From Bezos to Walton, Big Investors Back Fund for ‘Flyover’ Start-Ups

When Steve Case, the billionaire co-founder of AOL, first met J. D. Vance, author of "Hillbilly Elegy," the best-selling book about the industrial decline of the Midwest, Mr. Case told him, "I really love the book but there is a part of it I don’t love."

Mr. Vance listened patiently.

"It helped frame the problem but it didn’t really offer up a solution," Mr. Case told him.

"Well, it is interesting you say that," Mr. Vance replied, "because that’s really what my next chapter is going to be."

Andrew Ross Sorkin