Startup Chatter by Donna Bogatin

Remember when Steve Case, of original AOL fame, told you “you’ve got mail”? Now, he wants you to know: You CAN have health, your way. Case currently has his Internet disruption eyes set on a $2 trillion market opportunity: He seeks to lead a revolution in consumer health care, aka RevolutionHealth.com.

The delivery of medical services represents one-sixth of our economy, the CEO of Revolution Health LLC said today at his EconHealth keynote in New York City. Case aims to deliver a ‘killer’ online punch to the health care category, seeking to “aggregate the largest, most engaged audience.” Sound familiar? It should, Case echoed the same line Yahoo’s Terry Semel was known for. 

I asked the ex-AOLer what he planned to do at his new Revolution Health in order to avoid Yahoo’s, or even AOL’s , current fate. The market is cyclical, Case responded, while defending a Yahoo “franchise.”  In regards tlo AOL’s cycles,  Case said he is an “attacker,” rather than a “defender.” RevolutionHealth.com is the vehicle Case is using to attack a medical market in which incumbents hope to defend their entrenched situations.

Case therefore needs to ”get big, fast” and WebMD is the immediate competitive target. Advertising is Case’s initial–not so revolutionary–monetization schema and Revolution Health positions itself to marketers as a “must buy,” along with WebMD.

Case’s revolutionary health care ambitions are much greater than achieving media leadership, however. Revolution Health seeks to take the lead in the consumerization of medical services, envisioning a status as trusted, consumer brand, on par with the likes of consumer faves Nike, Starbucks and Coca-Cola.

To get big fast with medical consumers, Case is open to buy Web traffic and Web companies. Revolution Health agressively invests in SEM for growth, partners with affiliates for breadth and acquires services to develop a portfolio of consumer-focused products.

Content, context, community and commerce is the grand Revolution LLC formula Case underscored, similar to AOL, for big example.