New logo… new company….
In the mid 90’s I was living in Philadelphia starting Video News International.
VNI was bought by The New York Times and we had to move to NY. I owned a small house in Philly and instead of selling it in a depressed real estate market, I put it up for rent.
One day, a guy in a leather jacket with boots, long hair and sunglasses walked into my house.
“I want to rent your house for 6 months, but I want to start on Monday”, he said.
This was Friday afternoon.
I was asking $2,000 a month for the house.
Then he took out $12,000 in brand new $100 bills and put them down on my kitchen table.
OK.
I looked at him.
“Drug dealer?” I asked.
“AOL” he said.
I had never heard of AOL until then.
“AOL” he repeated. “Take every dime you have and put it into AOL”.
I did take the $12k and put it into AOL. It did very well.
In those days, AOL was Google.
It was unstoppable. In the burgeoning world of the Internet, it was the Internet.
AOL was the brainchild of my Williams College housemate Steve Case.
In retrospect, I wish I had been nicer to him.
This week we have been working at the ‘new’ AOL. It has been cleaved off from Time/Warner and now has to succeed as a stand-alone company. Its plan is a complete re-invention. I wish them luck.
AOL has a difficult challenge before them. Can they reinvent themselves for a new era?
The potential here is vast.
The building is filled with bright, aggressive young people driven to become content creators in the online world.
The company as given them the best of tools and all the support one could ask for.
The future if very much now in their own hands.
Will they succeed?
I dunno, but they clearly have a shot at an entirely new world. And if content is king, they are headed in the right direction.
We can only wish them the very best of luck.
And remind them not to move the camera.
3 Comments
Ralph December 11, 2009
@ Steve – you have a valid point. The old holds the new hostage. The new is something other than AOL. I remember when my email address was _______@aol.com not anymore 🙁
steve December 11, 2009
i’m all for them trying to reinvent themselves.
the problem i see ahead for the new aol. is the old aol .
it’s not unlike christening a new cruise ship the titanic, or a new model ford the edsel.
Ralph December 11, 2009
I was filming my wife’s Christmas party last night, I counted to ten and I didn’t move the camera 🙂
On the AOL thing, I wonder if giants can dance after they sit so long. AOL was the giant, the sat, enjoyed watching others dance on the dance floor. Now, they are trying to get up. Unless they reinvent themselves and let go of what they were they will never be would they could become. I work for a giant that is reading their newspaper clippings and believing what they read. Equipment is not the answer but rather a vision that will ensure that AOL is a player in this new game is the answer.
Can AOL see the future that we can’t predict?