One of America’s most accomplished entrepreneurs—a pioneer who made the Internet part of everyday life and orchestrated the largest merger in the history of business—shares a roadmap for how anyone can succeed in a world of rapidly changing technology. Steve Case’s career began when he co-founded America Online (AOL) in 1985. At the time, only three percent of Americans were online. It took a decade for AOL to achieve mainstream success, with many near-death experiences and back-to-the-wall pivots along the way.
AOL became the top-performing company of the 1990s, and at its peak, more than half of all consumer Internet traffic in the United States ran through the service. After Case engineered AOL’s merger with Time Warner and became Chairman of the combined business, he oversaw the largest media and communications empire in the world.
In The Third Wave, which pays homage to futurist Alvin Toffler (whose work inspired Case and from whom he borrowed the title), Case takes readers behind the scenes of some of the most consequential and riveting business decisions of our time. He also offers illuminating insights from decades of experience as an entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist, and advocate for sensible bipartisan policies.
Case explains that we are entering a new paradigm called the “Third Wave” of the Internet. The first wave saw AOL and other companies lay the foundation for consumers to connect to the Internet. The second wave saw companies like Google and Facebook build on this foundation to create search and social networking capabilities, while apps like Snapchat and Instagram leveraged the smartphone revolution.
Now, Case argues, we’re entering the Third Wave: a period in which entrepreneurs will transform major “real world” sectors like health, education, transportation, energy, and food, fundamentally changing the way we live our daily lives. Success in this new era, however, will require a different skill set, and Case outlines a path forward.
The Third Wave is part memoir, part manifesto, and part playbook for the future. With passion and clarity, Case explains how newly emerging technology companies—many of which, he predicts, will not be based in Silicon Valley—will need to rethink their relationships with customers, competitors, and governments. He also offers advice for entrepreneurs on making winning business decisions and strategies, while helping all readers navigate this rapidly evolving digital age.
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