*By Carlo Versano*
Steve Case was, in many ways, ahead of his time when he co-founded America Online. As the CEO of 1990s tech giant, he helped pioneer the early framework for social media and was among the first executives to realize that a user-friendly internet experience based on social engagement would be attractive to early adopters.
His hunch was correct ー AOL's dial-up subscription model grew to a peak of 27 million users in 2002.
About twenty years and one [disastrous](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/15/business/dealbook/aol-time-warner.html) merger later, Case is using his status as a sort-of elder statesman of tech to reward the innovation taking place outside of Silicon Valley with his VC firm Revolution.
Speaking to Cheddar at Denver Startup Week on Monday, Case cited the Colorado city as a case study: 2 percent unemployment, a burgeoning and exciting technology sector, and a young population drawn to the mountain air.
Denver is so competitive that start-ups have trouble filling positions, he said.
"That's a nice problem to have."
Case's firm created the "[Rise of the Rest](https://www.revolution.com/entity/rotr/)" seed fund to direct VC money to innovative companies operating on the fringes. So far, the fund has made 90 investments in 50 cities from Minneapolis to Chattanooga, Tenn., to Des Moines, Iowa. Silicon Valley, Boston, and New York are deliberately excluded.
Three-quarters of venture capital funds overall still go to the coasts (Denver gets about 1 percent), though Case is trying to tip the balance by personally advocating for cities where he sees innovation happening. He has invested in several Denver-based start-ups over the years, including Exclusive Resorts and World Waters, make of WTRMLN WTR.
"Every big company starts as a start-up," he said. "Some of \[them\] will be the Fortune 500 companies of tomorrow."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/revolution-ceo-makes-case-for-denver-as-start-up-hub).
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum “will not go unanswered,” European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Tuesday, adding that they will trigger toug
The Trump administration has ordered the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop nearly all its work, effectively shutting down the agency that was created to protect consumers after the 2008 financial crisis and subprime mortgage-lending scandal. Russell Vought is the newly installed director of the Office of Management and Budget. Vought directed the CFPB in a Saturday night email to stop work on proposed rules, to suspend the effective dates on any rules that were finalized but not yet effective, and to stop investigative work and not begin any new investigations. The agency has been a target of conservatives since President Barack Obama created it following the 2007-2008 financial crisis.
