By Kevin O'Connor, Paul B. Brown

Introduction: How I Invented The Internet

Al Gore did not invent the Internet. I did.

Let me tell you about it.

It was the late 1980s, and it was clear that the first company I helped start, ICC--which made it possible to link personal computers to mainframes--would suffer a long, lingering death.

There was nothing wrong with what our product did; it was just that the technology was in the process of changing. The migration to client-server computing was under way, and it was already clear that as personal computers became more powerful, the need to link to mainframes would steadily shrink--and so would our sales.

I was wondering what we could do about it when I stumbled across an idea. I asked myself: Why don't we develop a smarter terminal, one that would work with any computer system and take advantage of the power of the PC? What the world didn't need was fifty different "dumb" terminals, all hooking up to different systems. It needed one universal "smart" one. A system that you could communicate with directly, one that would let you link to anyone else who was part of it. This new terminal would support graphics, menus, scripting language, pictures, and more.

The idea, in short, was the World Wide Web.

As you know, despite my brilliant insight, I didn't invent the Web. But the experience of coming up with the concept taught me two important lessons:

1. Ideas are cheap. Once you have come up with one, you need to do something with it. (ICC executives, including myself, dismissed my idea for a universal terminal out of hand, because our company was trying to expand beyond terminals, not get deeper into them.)

2. If you really are going to do anything with your ideas--either inside an organization, or by starting one of your own--you need a process. You need a way to find the best idea you can; then, more important, you need the most efficient way to bring that idea to market by developing the best strategy, raising the money, and hiring the right people.

Through twenty years of trial and error, I think I have figured out a way to create something out of the nothing: creating new ideas and turning them into successful products in the market.

I have helped build three successful companies--ICC, which hooked the personal computers to mainframes; Internet Security Systems (ISS), now the leading Internet security firm; and DoubleClick, which allows companies to target their ads on the Internet effectively--using the processes I've developed. I am convinced these companies thrived in part because of the concepts I would like to share with you in the pages ahead.

While my background is in technology, these principles apply anywhere to any company, whether it is a technology-based start-up or a Fortune 500 retailer. In fact, I am using them today to help start two retail companies: one that hopes to be the category killer in action sports, and one that will change the way you rent movies.

You don't have to start a company to put these ideas to work. They are effective inside established organizations. I've used this process repeatedly both to conceive and extend product lines within the three companies I helped create.

You can, too. Who knows, maybe you'll come up with the idea that will become the next Internet. Just make sure you do something with it. The next few chapters will tell you how.

Santa Barbara, California
Spring 2003