Revolution’s Rise of the Rest tour, led by Steve Case, was built on the foundation of that very principle. In that vein they’ve made it their goal to capitalize on the entrepreneurial spirit alive and thriving in various tech ecosystems across America and spawn innovation across our great country. To date Case has logged 3,000 miles across 14 cities on his big, blue bus, and along the way he’s invested $1.5 million into a smattering of diverse startup companies. Even our own CEO Frank Gruber got to tag along for the entirety of the tour from Washington DC to New Orleans this past May. Along the way Gruber contributed to the mission of Rise of the Rest by hosting startup pitch competitions and interviewing Case at local events along the way to showcase the local talent. The question on all of our minds, however, has been if Case will decide to embark on yet another tour.
If you’re unaware, today is America’s first ever White House Demo Day, an event that actually proves Revolution’s stance on entrepreneurship in America 100 percent accurate. The event takes place in Washington DC and operates much like an accelerator demo day would: startups pitch their ideas to funders, innovators from around the country, and even President Obama. As Case tells us, it’s the absolute perfect stage to announce that he will, in fact, be heading up a fourth Rise of the Rest bus tour, and he’ll even be making it a little bigger. Not only will the 2016 tour include five additional cities in the Western US, Case has also committed to investing and additional $1 million across ten more Rise of the Rest tour cities. The difference in this fourth tour will be added participation from Google for Entrepreneurs and Salesforce for Startups. Case will also open partnerships with Engine, Seed Here Studio, Startup Grind, Village Capital, and Tech.Co (hey, that’s us!). During the fall stops in the quoted cities, the Revolution team and their partners will:
Meet with local entrepreneurs, businesses, nonprofits, universities, and public officials to discuss the opportunities and challenges of fostering startup growthHold a pitch competition open to the public where a local startup will receive $100,000 investmentHost a happy hour party to celebrate the visit
If you’re interested in learning more about the Rise of the Rest tour make sure to check out their website and follow the #riseofrest hashtag on Twitter and Instagram. To give you a taste, here are some of Fank’s pictures from when he went on the tour with Case this past May:
A post shared by Frank Gruber (@frankgruber) on May 6, 2015 at 5:19am PDT
A post shared by Frank Gruber (@frankgruber) on May 5, 2015 at 1:23pm PDT
A post shared by Frank Gruber (@frankgruber) on May 7, 2015 at 11:37am PDT
A post shared by Frank Gruber (@frankgruber) on May 8, 2015 at 3:16pm PDT Image Credit: Pixabay
