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 New
media leaders have been recognised not because of the size of their
bank accounts, but because of their willingness to create new ways
of doing business using the power of the Internet, says Marcia Layton
Turner
They are the trailblazers. The men and women
who ventured into the world of new media when the rules had not
yet been written and the business models not yet outlined. Since
the dotcom furore of the mid-1990s, some have become millionaires,
even billionaires, while others are just scraping by, having vaulted
to the top quickly and then foundered due to a market shift or external
challenge
Because success is measured in so many ways, the
new media leaders—the moguls—profiled here have been recognised
not because of the size of their bank accounts, but because of their
willingness to create new ways of doing business using the power
of the Internet. Many have taken old media models and adapted them
for use in the digital arena; others have started from scratch,
applying the capabilities of the latest and greatest technology
to achieve leadership.
Despite the broad range of models and industries
these moguls operate in, there are many commonalties. For most of
the companies profiled here, an aggressive branding strategy was
a core component of their business plan, as was gaining first-mover
advantage. For several, being controversial was key, which helped
the companies obtain valuable free media coverage. For all, using
new capabilities that the Internet medium provides made them a standout.
These companies and their leaders didn’t just take a bricks-and-mortar
business and transfer it online, they created totally new enterprises
that would have been impossible without the Internet.
But technology isn’t the only success factor.
Networking is, too. Doing business on the Internet is all about
linkages. That fact is nowhere more evident than in the existing
business relationships and similarities among the 10 moguls covered
here. For example, Geraldine Lavbourne’s hot button, and the
future of her business—Oxygen.com—is predicated on the
coming “convergence” of the Internet and television media.
Steve Case of America Online is also banking on convergence, which
led him to the megamerger of the decade with Time Warner Communications,
giving the online company access to the television media. Even Meg
Whitman of eBay seems to agree with these two, as a daytime television
show about auctions is in the works for the company as a way to
build a TV community similar to its online customer base.
But beyond concepts and visions of the future,
there are also more simple linkages and connections between these
leaders. America Online, for instance, is one of the Drudge Report’s
major licensees, carrying the popular political and entertainment
report or gossip on its site. CNET is a Jupiter Communications research
client. Halsey Minor of CNET also invested in one of eBay’s
recent acquisitions, Half.com, early on. The lesson in all of these
connections? The circle of Internet leaders is a small one. Frequently
the same names crop up on different lists of boards of directors
or investors. Many of these moguls know each other, some are friends,
and few, I suspect, would refuse a phone call from one another.
Even today on- and offline connections continue to be made that
will impact future business dealings.
What can you learn from them?
Studying the backgrounds and approaches used by
other businesses is a smart way to develop your own unique approach
to business opportunities. Learning how other managers dealt with
difficult situations, what the key success factors were, and which
strategies made the most difference may show you new tactics you
hadn’t thought of. That said, there are some similarities across
virtually every new media company and mogul profiled here. Funding,
networking, and marketing are three of the biggest.
Funding
Many of the Internet ventures that have failed
in the past few years have done so because they ran out of money.
Some underestimated their expenses; most overestimated their customer
base and associated revenue. They didn’t accurately gauge how
much money they needed and didn’t line up funding sources in
time.
Most of the companies here struggled at one point
or another, but they all managed to arrange financing to keep their
businesses afloat during critical growth phases. No matter how innovative
or revolutionary the business concept, a lack of funding is deadly
and these moguls know it. Keep that in mind.
Networking
Surrounding yourself with a network of people
you respect and can rely on for guidance and assistance is also
critical. These moguls don’t work alone—they have established
ties with other leaders they can turn to for advice.
Geraldine Laybourne, for example, counts Oprah
Winfrey among her network of colleagues and friends, which is why
Laybourne had such an easy time convincing Winfrey to join her newest
online venture. Without that pre-established connection, however,
her task might have been more difficult.
Do what you can to become known in the industry
circles in which you intend to operate. Pursue visibility. The higher
profile you can achieve, the more doors will open for you down the
line.
Marketing
As you read the profiles of each company and mogul,
you’ll note that all of them count marketing as an essential
activity for the company. For some, branding is key; for others,
publicity has been critical. But in every case, a marketing plan
has contributed to their success.
In the future, marketing may become even more
crucial. Finding a way to make your business stand out will be the
challenge, and marketing the answer. Read about how these moguls
attacked their challenges with marketing so that you can develop
your own tailored solution.
How can you duplicate their successes?
The short answer is, you can’t. The opportunities
that exist on the Internet are very different today than they were
several years ago, when these moguls were working out their game
plans. That doesn’t mean you can’t be just as successful—maybe
more so—it just means you can’t duplicate what others
have done before you.
To achieve the level of success these leaders
have achieved, you’ll need to develop new business models and
approaches different from those profiled here.
Excerpt from 'New Media Moguls' by Marcia Layton
Turner; Reproduced with permission. © 2003, Tata McGraw-Hill
Publishing Company Limited
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| Steve Case |
When America Online (AOL) chairman
Steve Case predicted in the mid-1990s that his company would
be as big a force on the Internet as Microsoft was in software
by the year 2005, the experts laughed, according to US News
& World Report. He sounded ridiculous. And yet five years
ahead of his target date, Case has all but achieved that goal.
A 1999 Forbes
article reported that roughly 33 percent of all Internet traffic
is through AOL—the single largest gateway to the Web.
On its own, claims Case, AOL handles more e-mail than the
US Postal Service handles snail mail. It has more subscribers
than Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report combined,
according to a 1999 issue of Grain’s Chicago Business.
And $10,000 invested in AOL when the company went public in
1992 would be worth close to $7 million now, if not more.
What’s
truly remarkable about these statistics isn’t the huge
quantities of subscribers reported, the amount of business
being conducted, or the stock price. It’s the fact that
just a decade ago, few people were using the Internet at all.
In fact, AOL didn’t even exist.
But the vision
of its chairman has made AOL a star of the digital age, one
of the driving forces behind companies and consumers relying
ever more heavily on the Internet—even for basic communication.
Case’s
stated mission is “To build a global medium as central
to people’s lives as the telephone or television...and
even more valuable.” He sees the next century as “the
Internet century” because of the profound impact the
medium is having, and will continue to have, on how we live
and work. And, as he sees it, his company will play a major
role in easing customers into this new age. Given his track
record to date, he may be absolutely right.
An entrepreneur
from an early age
Steve Case,
born in 1958 in Honolulu, was parents Carol and Dan Sr’s
third child. He and his three siblings, older sister Carin,
older brother Dan, who is just 13 months his elder, and younger
brother Jeff, are fourth-generation Hawaiian, or “old
Kamaaina,” as the old Hawaiian families are known on
the islands. But looking at him, you wouldn’t automatically
picture him as a Hawaiian youth. Except for the laid-back
attitude and preference for casual clothes, Case, at 43, seems
successfully entrenched in the East Coast business and political
community.
His early years
were spent attending the private Punahou School, where his
mother was a teacher and career counsellor, as well as playing
basketball, bodysurfing, and playing cribbage with his family
after dinner—the loser had to do the dishes. His father
is the senior partner at Case Bigelow Lombardi, one of the
state’s oldest law firms.
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