INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
We&re excited to announce Steve Case and JD Vance will sit down for a fireside chat at Disrupt SF this September
There plenty to talk about, too, including the pair latest venture: A massive $150 million seed fund backed by an impressive group of
investors that are targeted at startups outside of Silicon Valley.
AsThe New York Timesput it after the fund announcement, the complete list
of investors in the Rise of the Rest fund &may be the greatest concentration of American wealth and power in one investment fund.& It
includes among others Jeff Bezos, EricSchmidt, John Doerr, Jim Breyer, Dan Gilbertand members of the Walton, Koch and Pritzker
families.
This fund is core to what Case and Vance are championing atRevolution
TheWashington, D.C.-based venture capital firm primarily backs companies outside of major tech hubs
At Disrupt New York in May,Case told the audiencethat many regions are overlooked simply because investors can&t &get in their cars and
drive to those companies& and he wants to convince other VCs to look outside of their comfort zones.
In August of 2017 Steve Case, founder
of AOL and Revolution, tapped JD Vance to run Revolution as its Managing Partner.
&I don&t know if I&m ever going to be comfortable with
being the media-dubbed spokesperson,& Vance told TechCrunch at the time
&But I do think you can talk about the issues and try to raise awareness or you can do something about the issues — my goal here is to try
There an opportunity I&ve been given here with the platform the book has afforded.&
Vance is seemingly of the same mind as Case
In his book, which is a must read by the way, Hillbilly Elegy, he lays out his upbringing in Appalachia working classand explains the
importance of striving to overcome obstacles — and startups outside the Valley have different obstacles to overcome than those located
As the managing partner of Revolution, we hear he has a keen focus that resonates with founders
Vance served in the Golf War, eventually graduating from The Ohio State and Yale and went on to serve as a law clerk and a principleatPeter
Thiel&sVC firm,Mithril Capital Management LLC.
Steve Case spoke at Disrupt NY last year about his current passion in shining a light on
startups outside traditional tech hubs.
&It worth remembering that Detroit 75 years ago was like the Silicon Valley,& said Case at Disrupt
&At the time, it was the hottest innovation city in the country, because the automobile was the hot new technology at the time
Silicon Valley was like fruit orchards
Detroit lost 60 percent of its population in the last 50 years and they went bankrupt because they lost their entrepreneur mojo.&
Case
fireside chat was fascinating and we&re thrilled to have him back with Revolution managing partner, JD Vance
While Disrupt SF happens in the heart of Silicon Valley, there are plenty of founders, developers and investors who are constantly looking
for opportunities in new regions — just like Steve Case and JD Vance.
If you&re looking to purchase tickets to Disrupt, you can grab those
