Recognize An Opportunity

Before Steve Case was at AOL, he was trying to sell hair conditioner and pizza, first at Procter & Gamble and then at Pizza Hut. Regardless, Case was never the type to overachieve. The Hawaii native earned a degree not in business, but Political Science from Williams College.

The year in question was 1985 when Steve Jobs had just launched the Macintosh. The World Wide Web looked more like a dark back alley than an information superhighway. If that were not enough, the Pentagon had a tight noose around the neck of the Internet. The only thing that investors, consumers and citizens alike were sure of was that cars would fly by Y2K.

Despite the less than glamorous situation, Case realized that the potential of a global network where people could interact, exchange ideas and buy goods from all over the world was too large to let go of. After a couple of detours, his vision took shape in the form of Quantum Computer Services Inc., as AOL was first known. The small operation, far from New York City and Silicon Valley, was headquartered in Virginia. But Case was not interested in producing tobacco – he wanted to get Americans online.

Deeper pockets and more experienced managers backed larger rivals like Compuserve and Prodigy. But AOL was unfazed. Microsoft had not even yet released the Windows 95, but once it did, it would have a window into the lives of over 80 million customers. IBM and Sony were also running feasibility tests and licking their chops at the potential of the WWW.

The irony was that Case knew that the elite Web surfers – the ones who had built it into what it was – hated the awkward simplicity of AOL. After all, Silicon Valley had never pandered to the masses. Three firms that did shoot for the masses were located far from California: AOL in Dulles, Virginia; Microsoft in Redmond, Washington and Dell in Austin, Texas.

AOL never catered to the techno crowd, but rather the everyday consumer who was interested in the Internet but could not be troubled to go through the confusion of getting online.

Craig Barrett of Intel said the US represented 4% of the world and stressed the importance of having the other 96% in mind. The same numbers can be transposed to the elite versus the masses debate in the consumer market.

Musicians are often criticized for moving away from their original fan base to please a mainstream audience. Paul Oakenfold has done more to increase the reach, penetration and credibility of electronica music that anyone else. To the knowledgeable fan, John Digweed may be the better mixer, Paul van Dyk may be a better producer, but no one moved audiences like Oakenfold did from 1996 onwards. As a result, many new fans were introduced to the genre. The more fans who tuned in, the greater the windfall and exposure for his cohorts.

When the same question about "selling out" was put forth to Roc-a-Wear co-founder and Jay Z confidant Damon Dash, the outspoken and successful entrepreneur stated: “I could care less about that.”

In the end, you cannot set out to please such a small group and expect to come out on top. You need to think big. Very big.