The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future Paperback – April 18, 2017

I loved all aspects of Steve Case's The Third Wave - on both a personal and professional level. As a millennial/1984 baby who adolescence coincided with the rise of AOL and the internet's "coming of age," I loved getting a behind-the-scenes look at an iconic brand that in many ways reshaped social interactions of my youth.As an entrepreneur, I think The Third Wave is the ultimate guidebook - part descriptive and part prescriptive. Case reminds us of many powerful lessons - drawn from his personal experiences as both an entrepreneur and an investor, and from the broader market insights he has gained in forensically reviewing the past in order to apply important lessons for our future.What inspired me the most was the profound simplicity of his root arguments: the black and white case to innovate against the backdrop of structural, cultural, governmental, and systemic shades of gray. Some of my favorites:"Third Wave entrepreneurs must find a way to bring both viewpoints to bear - the nuanced perspective of the defending incumbent and the relentlessly disruptive mind-set of an entrepreneur on the attack.""Incumbents often fail because they underestimate the speed at which the future is approaching...Too often corporate executives are too shortsighted to understand how technology that is disrupting a different industry might be adapted to do the same in their own.""So put down this book. Pick up your smartphone, your notepad - your blowtorch...Take action. Be fearless...Keep going. Keep tinkering..Build something that makes you proud."

Gives a clear and convincing account of the current (2016) state of entrepreneurship in this country, all the factors that influence this, and lays out an optimistic view of America’s future. Quick read, with valuable insights.On the downside,he does spend too much time talking about his professional history. Sometimes it can seem boring and irrelevant to the overall theme of the book. I think he just had to get it off his chest.Solid.

I'm an avid reader of any business success story I can get my hands on - Warren Buffet, Vanderbilt, whoever.This book provides an interesting, albeit brief history of AOL and Steve's upbringing. Then it boldly predicts the "Third Wave" and how you can ride it (Spoiler alert: be the entrepreneur who can team up with mature industries and figure out how to navigate regulation and bureaucracy).Lathering the pages between, the book aspires to inspire you. It warns of the third wave, provides an example, and then some solution. Sadly these shots of inspiration wane quickly. We can all see the tidal wave - a thesis most probably agree with - but then are only given a two by four to float on for the coming destruction. Good luck!In all seriousness the book is interesting. If you want a brief history of AOL and Steve this book is for you.

Steve begins the "Third Wave" with a nod to Alvin Toffler's book of the same name, which Steve read early in his career. Toffler's Third Wave described how the Information Revolution would transform society similarly to the Industrial Revolution and the Agricultural Revolution before. (In a nice nod to history, Toffler wrote a blurb at the beginning of this book). What's remarkable about this book is not that Steve Case predicts THAT the Internet will transform our lives in ways we haven't seen, but in great detail, he outlines HOW.Steve Case, the founder of AOL who was responsible for the first Internet experience of many people (including me and probably many folks reading this review), outlines his vision of "The Third Wave" of the Internet. The First Wave was what AOL and others did in the 1990s--just getting people online. The Second Wave, the Wave of Google, Facebook, Twitter, and more, created a flurry of people using the Internet to communicate and share information--but when you think about it, Steve says, the Internet has barely begun to transform the way we live our everyday lives. Our food, health care, education, and energy systems are pretty much the same as they were before the Internet--with slightly better information-sharing and communication. In the Third Wave, the Internet will integrate into everything we do.As Steve begins to predict how, he artfully and entertainingly outlines his lessons learned from AOL--successes and failures--as he sees many parallels between the Third Wave and the First Wave (when he and others built AOL). The stories still hold very real applications to entrepreneurs today. Unlike some books that make vaguely interesting predictions but don't go into detail, Steve then refreshingly and creatively goes into detail of HOW the next wave of the Internet will transform our lives, highlighting the "Rise of the Rest," how the changing face of the Internet will transform entrepreneurial opportunity outside of hubs that have won the Second Wave such as San Francisco and Boston. If you read the newspaper headlines or listen to any political candidates, you'd think that the economy in most cities in the world is a lost cause, but Steve convincingly portrays a different story. Highlighting startups from New Orleans to Nairobi, the Third Wave illustrates how cities you wouldn't expect are changing the face of how industries rise and economies grow, and anyone who cares about the future of technology needs to pay attention: the next great innovations in food systems, for example, could be more likely to come from Louisville or St. Louis than they are from San Francisco.The book also outlines the rise and importance of "impact investing," detailing how as the Internet integrates into our lives, the very nature of technology startups will change from seemingly frivolous apps that help us order food to areas that we have more traditionally thought are the realm of government or nonprofit--the areas that matter most, such as how we educate our kids and how we power our planet. Over the past 30 years, many tech entrepreneurs have been building companies with the sole purpose of creating as much financial value as possible; in the "Third Wave," we're starting to see an exponentially increasing group of people seeking to create social value as well.Finally, the book is a bit of a warning: Steve outlines how, after traveling thousands of miles across the country, venture capitalists, politicians, leaders in big corporations, and entrepreneurs alike have no idea how the Internet is about to change. People are building companies and making policy as if the way things work today will go on forever. Take financial services, for instance. Politicians talk about either "breaking up the banks" or regulating them less to ensure economic growth, and large banks spend incredible sums of money protecting advantages of incumbency, but technology startups are already literally breaking the functions of banks--lending, credit scoring, wealth management, payments, and more--into faster, more personalized services that everyday people are jumping on top of. Sectors such as health and energy are ready for similar disruption.So--what do we do in the face of the changing Internet? The final chapters helpfully outline whether you're in policy, a founder, an investor, or just someone looking to get involved in the next wave of the Internet. One of the best parts of the book is Steve telling his own story, as the Head of Pizza Development for Pizza Hut, hacking his own way into the early circles of people building the Internet in what he calls the "First Wave." This book is a useful, clear, specific way for people inspired to do the same in the Third Wave.If you're intrigued with how the Internet will transform our lives over the coming decades, interested in a roadmap for what the changing economy looks like, or just want a great story, pick up this book.

Our eager young entrepreneur specifically asked for this book, even thought her own experience with one of his companies was a hard lesson in modern capitalism---Steve sold the company to a competitor who already had people doing her job and so "made her redundant.". Case doubtless was a wonderkind, but I wonder how much thought he gave to the many people hurt along the way by his wheeling and dealingThe book itself seems more like an "I love Me" biography than a real manual for success; every picture is an ever older Steve associated with increasingly important Famous Faces. Brings to mind the old joke: "what's the difference between Steve Case and God? God doesn't think he's Steve Case."Not my cup of tea, but the recipient seems happy.

Wir sollten aus der Vergangenheit lernen und die Zukunft gestalten! Der Autor zeigt einen Weg auf, der beschritten werden kann. W.S.

Muy bien redactado, amplía el panorama que se tiene sobre la tecnología y da un vistazo a lo que pueda ocurrir en el futuro, lo recomiendo para emprendedores en tecnología que busquen algo más y para personas que deseen incrementar su conocimiento.

Interesting book about the early days of the internet. Steve Case writes the story of AOL quiet well, and how it collapsed because of mental myopia after the merger with Time Warner and their blind executives. The first wave was connecting people to the internet the second wave was all these social media companies that have emerged and the third wave is coming, something is going to happen to the internet through these next decades that no one knows for sure but Steve speculates that startups are going to lead the third wave.

Muito interessante! Uma janela aberta para os próximos anos... imperdível para quem quiser empreender na área de tecnologia. Vale a pena!

Great Book