Submitted by Norm Roulet on Fri, 07/21/2006 - 23:27.
Oh my God, I just saw an interview with Steve Case, the former CEO of AOL, that pathetic fork in the road toward an information economy, who in 2005 started Revolution Healthcare to "entrepreneurise" healthcare, and the vision he presents is highly disturbing, being that he sees healthcare as the big industry (along with "energy technology") and is planing to be the world's healthcare portal and Patient Record Management system and provide clinics in WalMarts and on and on, and his investors are Barksdale (Netscape) and Powell (5 star General), and they will build many big companies, bigger the AOL, and it is clear this man is sick.
He spent $500 million of his money and is on Charlie Rose doing the talk show circuit and will get access to the President and Congress and department of defense they will get public money diverted to them and waste that and provide very low value and will need to be bailed out before this perversion of the termrevoluiton even becomes associated with this health. Why... read below about how they pose themselves and think, was anything about AOL ever what you would trust with your life... how about this load of crap:
Revolution, a new company launched by Steve Case in April 2005, seeks to drive transformative change by shifting power to consumers. Our mission is to give people more choice, more control and more convenience in the important aspects of their lives - and build significant companies in the process.
Consumers deserve a Revolution.
Many industries are on the brink of disruptive change, and we aim to build insurgent companies to capitalize on the emerging opportunities. Consumer needs are often not being met, usually because the incumbent companies are risk averse, looking to defend the status quo, and reluctant to embrace new approaches. Opportunities for innovative new products and breakthrough ways of doing things are thus left undiscovered, under-financed, or undone - and consumers are left under-served.
We swing for the fences.
Change will come, and we aim to accelerate it. Tipping points can be postponed but they can't be stopped. Revolution focuses on building companies that can hasten tipping points and benefit from change. In new markets, disproportionate success comes to those who rapidly build momentum and aggressively strive to be the #1 leader. We don't play it safe - we play to win.
We bet on entrepreneurs who want to change the world.
The best entrepreneurs have the best dreams - our focus is on turning them into reality. We partner with passionate entrepreneurs who are the architects of revolutionary change. We believe many companies ripe for breakthrough success already exist and we provide them the resources, insights, and muscle necessary to flourish. (AOL persevered for more than a decade before it became an "overnight success"). We understand and respect company founders as we too are entrepreneurs who are looking to change the world.
We do a few things big and well.
We are not investors - we are business builders. We do not implement a portfolio strategy of placing bets on a lot of companies and hoping a few will be successful. Instead, we attempt to do a few things big and well. We only buy control of a few companies a year - and only if we think there is the potential to build a very significant company that can lead its sector.
When we commit, we are committed.
We spend an enormous amount of hands on time with each company, putting in place an accelerated growth strategy, building a world class management team, assembling a board of directors to extend the company's expertise and influence, forging strategic alliances to position the company for leadership, and determining the trigger events that could accelerate the industry's tipping point. We know it takes time and dedication to build great companies, not just capital.
We believe in brands.
We seek to build the leading brands in each sector we target, so we can achieve broad, mainstream appeal. We often will embrace an existing brand when it is on its way to recognition, but sometimes we will use our own Revolution brand to jumpstart market acceptance. Much as Richard Branson has built Virgin into a global consumer brand that can create rapid success in new markets (Virgin Mobile is the most recent example), we intend to build Revolution into a global consumer brand that stands for ushering in revolutionary change by giving consumers more choice, control and convenience.
We believe in synergy.
Some think synergy is an impossible dream - we think it is common sense. We actively encourage and manage cooperation among companies we work with, as that helps accelerate learning and growth. Synergy done right allows business relationships to happen that otherwise would not, creating incremental value for both parties. Each Revolution company will amplify the overall success of all Revolution companies.
There are many funds - but there is only one Revolution.
Steve Case owns Revolution, and he is committed to invest whatever it takes to succeed. And Steve knows what it takes to really make a difference - tremendous passion, relentless focus and unwavering commitment. As a result, Revolution takes a long-term view and, like Warren Buffett, adopts a "built to last" company-building approach. By contrast, most buyout funds and other financial investors have a shorter-term horizon and thus typically adopt a "tweak then flip" approach. Revolution is about working closely with entrepreneurs to build very significant companies that can truly revolutionize their industries. We don't just aim for a return - we seek to make history.
Arff I feel sick...
After reading this I feel sick... Steve Case would be proud.
I remeber back in the day when AOL had and awesome 25,000 thousand users! Boy it was exciting to get an email from Steve Case personally every month. He always had big plans for the furture. His plans where to help the formation and spead of the internet to every home in america. Sure, he wanted it to be an AOL network, but still he wanted everyone to be connected...
Now he wants everyone to be sick, so he can make money of every Man, Woman and Child. I bet Bring on the black plauge is his new motto! That way he will be rich off the ills of the world. Spend a few hundred million to develop a new flu or bacterial bug and reap billions off the cure! What a guy!
Revolution is VC - lifestyle-inflating investor
I have been so glad to see AOL die - what a perversion of the Internet... now to see this perverson of "revolution". To read the consultant-speak they use to sell what is ultimately a Venture Capital firm..."transformative change", "brink of disruptive change", "build insurgent companies", "Tipping points", " The best entrepreneurs have the best dreams" "passionate entrepreneurs", "accelerated growth strategy", " trigger events", "ushering in revolutionary change", "Synergy done right", "tweak then flip", "we seek to make history"... all in just the "about" page.
In the interview I saw with Case he is selling it as a healthcare company but it is actaully a VC firm, and one interesting investment is...
Disrupt IT