Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs, and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life.
For the past 15 years, Steve’s focus has been on starting and scaling Revolution, the Washington D.C.-based investment firm that now backs entrepreneurs at every stage of their development. Revolution Growth has invested nearly $1 billion in growth-stage companies including Sweetgreen, Tempus, Tala, DraftKings, and CLEAR. Revolution Ventures has backed more than two dozen venture-stage companies, including Framebridge, GoodBuy Gear, and SRS Acquiom. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund has invested in more than 200 startups in over 100 U.S. cities, in partnership with many of America’s most successful entrepreneurs and investors.
Steve’s entrepreneurial career began in 1985 when he co-founded America Online (AOL). Under Steve’s leadership, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable Internet company, helping to drive the worldwide adoption of a medium that has transformed business and society. AOL was the first Internet company to go public, and one of the best performing stocks of the 1990s, delivering a 11,616% return to shareholders. At its peak, nearly half of Internet users in the U.S. used AOL. In 2000, Steve negotiated the largest merger in business history, bringing together AOL and Time Warner in a transaction that gave AOL shareholders a majority stake in the combined company. To facilitate the merger, Steve agreed to step down as CEO when the deal closed.
Steve’s passion for helping entrepreneurs remains his driving force. He was the founding chair of the Startup America Partnership—an effort launched at the White House in 2011 to accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. Steve was also the founding co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, where he chaired the subcommittee on entrepreneurship.
Steve has been a leading voice in shaping government policy on issues related to entrepreneurship, working across the aisle to advance public policies that expand access to capital and talent. He was instrumental in passing the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act and the Investing in Opportunities Act, and is active in advocating on behalf of immigration reform and legislation that supports and accelerates the emergence of startup ecosystems in rising cities.
Steve served as the Chair of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s largest museum and research complex. In his role, Steve led the Board of Regents’ efforts to increase the Institution’s reach, impact, and relevance.
Steve is also Chairman of the Case Foundation, which he established with his wife, Jean, in 1997. Together the Cases have invested in hundreds of organizations, initiatives, and partnerships with a focus on leveraging the Internet and entrepreneurial approaches to strengthen the social sector.
In 2010, Steve and Jean joined The Giving Pledge, and publicly reaffirmed their commitment to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.
Steve is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future and The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the New American Dream.
Steve was born and raised in Hawaii and retains active ties to his home state, but has lived in the Washington, D.C. area for more than 30 years.