Case for the American dream: AOL founder to visit Denver on five-city tour.

AuthorSukin, Gigi
PositionSTATE of the STATE NEWS AND NOTES ON COLORADO BUSINESS

How does the former CEO and co-founder of America Online top a venture that, to many, was the initial driver of the internet era?

In this case, he rides into the sunset on a bus. Destination: Middle America.

Purpose: With nearly 75 percent of all venture capital ending up in just three hubs - New York, California and Massachusetts - Steve Case has taken to the streets on a cross-country Rise of the Rest tour to shine a spotlight on entrepreneurial ecosystems between the coasts. And this year's five-day, five-city excursion - Oct. 3-7 - makes its way to the Mile High City on Oct. 4. The other cities on the tour include Omaha/Lincoln, Neb., Salt Lake City/Provo, Utah, Albuquerque, N.M., and Phoenix.

Noting low unemployment and the number of cranes freckling Denver's skyline. Case and company tabbed Denver - from more than 80 nationwide nominations and hundreds of applications - in the hopes of buttressing the momentum.

"Denver is a later-stage startup community than, let's say, Lincoln, Nebraska, or Albuquerque, New Mexico," says Case, a serial entreprenuer, investor and philanthropist. We do recognize that Denver is already rising and so we're here to showcase and celebrate that, because people around the country don't necessarily know."

Presented by Case's Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm Revolution, Google for Entrepreneurs, Salesforce for Startups, Village Capital and Economic Innovation Group, Case will arrive in town via bus to meet with local businesses, civic leaders and experience on-site tours of various Colorado companies. The day will culminate with a pitch competition, where Case will select a startup to receive a $100,000 investment. As of mid-August, the tour was still being finalized; however Denver companies expected to be included: Ibotta, Havenly, Craftsy, Revolar, HyprLoco, Love Grown Foods and more.

Case says he's on the lookout for strategic puzzle pieces - including community leadership, entrepreneurial government - pointing specifically to Mayor Michael Hancock and Gov. John Hickenlooper - investors, talent and a collaborative mindset - in order to build a successful small business hub.

"In general, these are all accelerants," Case says. "Network density is critical." To that end, he says that while Denver attracts more visibility than other Colorado cities,"real magic" may stem from a more regional perspective - "one unified network" - of the cities that make up the Front...

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