The Punahou grad has gone from running a lemonade stand and delivering newspapers for the Star Bulletin to running several national companies.

"I became fascinated with the idea of interactive services in the late 70's when I was still in college," Case said.

America Online co-founder Steve Case is an innovator who says he learned something important from every business he was ever part of.

Straight out of college, he worked for Proctor and Gamble where he learned that good marketing can get people to try almost any product.

"But you can't force people to buy something they don't want or don't need," Case said.

He also learned that timing is everything. It took nine years for AOL to get a million customers.

"It took us four years to convince any of the manufacturers of PC's to build a modem in because they didn't think, in the mid 80's, that anybody would want the stuff," Case said.

In 2005, after twenty years at AOL, Case started another innovative company called "Revolution" in Washington, D.C.

"(Revolution) is really about backing entrepreneurs with bold ideas that challenge existing industries and try to create new kinds of companies that can change the world," Case said.

Revolution Money has created a new credit card that costs retailers only half a percent instead of the standard two percent.

Revolution Health tries to put consumers in control of their health care.

Revolution Zip Car is a car sharing club for people in big cities who don't want to own cars. And there are many more creative ventures including a widget distribution network on the internet plus investments in the Maui Land and Pine company and grove farm on Kauai.

"So we have hundreds of thousands of acres that used to grow sugar or grow pineapple that are now growing weeds, and trying to come up with strategies to use that land to grow energy and make the islands more energy self-sufficient is a big priority," Case said.

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