Almost every company, there's a few overnight successes, but very, very few.

Most of them are, you know, a struggle and a slog, and there are times where it doesn't look like

it's even going to be successful.

And just being able to punch through that, power through that, stick with it, I think is incredibly

important.

Everybody. Everybody loves a success story, but not enough people talk about what it takes to stay in the game long enough to build one.

Welcome to How Leaders Lead. I'm David Nobeck. And every week, I have conversations with the best leaders in the world to help you become the best leader you can be. My guest today is Steve Case, the co-founder of America Online.

These days, he's the chair and CEO of Revolution, a firm that backs entrepreneurs from all across the

country, including companies like Kava and Framebridge.

Now, the Internet might feel like the air we breathe today, but in 1985, when Steve co-founded

AOL, that sure as heck was not the case. Steve and his team had to persist through years of doubts

and setbacks and chaos before

America really did get online and make AOL the top performing stock of the 90s. So what do you do

when progress is slow like that? In today's episode, you'll see how Steve built the resilience

to keep going when success felt like a slog,

and how the good news is for us, that same mindset he used to grow his business is one you can learn from,

too. So let's see how it's done, and hear how that iconic You've Got Mail line came to be.

Here's my conversation with my good friend, and soon to be yours, Steve Case.

You know, Steve, I was thinking about, you know, here we are doing this interview right now,

completely online from two different locations. I'm in Louisville, Kentucky, you're in Washington, D.C.

And this isn't possible.

This isn't possible without all that you built.

...