The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity. | | | | "We’re really bothered by the fact that so much attention is being given to only a few entrepreneurs in a few places." - Steve Case, on the reasoning behind investment fund "Rise Of The Rest."
(Revolution) | | | | | | “The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.”
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| | rantnrave:// AOL Co-founder and REVOLUTION Chairman and CEO STEVE CASE is correct. About what? That there's lots of entrepreneurial gold in cities outside of CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK, and MASSACHUSETTS. That's the point of the seed fund Revolution powers, RISE OF THE REST. It's a $150 million fund, one of Revolution's three funds which have $1.5 billion under management. Some of these facts may depress others: More than 75% of venture capital goes to CALIFORNIA, NEW YORK, Massachusetts. Over 50% goes just to California. FLORIDA is the 3rd largest state but gets less than 2% of venture capital. Less than 10% of venture capital investments go to women-led ventures. Only 1% to African Americans. But Steve, J.D. VANCE, ANNA MASON and the entire team at ROTR see a big opportunity. How do they invest? They go on tour. They pick cities and go on road trips in a remixed political campaign bus. Each stop ending in a pitch competition from local entrepreneurs in front of a big crowd of fellow local entrepreneurs. The winner at each stop gets $100k. In its first five years, their tours have hit more than 40 cities. Traveled 10,000 miles. The fund has invested in 115 early-stage companies that span across 60 cities. They invited me to join them to kick off their Florida tour. I met them MONDAY in ORLANDO. This week, road trip 8.0 will also visit SPACE COAST, TAMPA, MIAMI, and SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO. Lots of people not a lot of VC dollars. The tours bring out politicians, commerce officials, investors, local business leaders, media, and entrepreneurs. On the bus, different mixtures of them school us on local opportunity from stop to stop. We visited exciting local businesses and learned why they chose Orlando. How they are continuing to grow and what their challenges are. EA SPORTS (where we learned about FLORIDA INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT ACADEMY that nurtures local game developers), LAKE NONA (prototype future community, where we saw WHIT, a wellness home built with every detail designed to inspire and empower a healthier life), LUMINAR (advanced sensor technologies for the autonomous vehicle industry), FATTMERCHANT (payment technology company, a local startup on the rise) and more. We spent time with the CEO of DISNEY WORLD (started as a busboy at a park resort over 48 years ago). Orlando is known for hospitality, they do it as well any place. But there's a lot more going on. ROTR is skating "to where the puck is going, not where it has been." Just like the early days of AOL when they were on the ropes, Case knows he's right. I agree. Lots of divisiveness in the country right now. Cities that ROTR visits feel neglected. That pisses Case off. "We’re really bothered by the fact that so much attention is being given to only a few entrepreneurs in a few places." There's something beyond profit here. I think it's virtuous. In the best way. Who won on this stop? AIREHEALTH, a connected-portable nebulizer designed to help catch and prevent worsening respiratory symptoms. Watch the tour on TWITTER as it happens... One other note: There is no REDEF without AOL. I told Steve this during our fireside chat. My first email account. First time on the internet. My first internship with the first record label online, WARNER BROS. RECORDS. The first discussions I ever had online were on USENET. All of this happened on AOL. That service sparked the interest which became my career... Congrats to my friend JON STEINBERG and the CHEDDAR team. They made a lot of cheese. And they took it in cash. He's no dummy. Jon's hustle is without compare... My recent pledge... MARGARET HOOVER takes on STEPHEN MOORE on FIRING LINE. She's awesome... Happy Birthday MARK BEAVEN, ALEX ZUBILLAGA, SCOTT MOORE, and SCOTT EHRLICH. | | | - Jason Hirschhorn, curator |
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| | | | | Prince and the Revolution |
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