AOL co-founder Steve Case took to the stage at Disrupt New York this morning to discuss myriad issues, from his former company’s merging with one-time competitor Yahoo (pro) to a potential run for Congress (naw). It’s clear, however, that Case’s current passions lie in his organization, Rise of the Rest, which seeks to shine a light on startups outside of a few key tech hubs.
As Case pointed out in a recent conversation with TechCrunch, nearly 80 percent of venture capital funds get pumped into three states: California, New York and Massachusetts. Much of this is due to the fact that VCs simply don’t like to venture too far from their own backyards. “The reason it doesn’t happen as much as it could is because most venture capitalists get in their cars and drive to these companies,” Case told panel moderator John Biggs.
Rise of the Rest has devoted itself to touring underserved areas in order to highlight the innovation that is beginning to pop up in areas outside of the Silicon Valley, New York City and Boston. Case and team have taken multiple bus tours across the country as part of that outreach, hitting, among other places, Rust Belt cities like Detroit and Cleveland that were once hubs of innovation but have since fallen on tough…