Thank you so much for joining us today. As mayors, we often say that our number one issue is jobs. Jobs, jobs, and jobs. Creating jobs. Supporting entrepreneurship and making sure the Jobs Available line up with the skills of our work force. So the entirety of this morning is going to be about what we as mayors can do and can be doing to support job creation and entrepreneurship in our communities, and for this session, we are going to begin with a conversation about the future of work and the dramatic changes in the ways that our residents relate to their jobs and to their physical work spaces, so here to introduce this conversation is chair of the Automation Task force mayor who is with us today. Mayor . [ applause ] thank you, mayor, for the opportunity to lead our new Automation Task force and freedom leadership of the conference. We had a great meeting this morning for the task force automation talking about different ways that automation will change our work as employers and enterprises, as policymaking bodies, as economies, and as communities. And were looking forward to convening again as a task force this spring and would welcome mayors or partners who would like to be a part of the conversation. Before we do that, we have an opportunity right here to talk about one of the most interesting and important questions, not unrelated to automation, that affects our work as mayors Going Forward, and that is the future of work. Were starting this conversation at a time that we are rethinking how and where people work and how entrepreneurs can collaborate in their work spaces. This is something that our Title Sponsor knows an awful lot about. Since the beginning of 2010, we work has changed the game on how and where people go to work by designing building and operating a Global Network of shared Office Work Spaces and Office Services for individuals and their businesses. It allows entrepreneurs to get off the ground and out of the garage without worrying about filling a whole office or managing overhead expenses, and it brings entrepreneurial people together in new ways. Its a concept thats taken off in the number of cities around the country, and i actually just experienced it the other day. I came to what i sort of think of as my Washington Office for some of my political activities, and i was presented with a black card. Its not that black card, but it has certainly been very helpful for us to take advantage of the Flexible Work space that exists, so we are appreciative of that. Very glad that we works cofounder and ceo, adam newman, is here for conversation about how our cities can prepare for the future of work. The conversation will also involve our president , new orleans mayor mitch landrieu, and im so glad Walter Issacson is here guiding that conversation. Walter isaacson is known for leadership roles from the Aspen Institute to media world and books that make him one of our great public intellectuals, and im most attuned to probably a more obscure item on the resume. He and i both benefitted from a life changing scholarship to pembrook college overseas, the alma mater of a great mayor who did a great thing in a policymaking body down the street here, richard luke, so, please, join me in welcoming our panel, Walter Isaacson, mayor landrieu, and adam newman. [ applause ] thank you, mayor. How you doing . Nice to see you. Thanks for being here. How are you . You sit in the middle. Thank you. When he was 12 years old, came from a small village to the town of florence, and young people like him were flowing into the town because it had become a mecca for creativity. He was a lefthanded vegetarian misfit artist who loved engineering, but embraced by the city because the Printing Press had just been invented and publishing hou ining houses wer and because of new forms of b k banking brought many, algebra, all mixed together in a caldron of creativity. Now, 500 years later, that is happening in cities like new orleans and other places around this country, and part of it is creating spaces where people can live, work, and learn together. Thats what leonardo did when he joined this wonderful workshop that was in florence, billing the dome, painting great paintings, and thats what somebody like adam newman, by creating we work, has brought together people for a whole new type of way of envisioning work. Adam, let me start with you, if i may, or, yeah, is that all right . Yeah, perfect. Youre the boss. Yeah. Let me start with you. In a way, i heard it described as a coworking space, but, to me, we work is more than that, isnt it . It really is. It really is. So, thank you, everyone, for having me here. I appreciate it. I started we work in 2010. Im an israeli immigrant, came from israel, and for those of you, i grew up in a commune, everyone works to one cause, everyone makes the same amount of money, and everyone shares services. I loved that growing up, but it was not fair the guy who worked 60 hours and now the person working 8 hours were getting the same, but i did love the social aspect of everybody coming together. I loved the community. When i came to the u. S. , amazing as everything was here, i was lacking the community a little bit, especially in new york city. As big as the city was, actually felt lonely, and i asked my sister at the time living here before me and my friends, is this an american thing or human nature thing . The people in america dont want to be together . No, no, its a cultural thing. Just when you go up the elevator, you dont talk to the other people that go up and down the thing, and i said, oh, thats weird. In israel, we go to the neighbor, i ask for salt, and the neighbors not there, i open the door, i take the salt, and hopefully i give it back. Very quickly, i realized that the one thing that myself and my friends bring to this amazing country is a little bit back the sense of community that used to be all over the place, and for whatever reason, we got disconnected. We work as a place where people make a life, and not just a living. We work is for the we generation, and in we work we dont discriminate between age, gender, race, or religion as long as you understand being a parts of something greater than yourself, treating other people the way you want to be treated is utmost important, as long as you understand that giving is receiving, youre a member of the we generation, and anybody that practices that, weve done it now in business and now in homes, is not only better for it, but the city, and this is what we heard today, the citys better for it, and the stats are unbelievele. How many cities are you in . Thats a trick question. So, i think, and dont hold me to it, 75 cities 25 countries, 45 different languages, 250,000 members and counting. And you just bought the Taylor Building in the middle of manhattan. We did through a sub company, a partner of ours that we control a large portion of bought the building. Its part of the same story. Retail used to be very smart people in the past. Now you take a beautiful building, lock windows, let no light in, you sell a lot of stuff for people that might want it or not, and thats the retail experience. As millennials are the biggest shoppers and by 2020, they are over 50 of the work force, they dont want to buy that way. They buy on line. What they are looking for is experience and attention and meaning. A beautiful building is useless. Well reinvent it. Theres a billing above it because were going to design is in a different way and reinvent retail into an experience thats going to uplift people opposed to just draining their wallets. Mayor landrieu, how does it fit into the return of class to the cities . Great question. Thank you for the sponsorship of the sponsor, first lady of new orleans is with us this morning, sheryl, thank you for joining us. Im in office for 100 more days, and the mayorelect is here. Stand up. Stand up. [ applause ] 60 votes, millennials came out. Beat everybody with the millennials, and shes a great leader and will be a great mayor. Walter, to your question, here, the question was interesting. What are we doing in new orleans to create space for the Creative Class . Many of you here this morning for the arts awards, and we talked about art being a creator of life. What you are now beginning to see in the economy are mayors starting to think about Economic Development in a couple of different ways. Traditional way is to try to give away as many incentives as you can to attract a big company that has jobs to come into the city and change the nature and character of your city, which will continue to be an Economic Development mission. The other is to have people who are there beginning to create out of nothing, and trying to create a space where you insent that to happen, has as much to do, adam, with not just the thing they are thinking about, but the space they are working in, so richard coined the phrase, Creative Class, and we took it in louisiana to turn into creative cultural economy. How do you grow something out of nothing that comes from intellectual capital and then create the spaces to do so . We works, evidently, took it to another level, creating an economic model where if they create the space and individuals who want to Work Together come and Work Together is the on the partive word here, its we works, not me against you works. And collaboration and innovation, where people share ideas, share space, and then find a way, and i know the next panel will talk about this, of taking that idea and intellectual capital into a product or into something else, and then scale it, that kind of space, so in new orleans, we have something called the idea village, a space that people help do this. We have something called the Bioinnovation Center with a mission to create an environment that takes ideas from two new University Medical centers, incubate them, and move to a higher level. This is we works turbo charges that idea, and, of course, new orleans is one of the great places where we have some progress. Can i just make one point. This is good for everyone here. We used to think we were taught chase big corporations, give them centers, convince them Economic Development, come to the city, and if you come to our city, things work out. I have a new plan for you guys. What if instead of chasing the organizations, from now on, youre not only the city of your city, but the chief grand officer. What does that mean . You control the brand of your city. Millennials and the we generation contribute a lot to their personal brand of where they live. If your city is the most attractive place for the we generation to live, if they like the culture, if they like the fun, if they like the environment, if they like everything about your city, then they are going to come there. If they come there, enterprise will chase you. Take new orleans for example. You guys are cool, great food and music k there, theres a lo on. Back in the tragedy, the way people came together as community was inspirational. We all looked at it. Thats the kind of city we want to be a part of. If new orleans, and apply this to every one of your cities, in new orleans is able to celebrate its strength, that will attract millennials, and the we generation, and google will come and expedia will come, and amazon will come. Amen. Thats right. How did tragedy of katrina, bring people back together physically into the footprint of the city and realize literally and figuratively in the same boat, how did that change . Interesting. We saw we had a great tragedies, mayor of las vegas talked about the city reacting after the shooting. When theres tremendous tragedy, theres an immediate and great need for people to come back together, and to see each other and to feel each other, and, of course, it reminded us of something never to forget. Its not the physical structures of our space that make the cities, but its the community and ability to Work Together. That incredible need drove the people of new orleans to think about not billing the city back the way it was the night before the storm that destroyed everything, but how to be a more creative and open space. Everybody in the world helped us, and to what you said before, when they came to new orleans, this is a cool place. I like this. They felt the reality of it and authenticity of it. Every mayor in here can tell you authenticity, whatever it is thats in their city that makes them special, that adds value, that creates culture, and music, and the environment where people want to live, is really the driving force behind what it is that were trying to do, and i think that one of the things youre atetesting to that we works confirmed that that theory of living and consequently Economic Growth and development of creating there in the space where everybody wants to be is a model we think provides and creates jobs for the country. Tell me how you see it as a larger ecosystem, not just work, but living, even learning, Everything Else being part of what a millennial will the one thing i want to say, and we talk a lot about millennials, and with respect to the generation, i like to call it the we generation because i dont want to limit it by age. As i said before, anybody who wants to be part of greater than themselves and understands community and economy is part of the we generation. The most important pillars of our life is where we live, who we are with, who our kids and friends are, where we work, and then how we study and how we learn and grow as human beings, and then i like to say, if you prioritize them, first personal growth, then your partner, your spouse, kids, friends, business, and when you get to business, first purpose, then people, then product, and the profits will follow. When i think of we, i think of an ecosystem that brings it all together, and the fabric of the ecosystem happens in the building, in the neighborhood, and in the city. I think that the next 100 years, everyone sitting here, youre the leaders of the future, city, city states is where its at. I think governments from all over the world, without pointing any fingers, are having a very difficult time. I think as majymayors, leaders, ceos, its our responsibility to set the trend of the future, and the trend is we versus me. By 2030, 60 of the World Population moves into major cities, another billion people moving in cities. Cities are underbuilt 30 50 . You have no room. You have to rezone. You have to reassess, and you have to reinvent how people work. One last thing, we have numbers behind it. Every we works you open, 100,000 square feet, 2,000 employees, immediately creates 700 jobs in the city just to build it, and then 1,000 jobs a year, inside that we work for the next 20 years, so just one location. Bring in for ten locations, we create 200,000 jobs over the next ten years, and it can go bigger and bigger. We wont just bring jobs, but a place to live, bring education, and this is important, we bring Corporate America, and why is Corporate America coming . Corporate america saves 18,000 dollars per employee when they put it in a we work. Wait, wait, who is the biggest client for we work in a place like new york . Is it young entrepreneurs or big corporations . So we are so as of two years ago, 98 all entrepreneurs. As of today, 30 of members are enterprise, Corporate America. 23 of all fortune 500 companies are already in we work, and the reason in other words a fortune 500 company like amazon or walmart rather than building a building in a city colocates . Even more. If they want a satellite office, they put it in a we work, but looking for hq or redo their own hq, we are asked to do it. Today we dont take the space, we redesign it, build it, use our technology that took a long time to create, and put our community there. Would you for a city hall . Would love to. For any mayors interested in that. Its simple, we. Com mayors, fill out the form. You talk about briefly before the need for a new city hall, the old charity hospital, the need for an incue baiter, what would you be open to in new orleans . First of all, theres city halls in america that are gorgeous and wonderful. Unfortunately, new orleans is not on the top 1,000th list of that. We have an old, tired, ugly building we have not put a dollar in because we are rebuilding schools, health clinics, and ports, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, but theres going to be a time, the teem not too far in the future there, where we have to rebuild a government complex, which happens to be right in the downtown of new orleans and probably not in the best space, so theres a huge opportunity for Economic Growth and development in the nine blocks surrounding where the physical structure of the city hall is. There is, by the way, an old charity hospital, one of the finest buildings, an art deco building that hue long built a long time ago, but you have seen these structures across the country, its sitting there, fallow, 1 million square feet, and if it was put back in commerce in a form or fashion in a way part of a municipal complex, it creates downtowns like many mayors in america have done in their cities. Theres great opportunities for that, but, essentially, what hes talking about is common space, opening up, giving people ability to create and Economic Development coming from that, and i think theres a lot of potential. Wouldnt it be nice to have the entrepreneurs and permitting processes colocated . I think that we have to think in what a city hall is Going Forward. It used to be a physical building that citizens had to come to every day. Im not at all sure you have to have that model Going Forward into the future as Technology Allows us to be more diverse. If you were thinking about building a city hall some time ago, its how many employees do i have, how many rooms do i need, how many square feet do i need . Its different what a city hall in the future looks like in nornew orleans. We are interested in exploring the idea with you guys. Adam, willing to go to new orleans to do that . Are we partners . If were partners important thing about we work, we dont need favors. We just want to partner and change the world together. We have a strong business model. If were partners, then, yes, i will come to new orleans. We work, we live, we city hall. I have a point about city hall. Ive been to some of your city halls, and they are beautiful, but that doesnt mean the energy inside them is buzzing. To attract young talent to work for mayors that is then going to reshape policy in the way we need for the future, create an environment they thrive in. They only work at amazon and google because it feels good. They want to work at city hall, and the reason they do, mill len y cherish meaning over material goods. Show them youre mission driven. They will join. I think even though some city halls look nice and some dont, until we have that buzzing environment that the smartest, youngest, most talented individuals of this country want to go work for, you have not fully succeeded. An exclamation point on this with mayors across america. I do think that probably now is the time to think about redesigning the spaces that we work in and how citizens interact with us, and i think that possibilities are just really infinite in how we reconnect physically and in realtime, and then making sure that city halls a place that people like to come, and if they come there, they have a good experience, and it is absolutely possible. Not only for public service, but function and design. Walter, which you and i talked about, because both of those things can intersect as you talked about talking about steve jobs and the work he did at apple. Right. The next panel is in five minutes, and i see my old mentor and friend, steve case, and it ties into what adam said, i have to make this the last question, which is, were becoming not only a nation, but a world of city states, which gets us back to where i started 500 years ago with florence being a great city state. What does we work and u. S. Conference of mayors do in order to make it so that the driving force of creativity is what they are talking about, the rise of the rest, where every city and every town in america gets to be its own city state and attract the creative and entrepreneurial. You first. Its critically important as mayors are here talking to the leaders of washington to see what role the federal government plays, that the country understands mayors of america are not waiting on washington, d. C. To be creators. 85 of the people in the country are living in cities. Most of the financing happens on the ground in cities trying to financial tools to be able to invest in the cities that are important, but the model that adam talked about before, which one of which is to insecentiviz people to come in by giving Public Resources and giving away jobs or being a Creative Space where you create and grow from intellectual capability, raw materials, raw talent. Thats the way of the future, and i think that either by purpose or intent as washington becomes smaller, wants to be less connected to the ground, that creativity will find its way coming out of the cities in america, which, by the way, has been occurring for the last 1015 years in the country anyway. We have to continue to do more of that. I think thats thats amazing. [ applause ] thats very, very well said. Ill add because i dont want to repeat a few more things. If city states are the future then we have no problem, that the mayor of new orleans will have a great relationship with the mayor of london, the mayor of shanghai, and mayors, i dont care whats happening politically between governments, have amazing relationships. This is the important point to make. They are not limited to one country anymore. You start thinking about that. A local example. Im very close to the mayor of jerusalem, and i said with him, he had a problem, we all have problems, no, my problem is bigger. Well, everybody thinks their problem is bigger. Well, i can prove it. Well, tell me. Heres what im dealing with. I have nonreligious jews, religious jews, muslims, all living in the same city as citizens together, living peacefully, actually. Were the 18th safest city in the world all Things Considered compared to what people think. Its very impressive, and, yes, theres fights and this and that, but when they need to pay a parking ticket, everyone stands in line together. I found that to be fascinating. It is. He challenged me to rethink city hall, and one of the solutions we came up with is, as you entered city hall from the outside, were choosing art that represents each one of those cultures. Were showing every culture weve taken so much time to care about whats important to you, and by the time you walk into the space itself, you come with a different energy. As you start thinking about relationship between you and the citizens, its a relationship between you and the world. We can be the example for acceptance. We can be the example. We can be the place where every Single Person who used to not fit in, not be accepted, not be part of whatever it is, didnt fit the mold of whatever the mold is, just like you said, leonardo did not fit the mold, but we can be the place that embraces them, and if you embrace if you embrace the creatives, if you embrace the weird and different, youll be so happy with the result because the result is going to be we and the result is going to make your city stronger, and the resultha. Its been proven when the oldest in the family and youngest in the family live together, everybody lives longer, everybodys healthier, health care goes down, all the things we talk about in the world. What i feel in this room, i think a lot of times we dont know where we are, but i know what this room is. This room is an opportunity for the future. This room is an this is a grain of salt, a grain of sand compared to where we can go, and if mayors of this country set an example if all aspects, not Just Community and culture, but acceptance, and also, if we can set an example, if you can set an example, trust me, the whole world is watching, and the whole world is waiting for you to set the example because america always was on the top. America was always the leader. Its time to go back. Thank you. Adam, thank you. Thank you, adam. A little video of we work, and we thank you all for being on the stage. Thank you. Thank you. Roll the video. I think its really hard when youre starting out to follow your dreams. I think its really, really hard. We started in our living room essentially, and whats appealing about we work for us as a company is that it makes your life extremely easy. The first day of building a business is a big day because thats the day when the full dreams coming into play, but the second day, reality kicks in. Wheres my office . Wheres my interpret provider . How do i pay for electricity . Where are the sales coming from . We work and strive to help you as much as we can, focus on doing what you love, create your lifes work, and well figure out the rest. When we started out at we work, we were ten people and crammed into a tiny office, and now were 30 people spread out in two beautiful offices. On top of that, theres shared space like kitchen and booths and phone booths, a conference room, and a big part of the team took advantage of the fact its a community. Its an ecosystem thats provided a great place for our team to grow. Were a community company. Were a company thats looking to create opportunities for people to connect. That happens in our physical spaces, the vibe that we create, the energy that our members create is something that you feel when you walk in. When we see our members inside of this environment, were inspired to help them. Its all in service to a Bigger Picture of how do we make people happy . How do we get people to be engaged with their life . We work is the office space of tomorrow. The future is about light, innovation, creativity, its going from me to we. We give you space that will inspire you, uplift you, and help you innovate the products of tomorrow. Good job, man. [ applause ] i think i stay here. Wow, that was incredible. We have a bright future. Now i want to continue the conversation on the importance of job creation. I call on the director of walmart and Public Affairs and government relations. Walmart has been a Strong Partner of the conference of mayors for years, and amy hill is a familiar and welcomed presence to all of our meetings. Shes here this morning to update us on walmart u. S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund, major fiveyear partnership between the conference and walmart resulting in an investment of 10 million by Walmart Foundation and research to innovate manufacturing and create good paying jobs, manufacturing jobs here in the United States and in the metro areas. Amys here to update us on the most dramatic innovations now taking shape. Please help me welcome amy. [ applause ] thank you so much, mayor landrieu for that warm introduction. I have the pleasure today to once again update all of you on the conference of mayors and walmarts support of the u. S. Manufacturing Innovation Fund, but before i start, i want to take a little moment of personal privilege assuming this is still being live streamed, i did want to give a shoutout to my sons 7th grade history class in reno, nevada, who i believe is watching live. Hi, joe. [ applause ] back in 2014, we announced the creation of the fund to invest 10 million over five years for innovations and research and development with universities in your cities, with the goal of addressing challenges to manufacturing in the United States. Weve learned a lot over the last few years about the challenges and the opportunities facing all of us as we work to bring manufacturing back to the United States. For example, one of the challenges of manufacturing denim is the dyeing process that makes our blue jeans blue. The current indigo dyeing process used since 1921 is in no way sustainable or cost efficient in the long term. We visited texas Tech University, one of our Innovation Fund grantees where a Research Team has been working on a new dyeing process that could potentially be a game changer for the 56 billion denim industry. Can we share the video, please. Cotton is critical. Its one of the three pillars of our economy. Its really where we came from. Its our heritage. We are right in the middle of the largest cotton patch in the United States, so when you think about cotton, you think about love. Texas Tech University is approaching the 100th year, and, of course, research is a part of that. We wanted to be leaders in the world, and in areas related to sustainable uses of the land and of water, which is an important component here, and of fiber and fuel. The u. S. Textile Manufacturing Industry is impressed that walmart would provide funding for research on an issue that the industry realizes is critically important. As that yarn comes from the cotton bail, weve actually avoided any preparation of that yarn. It goes into making raw cotton yarn. With this process, we can develop even purer shades of indigo and create actually a cleaner looking shade without cleaning the cotton. Its kind of amazing. The dye is designed to have an attraction for the fiber. Here 100 of the dye goes on top of the cotton. We eliminated all waste water for this process. The environmental aspect is absolutely huge. This Technology Offers the potential for a whole new level of sustainability and new level of operational efficiencies. Were very proud of the Walmart Foundation grant, and what it has allowed us to do. I think is the ideal place for that research to happen. Im thankful for the grant and opportunities that provides for us to continue that research. Cotton is one of the places where we lead the world. Were proud of the relationship between tech and producers between tech and industry and certainly between texas tech and our community. [ applause ] thank you. The mayor is passionate about his community and advancements in technology that are coming out of his city. As mayors, we encourage all of you to embrace the research and Technology Like this so that we can turn these advancements into actual Economic Developments for communities around the u. S. , which is why we recently announced a policy road map to renew u. S. Manufacturing outlining steps ten policy levers we think help move 300 billion to the United States of the 650 billion in consumer goods that are currently imported. As Innovation Fund projects continue to come to fruition and we push for renewed u. S. Manufacturing, we expect to have more Great Stories like this, potential Game Changers in the manufacturing technology. So i want to, again, thank the conference and all of you mayors for your support in this very special endeavor. Thank you so much. [ applause ] amy, thank you so much, and now we are moving fast, but in case anybody missed the nuance, adam, who you just saw, is an immigrant creating a lot of great jobs in the United States of america. [ applause ] hes doing it based on a theory were all better when we do it together, diversity is a strength, not a weakness. People look for Creative Spaces to find community and common purpose. I want to conclude our morning session with a discussion about entrepreneurship and creating opportunity across the united t create the space and give people the opportunity to start the job. Steve is here today to talk about how you finance and how you pay for it, so the next major High Growth Company that starts in the United States of america can actually start anywhere, not just in coastal megacities, and the next guest have been leading the way to spotlight how cities of all sizes grow jobs and the economy through entrepreneurship. Steve case is the chairman and ceo of revolution, a big investment firm, cofounded in 2005, and you may remember in his other life he was the cofounder and ceo of america online, otherwise aol, which you know played a key role in changing our world and introducing millions to the internet. Steve launched the rise as a National Effort to engene in a local startup ecosystems to connect entrepreneurs with the communities. Jd vance is an author, Venture Capitalist, and rise of the rest fund. A New York Times best seller in 2016, and a memoir of family and culture of crisis, which, if you have not read, go get it, pick it up, read it, one of the best books ive ever read, opened a window to the White Working Class in the appalachian values impacts his upbringing and relation to the social problems were having in america and that hes having in his ohio hometown. As you know, Walter Isaacson rejoins us to moderate the conference. A couple months ago, walter invited me to dinner. We talked about this very, very issue and asked steve to come work with us. He told me at the time that he was going to put together an organization that was going to create entrepreneur shift funds, all across the United States of america, and he and jd are, in fact, doing that, and here to share with us the work theyve done across the country and opportunities that cities have to work with them to get this done. Thank you, guys, so much. Steve case and jd vance. [ applause ] so, steve, ive been able to get on the bus with you. Yes, thank you. As an old jack line, either youre on the bus or youre off the bus, and your bus has gone to 33 cities for the rise of the rest. How did that start and what it is. First of all, great to be here, and thank you for the invitation, and, you know, making startups actually, was that in the French Quarter . Yeah, and the fact it is a topic youre all focused on is important. If you look at the data, it goes back to your question. I got involved after being asked by president obama. I did some work around entrepreneurship. Some of the data that was a little startling to me, you probably knew it but i didnt know it which was sensitive to all the job decrcreation was co from startups. Small businesses account for a lot of jobs but not a lot of net jobs. One restaurant going out of business replaced by another restaurant doesnt create net jobs. In big business, some are rising and some are falling. In aggregate, its pretty static in not creating net jobs. So the leverage was really the startups, the young, high growth companies, all kinds of startups doing all kinds of Different Things so that was pretty interesting to see if you want to get the job creationing in goi creation going. In the process creating jobs is critically important the other data point, last year 75 of Venture Capital went to three states. 75 , three states. California, new york and massachusetts. So 47 states, including where im sure most of you are from, fight over the last 25 . If the jobs are being created by the startups and were only backing startups in a few places mostly on the coast, we shouldnt be surprised there are a lot of people that feel left out, left behind or anxious about the future versus optimistic about the future. That led us to hit the road and weve done six cities, you mentioned 33 cities, were planning the next one and they try to understand whats happening in those different cities and do what we can to be a champion of these cities and entrepreneurs and attract more media attention, attract more investor attention. I do want to point out before i forget on all your tables youve got one of these little drives and we put out today just for this conference what we called the rise are us ecosystem playbook. If you forget this you can go to the website. Basically the lessons learned. And ive read it. It has many, many cities in there, from phoenix to whatever. Basically trying to take some of the example its ths that we the road over the last four or five years and create a playbook so other cities, whether it be mayors or entrepreneurs or ceos or University President s or accelerators or whatever it might be can learn whats happening in other cities and we can create a network effect. More collaboration, more convening, but essentially a Network Across the cities so they can essentially all rise together. One of the underlying themes of this and your book, the third wave which sold almost as well as j. D. s book you guys are much better selling books than i am. It did well, but nothing compared to the other books well, after a year one is still on top of the best seller list. But the whole theme above your book is that the wave of the digital revolutions that went before concentrated on engineers in places like Silicon Valley. But now its all about connecting creativity, connecting different forms of business, connecting the arts to technology. And that happens better in places like chattanooga, austin, nashville, columbus. Yeah. Its pretty interesting when you look back at the history, particularly the last 30, 40 years in terms of whats happened with technology, particularly the internet. The first wave of the internet. We started aol 33 years ago. Only 3 of people were online one hour a week, so pretty early days. That first wave is getting everybody connected, building the onramps, educating people why they should get online. We were based outside of here in tysons corner, virginia. Dell was in austin. Microsoft actually started in albuquerque, moved to seattle. Hays, the modem company was in atlanta. Fairly regionally distributed. Then the second wave happened, which really was about software. It was about apps, it was about mobile phones. Thats where Silicon Valley rose to dominance, based on that software development. In this third wave, which is kind of unfolding which is integrating the internet and changing health care and education and food and agriculture and pretty important aspects of our lives, pretty big sectors of our economy, the expertise you need to be successful is all across the country. Its not just about writing software. Its how do you figure out how to integrate that hospital into Hospital Systems and get doctors to use it. How do you integrate some of these technologies to improve the way people can kind of farm or other kind of things. As a result of a huge opportunity in the third wave for the growth again of regional entrepreneurship, the rise of the rest, but we need to get more Venture Capitalists with all that money on the coast to understand there are Great Companies in the middle of the country. And that leads right into what j. D. Is doing in partnership with you, which is a rise of the rest fund. First of all, j. D. , i want you to explain that, but also youre part of a wave that i tried to catch onto, which is having read your book carefully, i know all about your background and then even the military and then yale. But then thinking, okay, its now time to go home. Go home to a city like columbus, i think which is where youre back to now, and say im going to find that to be the cradle of creativity. So explain how that ties into the rise of the rest fund that youre doing with steve. Sure. So briefly the rise of the rest fund is built around the idea that if you want to get high growth enterprises, high growth businesses in some of these areas, you actually have to invest in them, right. So the classic way that we often do Economic Development is well lure you to our area with a tax credit, but if you think about what steve said, that all the net job growth is coming from these high growth startups, those startups require risk capital to get off the ground. If you look at where the risk capital is going, a ton is going to california, a lot is going to massachusetts and new york, but not a lot is going to the rest of the country. Only about 25 goes to the other 47 states in our country. So what were trying to do is simultaneously of course earn a good return for our investors but also show that by investing in those neglected areas, you can support entrepreneurs and create some of the enterprises or help support some of the enterprises that are really going to produce the net job growth of the next 20 or 30 years. The reason im so fascinated and so interested in what were doing is, like you said, one of the things that were seeing all across the country is this talent boomerang. Its people who maybe go to Silicon Valley or they go to new york for a little while. But for whatever reason they eventually want to come back home or at least want to come back to areas that arent traditionally thought of as necessarily high tech or exciting. Now, many dont realize this, i certainly do. Columbus is a really exciting city. A lot of entrepreneurs, a lot going on at ohio state, a lot going on with government and the start citys initiative. I think a lot of folks from the outside dont necessarily recognize this. The one final point ill make on this is that people move back to sort of the nonSilicon Valley type cities for different reasons. One of the reasons is just basic cost of living. I can remember talking with my wife two or three years ago that if we were really wealthy, we could afford a twobedroom closet box in san francisco. Whereas, you know, going back to ohio, there is a lot of opportunity to build a family in a place thats exciting and innovative but also is cost effective. And those things all matter. All of those trends are going to be part of what we think but isnt there something deeper in this boomerang effect . 100 . Than, gee, i can just get a bigger apartment . There absolutely is. And that thing thats deeper is actually relevant to what adam said about the sense of community, that in a lot of places, people have some connection to where they grew up, whether its their home city, their home state, and they want to be part of this renaissance. A lot of people look at a city like cincinnati, a place like columbus, these were places that if you look at population growth and if you look at Economic Growth, things didnt necessarily go super well in the 80s and the 90s. They were really hit hard by some of the Economic Trends affecting the industrial midwest. True in the southeast, true in other parts too, but people want to see their hometowns do well and they want to be part of that renaissance. And so i do think that people are drawn back for a most of reasons, but one is that really deep desire to positively impact your community. I think that creates remarkable opportunities for some of the people in this room to take advantage of that sense of connectedness to some of these cities. And you had an amazing set of investors come into this, right . Yeah, we tried to reach out to some of the most visible, respected, almost iconic individuals in the country. Entrepreneurs like jeff bezos and eric sochmidt and tory burc. John door and ray dalio, meg whitman running hp. It really is several dozen of the most visible people. We did that deliberately because we wanted to basically say these people believe in the rest of the country. They believe in the entrepreneurs all across the country. They believe they can generate great investment returns investing in those entrepreneurs while also being potentially catalytic in terms of some of the job creation, so it was great to see that momentum and we want to build on that. Theres two other points and some of this was covered a couple of days ago, big opportunities for mayors. First is in this tax reform and you may like it, you may not like it. Theres provisions that you should like, in investing in opportunity act which will play out. The sense that youll create capital gain inventives to invest in these opportunity zones. That could be significant in building on some of the work we and others have been doing and getting more people on the coast with big check books paying attention to the opportunities in the middle of the country. The other one, i think many of you were involved in this and might feel a little disappointed is this very visible amazon search for a Second Headquarters has led to a lot of cities. 238 cities i believe was the final number. Basically rallying together their communities to make a bid. Amazing. And 218 of those are out of the running. You know, as of last week, they feel like they lost. They can take that effort, that sense of possibility, that bringing the Community Together to make the pitch, and now refocus it on startups and turn this into a wonderful thing. I was in kansas city and there was a big chamber of commerce, i was giving a talk, and it was almost like a rally for headquarters too. But i was sitting next to the mayor and he said i dont think were going to win this, but boy, this is the best thing ever to happen to the city. Were going to get the airport fixed, were going to rally together the Business Community and have entrepreneurship funds. The number one thing that goes back to this playbook, the number one thing that surprised me over the last five years is essentially all the cities we visited, the lack of collaboration and connectedness that exists. You would think in these smaller places, everybody would be working together. Often the Big Company Ceos dont know what the entrepreneurs are doing. Often the university is not really connected as much as youd think to whats happening in the startup sector. And just trying to drive more of that collaboration is super important. Theres no folks better positioned to do that than the mayors. Using that as a convening opportunity. So building on this amazon effort and saying, okay, whether bummer, we thought wed get 50,000 jobs, we didnt. How do you get 50,000 jobs by backing 500 startups that can be the next amazon i think is a huge opportunity for all up cities. J. D. , im going to ask the question every mayor is now thinking. How do i get one of these funds with you in my town . Well, there are a few things you can do. First, exactly what steve said. Part of what makes a successful Entrepreneurial Ecosystem a success is the connectedness and the fact everyone is working together. I was talking to an entrepreneur that were invested in in denver just last week and he was talking about when denver hit this Critical Mass of successful entrepreneurs and exciting businesses, it didnt it wasnt just good for the city, it was good for him in a very individualistic way because it became easier for him to hire people. He knew if i hire a guy or girl, doesnt work out, my business doesnt succeed for whatever reason, there are going to be opportunities two, three, four, five, six, seven in that city that are visible to them and makes it easier to attract and retain talent. So to me as soon as you hit a Critical Mass of exciting opportunities, you will get a talent boomerang effect and then capital will start to flow in. Now, well work at that from our angle. But to the extent that you have ecosystems where there are exciting things already happening, it will make it easier for Venture Capital investors and other investors to put capital to w in those places. But the rise the rest fund, do you do Something Like challenge a city and pay well put in half if you find local investors for half . We have multiple steps. The first step is the seed fund, a 150 million fund. Were saying we want to partner with regional investors. Were not going to lead these investments, were going to partner. We generally do 10 of the rounds and the rest of the capital will come from other places. So were trying to take our 150 million and leverage it more like 1. 5 billion and partner with these regions. And so in many of your cities, hopefully most of your cities, they typically are relatively small venture firms thats relatively hard for them to connect to the capital on the coast. Were trying to figure out ways to partner with them, shine a spotlight on what theyre doing so the next fund they can raise is a larger fund and they, therefore, can back more startups and create more jobs. Over time well continue to evolve this and figure out whether the structures make sense and they can essentially get more capital from the coast to the middle of the country and in the process create more jobs in the communities in the middle of the country. The first step is trying to partner with people in these communities and coinvest in the startups that can be the big job creators of the future. When you were on the bus, every time you went into a down, i see it in the deck, i remember being with you, you let five or six entrepreneurs pitch to you and then you gave money to the winner. Tell me some of the ideas that popped up and how that inspired you. Weve done 50 investments so far in the last few years, even before we launched this fund. Whats exciting to me is how diverse the ideas are. So you see things in energy, you see things in food, you see things in education, you see things in health care. In new orleans, for example, one of the things that was surprising to see, you and im sure the mayor knew this was how strong had educational technolo sector was. Partly because of postkaert havi katrina. Having been in that classroom they had ideas of how it could be better for the class and better for the students. Now theres several dozen startups focused on Educational Technology in new orleans. In st. Louis and louisville, we saw a lot of things focused on a gte aag tech. So the diversity of these ideas is whats so moving and powerful and gives us a sense of hope. We just need to get more of those entrepreneurs to get more spotlight on what theyre doing and get more of the capital that they need to take their little idea and turn it into a big question. One of the things we emphasize is what makes some of these businesses successful is the ability to partner with the Legacy Industries that exist in these cities. So in columbus we invested in a company thats doing block chain for Title Insurance. Why Title Insurance . Homeownership and so forth . Because theres a massive j. P. Morgan facility in columbus, ohio. Youre taking a young entrepreneur excited about a technical application working with a local legacy business to build an exciting company. In indianapolis, we invested in a company thats doing water Clean Water Technology to enable cities to quickly and cheaply test whether their water supply is safe for the community. What motivated that idea . The crisis in flint and the fact that a lot of these entrepreneurs had some connection to the problems that existed in flint. These things are going to happen again and again. To steves point, its going to happen outside of the coast. Because if you want to build a Company Really if you want to build a company around Title Insurance for homeownership and mortgages, you need to have some expertise in that field. If you want to build a Clean Water Technology company, you need to have some connection to the regulators and policy makers and innovators that are working in the water space. Thats going to happen more and more in what we call rise of the rest cities, many of the cities that you folks represent. And how do you find these ideas . How do people with these ideas find you . Well, weve got our website, revolution. Com. People can reach out. A lot of times we find ideas and businesses through this really vast network that weve built. If we know an entrepreneur or investor in denver, colorado, they can connect to people with us and what were doing. We also find them through our bus tours. We go around, we solicit applications and we encourage people to pitch to us, to show us what theyre doing and eventually to get an investment out of it. We have one minute and im going to turn to you, j. D. , on a separate thing. Youve written the most influential book of our time. I dont know about that. Well, it ended up helping explain things we didnt know were going to have to be explained, like some of the disaffection thats infected our politics as well as the Opioid Crisis and how that is certainly described in your book. Sure. How people get on to that. What have you learned from that book and learned since then that you think can help heal this country . Thats a tough one. You have all of 45 seconds. 45 seconds. But, you know, there are two things, a positive insight and frankly a more sobering insight. The first is that ive talked to a lot of different people from a lot of different backgrounds and a lot of different organizations and almost exclusively people are interested about whats going on in the communities like mine. They care, they care about whats happening with their fellow citizens and theyre interested in learning more and interested in how to help. But i will say that one of the things that continues to worry me is that we have a really remarkable level of geographic segregation in our country. Were kidding ourselves if we think that we can read a new york article about whats happening with the Opioid Epidemic in charleston, west virginia, and actually gain the insight necessary to really help. If we want to do better by some of the communities i wrote about, i think weve got to spend a little bit more time together. Theres no way to shortcircuit that process. Journalism from coastal journalists is important. Its important that people care about these problems and i think they really do. The thing that ive learned is people have a good heart for these issues but weve got to spend a little bit more time with each other or were never going to solve these problems and i dont know how to fix that problem. The only way to fix it, though, is something we started with, which im sure the people in this room would be happy to hear about, which is everybody in this country ought to remember what is their community and go home at times, like youve done to columbus and many of us following in your footsteps have tried to say, okay, its now time for me to come home and be in the city, state or in the community where things can get done. Thank you all for being up here. Thank you. Everybody, thank you so much for sharing. Were adjourned. If i could please hav
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