A Cincinnati native, Chris Olsen was working at the Silicon Valley firm Sequoia Capital when his associate Mark Kvamme--who was in the eighth month of a six-month job in Columbus, Ohio--told Chris he wasn't going back to the Valley. There was more opportunity in Columbus. Chris, who grew up with the old "Rust Belt" narrative, told Mark he was crazy. Then Chris looked at the number of college graduates in the region; that 60 percent of the population, the country's Fortune 500 companies, and 25 percent of all research being conducted, was within a one-day car drive from Columbus. He already believed that the most successful companies were the ones closest to their customers.