But until now, at least to some skeptics, it seemed like a do-gooder vanity project.

How could these two men significantly change the dynamic among serious investors on the coasts to reorient their focus on cities, many of them suffering from the erosion of manufacturing, in the Rust Belt and elsewhere?

It turns out that while they were publicly crisscrossing America, they were also privately holding meetings with some of the wealthiest individuals and families in the country, urging them to not only invest in a new fund but become partners with some of the companies that will benefit from it.

On Tuesday, the fund, called Rise of the Rest, will disclose its investors, which has turned into a Who’s Who of American business. Among them are:

• Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and now the world’s richest person; • Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent, Alphabet; • Howard Schultz, chairman of Starbucks; • Tory Burch, the fashion mogul; • Ray Dalio, founder of the hedge fund Bridgewater Associates; • Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans who has remade Detroit; • Henry Kravis, the co-founder of KKR; • David Rubenstein, the co-founder of Carlyle Group; • Michael Milken, the financier and philanthropist; • John Doerr, the venture capitalist; • Jim Breyer, one of the first investors in Facebook; • The Waltons; • The Kochs; • The Pritzkers; • Sean Parker, a former president of Facebook; • Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx; • Ted Leonsis, the sports team owner and investor; • Jeff Vinik, the Florida billionaire and sports franchise owner; • Byron Trott, Warren Buffett’s favorite banker; • Adebayo Ogunlesi, the lead director of Goldman Sachs and a large infrastructure investor.

All told, it may be the greatest concentration of American wealth and power in one investment fund.

The idea — far grander than the money itself, which is only $150 million to start, pocket money for most of the investors — was to assemble a dream team and create a network effect for entrepreneurs in the middle of the country to align with the biggest names in business.