Kansas is a beautiful state but like most of the middle of the country its population spread, lack of "entrepreneurship-role-models" in most communities and talent flight hurt its chances of developing strong business culture even in an easy-to-do business environment.

I grew up in KC, MO and went to school on the state line. Many of the most promising students from my school and other schools would go out of state for college - and most that left haven't come back yet.

The fact that Denver, Kansas City, MO and Omaha all flank the state and contain more developed business centers also makes company development unlikely.

Looking at this shows how little concentration there is of companies in the whole mid-to-upper Midwest section.

http://www.geolounge.com/fortune-500-list-by-state-for-2015/

I wonder what has made Minnesota so successful.