What do you do with your time when you're a retired Internet mogul? Some would say the thing to do is go on vacation. Instead, Steve Case has decided to buy vacation. As is announced tomorrow morning in the Wall Street Journal, Steve Case has recently purchased a 50% interest in a elite vacation club called Exclusive Resorts. Exclusive Resorts is in essence a high end timesharing company -- but unlike the 1 bedroom condo in Tanglewood my family enjoyed a week each summer when I was growing up, Exclusive Resorts has over 30 multi-million dollar homes (in places like Wailea, Los Cabos, Telluride and Whistler) that club members can use at any time (at least so long as someone else hasn't reserved the house). Exclusive Resorts was started by Brad Handler, Ebay's first attorney and another Internet Retiree. Handler started Exclusive Resorts after he found a lack of great vacation experiences available for his family, including his two small children. Like Case, Handler determined that there was no better way to enjoy retirement than to make a new career of vacationing.
What strikes me as significant about Steve Case's investment in Exclusive Resorts is that he is not only investing his money but also a significant amount of his time. Case has gone on the Exclusive Resorts board but, more significantly, he is scouting properties, soliciting board members and advisors, recruiting executives and generally lending his good name and power of persuasion to the enterprise. There is no question that Exclusive Resorts will get great value out of Case's involvement. It is precisely the sort of value that entrepreneurs should look for from their investors, be they angels or Venture Capitalists alike.