can continue to win what is now a global battle for talent.

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

My focus in recent years has been on investing in and mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs. Here I am with the founders of Sweetgreen, a fast casual restaurant that is providing healthier options. Revolution invested $40 million, and I joined the board.

Entrepreneur magazine

From
Entrepreneur
, December 4, 2013, © 2013 Entrepreneur Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission and protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States. The printing, copying, redistribution, or retransmission of this Content without express written permission is prohibited.

While our Rise of the Rest initiative is focused principally on lifting up entrepreneurial regions within the U.S., we also have visited Africa, the Middle East, and Cuba hoping to spawn startup cultures. Here we are with the Andela fellows in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2015.

Case Foundation

Dinner at the White House in 2014 with President Obama. I attended high school with “Barry” Obama in Hawaii in the mid-1970s. Thirty years later we reconnected when he became a senator and moved to Washington DC.

AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

In the past decade my investment firm Revolution has invested in nearly 100 entrepreneurs. We focus those investments on people and ideas that can change the world.

Joanne S. Lawton © Washington Business Journal

T
HIS IS
my first book. F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” I’ve resisted the various calls over the years to write a history of AOL or the Internet, because I’ve always been more interested in the future than in the past. The impetus to finally set pen to paper was the recognition that the Internet’s Third Wave will likely have a lot of similarities to the First Wave. Once I realized that the future will be informed by the past, I jumped into the project with vigor.

Having waited two decades to write a book, I felt the pressure was on to make it the best I could. I knew I couldn’t get very far on my own, so I assembled a crack team to take my ideas and give them flight.

It started with Walter Isaacson. I’ve known Walter for more than twenty years, and we first kicked around the idea of writing a book together six years ago when we were on a flight together. Shortly thereafter he was approached by Steve Jobs to write an authorized biography, and then he went on to pen
The Innovators
, his history of the digital revolution. When I told Walter I had decided to write
The Third Wave
, he immediately offered to help. Walter was an early reader of my initial draft, and his comments
were invaluable. He also offered to write the foreword, for which I am grateful.

I’ve always believed in the wisdom of crowds, so I asked dozens of friends to read various iterations of this book. This “crowdsourced” book is better because of their insights. Some spent countless hours helping me through this journalistic journey, and their detailed, candid comments were incredibly helpful. My longtime friend (and former AOL board member) Colin Powell told me to include more stories to bring the book to life (“More cowbell,” he urged). Tom Tierney gave me valuable organizational suggestions, helping improve the structure immeasurably (perhaps not surprising, given that he was formerly CEO of Bain). Ted Leonsis, a great friend and my partner of more than two decades at both AOL and now at Revolution, offered great insights on our many shared experiences. David Petraeus administered some tough love (“Ask a soldier for his opinion and you’ll get just that,” he told me, after reading my first draft). Brad Feld brought an entrepreneurial perspective, having co-founded Techstars (and as the author of a half-dozen books on startups); he helped me frame a call to arms for a new era of entrepreneurs. The always diligent Don Graham sent me suggestions on almost every page, mustering a lifetime of business and editorial experience with his insights. Ross Baird has joined me on every rise-of-the-rest bus tour, and provided thoughtful insights on regional and inclusive entrepreneurship. Former entrepreneur and now congressman John Delaney provided unique perspectives on rebooting government to unleash innovation, as only somebody who has bridged both worlds could. So did Todd
Park, a serial entrepreneur who went on to serve as White House chief technology officer, and Frank Raines, a longtime colleague who managed the Office of Management and Budget the last time the nation balanced its budget. Jon Huntsman brought a global perspective, and his comments (sent, appropriately, while he was traveling in the Middle East) reminded me that many nations have figured out that the “secret sauce” that has propelled America to greatness is innovation and entrepreneurship. Dominic Barton, the global managing director of McKinsey & Company, provided invaluable strategic perspectives, especially about the challenges Fortune 500 companies face in the world of disruption. And Norm Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, shared critical insights about the need to bridge the worlds of business and government.

Those were just a few of the dozens of people I consulted as I sought to refine and sharpen this book. I’m also grateful for the generous and constructive feedback I received from friends such as David Agus, John Bridgeland, Warren Buffett, Steve Clemons, Tom Davidson, Jiggs Davis, Doug Holladay, Jeff Immelt, Michael Lynton, John McCarter, Lenny Mendonca, Kristin Groos Richmond, David Rubenstein, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Seriff, Jim Shelton, Peter Sims, David Skorton, Michael Smith, Alan Spoon, Kirsten Saenz Tobey, and Sheel Tyle, as well as the many colleagues at Revolution and The Case Foundation who shared their insights, including Philippe Bourguignon, Erich Broksas, Donn Davis, David Golden, Sheila Herrling, Scott Hilleboe, Evan Morgan, Brian Sasscer, Tige Savage, and Clara Sieg.

I couldn’t have written this book without the considerable help
of the superb team we assembled, led by the immensely capable Ron Klain. This effort benefited greatly from the guidance and steady hand of Bob Barnett. And much of the heavy lifting was done by Dylan Loewe and the team at West Wing Writers. They combed through the hundreds of speeches I’ve delivered and interviews I’ve done over the years, supplemented that with research to flesh out key points, and played a crucial role in helping me organize and write the book. Allie Burns, Marissa Hopkins Secreto, Herbie Ziskend, and Andria Kolesnikoff were invaluable members of the core team—endeavoring to make this an interesting book and to maximize the likelihood of its reaching a wide audience.

Simon & Schuster played an essential role as well. I had the opportunity to meet with a number of publishers to discuss the book, but instantly connected with Jon Karp and Ben Loehnen, and benefited throughout the process from their insights and encouragement.

Over the past decade I’ve had the opportunity to meet with thousands of entrepreneurs. I’ve been inspired by their stories and impressed by their aspirations. My investment firm, Revolution, has had the great privilege of backing nearly one hundred companies since our launch a decade ago. My thanks go to the entrepreneurs who picked us to be their partner; our fellow investors who helped us help the entrepreneurs turn their dreams into great companies; to the thousands and thousands of employees who power those companies every day; and to the tens of millions of consumers who have bought their products or used their services. We’ve long said we invest in people and ideas that can change the world, and we’re humbled by the opportunity to make an impact, both at Revolution and at The Case Foundation.

I mentioned at the outset that I was inspired by reading Alvin Toffler’s
The Third Wave
when I was in college in 1980—indeed, so inspired that I decided to pay homage by using the same title for this “2.0” version. I can only dream that some young people reading this book might be similarly inspired.

Thanks are, of course, also in order to my family. I first met my wife, Jean, when she interviewed for a job at AOL in 1988. I’m glad we convinced her to leave GE to join our fledgling startup, as she played a central role in AOL’s rise—and in my life. She was also my closest and most insightful advisor throughout the book process, and has brilliantly led The Case Foundation since its founding nearly two decades ago. I’m appreciative of my parents, Dan and Carol Case, who stood by me through the various ups and downs, and my siblings Carin and Jeff—and my late brother, Dan, who played a major role in my entrepreneurial rise (and also his wife, Stacey, who stepped up to fill the resulting void). I’m thankful for my three kids, Everett, Annie, and Katie, as well as my two stepdaughters, Nikki and Katie—and I’m grateful they are on terrific trajectories now as adults (#SoProud). I’m also indebted to my ex-wife, Joanne Barker; she supported me in the early AOL years and was pivotal in raising great (and grounded) kids.