“There is no other way to grow an economy than to innovate”, said Steve Case, CEO of Revolution LLC and co-founder of AOL, So what does innovation demand? A more entrepreneurial culture, Steve suggested at the Startup Grind Global Confernece in 2015. “There are a lot of great entrepreneurs all over the world” he explained “and our strategy is to invest in those places which don’t have a lot of attention" - and now, especially those riding The Third Wave of the Internet, as it integrates into all parts of our lives.
To celebrate the launch of Steve Case's new book, The Third Wave, Startup Grind is giving 25 copies away to winning entrepreneurs around the world.
Enter the contest here!
Steve predicts these overlooked places, which are the source of many missed investment opportunities, will gradually start to attract more investment, and leading to what he calls the “rise of the rest”. But there's more: not only will communities outside of traditional startup meccas like Silicon Valley join the entrepreneurial fray, but these companies and others will combine to take advantage of the “third wave of the internet," revitalizing the economy and disrupting everything from healthcare to transportation, education, and government. So what is the third wave? The integration of internet into everything in our lives, suggests Steve.
Watch the full interview with Steve Case of Revolution & AOL by Mary Grove of Google for Entrepreneurs here, and read our highlights below.
Steve is convinced that because of the developments of the last decade, “structurally, something has changed that does make it easier and cheaper to start companies”, as platforms have extended in such a way that it is no longer necessary for a tech startup to be located in Silicon Valley in order to be successful. The potential for what Steve calls a “more evenly dispersed entrepreneurial ecosystem” has increased while the cost of doing business in the Bay Area is becoming increasingly prohibitive.
Progress is Fast, but Resources Move Slowly
Yet as growth improves, Steve emphasizes that the vast majority of venture capital remains in the United States - 75% or more - and goes to only three states: California, New York, and Massachusetts. That adds up to a lot of missed opportunities for investment, and VCs are sure to pick up on it sooner or later.
But not only will the next wave of entrepreneurship be more widespread geographically, it will also grow in different ways. This is, in part, because industries like energy and education require longer timescales to effectively disrupt.
Government is going to be a big player in these third wave sectors, Steve points out, both as regulators and as customers. And since policy changes take time, the high-growth, lean startup model will give way to more modest-growth, but ultimately more impactful companies.
Growing Slow and Steady
The next wave of entrepreneurs will have a lot in common with Steve’s own experience after founding AOL back in 1985. It took years for AOL to gain any traction, and although a failed partnership with Apple called Applelink nearly sunk the company in the late 80s, Steve insists that partnerships were crucial for AOL’s success.
“There’s an African proverb that speaks to partnerships” Steve puts it, that “if you want to go quickly, you go alone, but if you want to go far, you go together."
Partnerships - over a 100 - were instrumental to AOL’s success, and Steve champions them when it comes to Revolution investments. He predicts that partnerships will be the highest value strategy for the next wave of startups because they will be tackling such big problems.
One thing is certain, though: at Revolution, he’s putting his money where his mouth is, and his investment strategy reflects his lofty predictions. Steve has already had a long and extraordinary career, but with the release of The Third Wave, he's just growing his influence.
Enter to win a copy of The Third Wave today, and see Steve Case in Silicon Valley on May 4th, 2016.