Originally published in Las Vegas Citylife on May 2, 2013

When I say the word entrepreneur, or any variation thereof, take a drink.

This Friday, dozens of developers and entrepreneurs will be making their way to the InNEVation Center for a three day startup jam with one goal in mind: to leave on Sunday with a viable business.

Founded by Andrew Hyde in the summer of 2007, Startup Weekend has since expanded from a single Boulder, Colorado event to a worldwide entrepreneurial powerhouse, with hundreds of cities hosting and over a thousand projects started as a result.

The inaugural Las Vegas event was held at the El Cortez in 2011, and three others have since followed. This weekend will be the city’s fifth (we’re doing math, ya’ll), and even at this early stage, Startup Weekend Las Vegas has already had several successes under its belt.

“There are a few companies that have come out of Startup Weekend that have survived to become local startups, including ClippPR, the winner of the first Startup Weekend, and LaunchKey, winner of Startup Weekend 3,” said Adam Kramer, SWLV organizer and Director of Entrepreneurship and Vegas Young Professionals at the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce. “Both of these companies are on the cutting edge of their respective industry and are making quite a splash.”

Launchkey is particularly notable, growing from a Startup Weekend concept to being the recipient of $750,000 in funding within months. Other Startup Weekend Las Vegas entrants that went on to become actualized companies include Phone2Action, Rumgr, Counterless, and Coupla.

With that said, don’t think that simply by placing at Startup Weekend you’ll find yourself sewing suits out of hundred dollar bills – in just two short years, the majority of SWLV winners have already shuttered, Twitter accounts and domain names dormant and discarded.

Entrepreneur. Entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurialism.

So with that said, how does Startup Weekend work?

Friday, Day 1

It starts with a pitch. After introductions and a short speaker session, badge holders with a concept are given a minute and a microphone. No powerpoints, no props, just sixty seconds and an idea.

Next comes the voting. Once everyone’s had their say, all attendees vote for their favorite pitches, and from those results, a handful (based on total attendance) are then selected as the primary concepts to be worked on over the weekend. Teams are formed organically as folks gravitate towards projects that interest them, and work begins.

Saturday, Day 2

Work continues, with the occasional break to eat or listen to a short talk. Coaches (including successful entrepreneurs and instructors from the local scene) wander about throughout the day, giving advice and helping teams sort through and overcome problems. Everyone works some more. The conference officially closes for the night at 10:00 PM, but most will end up hammering away at their keyboards well beyond that.

Sunday, Day 3

Work continues. This is the day where tired attendees panic upon realizing that they’ve only got a few hours remaining before their projects will be on display.

Halfway through the day, focus shifts as teams scramble to tie up loose ends, finalize their prototypes, and prepare demos. The judges arrive and presentations begin, with each team given five minutes to show off their product, followed by a brief question and answer session with the jury.

The jury then selects the winners, awards are given out – past prizes have included cash, a booth at CES, business services, and office space – and then everyone goes on to celebrate and/or catch up on sleep.

There’s still time to sign up!

Feeling that entrepreneurial itch? While this is a bit of a short notice if you’re just hearing about it now (look, this here is a biweekly column, see?), registration for Startup Weekend Las Vegas will remain open until the start of the event, so you’ll still got a day to clear your calendar and register. The entrance fee for developers, designers, and non-technical folk looking to take part is $99. If you’re the voyeuristic sort, Observation passes are available for a mere $15.

Startup Weekend begins at 5:30 PM Friday (May 3) and runs until 7:00 PM Sunday (May 5).

Startup Weekend Las Vegas
lasvegas.startupweekend.org

InNEVation Center
6795 Edmond St

Originally published in Las Vegas Citylife on April 3, 2013

Downtown Project has announced that they are in the process of purchasing one hundred Tesla Model S electric vehicles to be used as part of Project 100, a private transportation and ride-share system that aims to reduce area residents’ need for vehicle ownership within our very car dependent city.

What they don’t say is that the range will be restricted to Fremont Street, with Las Vegas Blvd on the west on 7th Street on the east. Basically, picture a merry-go-round of Teslas, powered by serendipity and slowly circling Downtown HQ, stopping occasionally to let passengers off once they’ve reached their destination across the street.

I kid, I kid.

Interestingly, the story was actually broken by Business Insider a couple weeks ago during South by Southwest, but the potentially thunder-stealing news was initially denied (with Tony Hseih replying that he hadn’t actually purchased 100 Teslas, as the deal had yet to be inked), allowing Downtown Project to finally push the news through their own channels this week.

This is big news. First, the purchase will be largest ever order of Teslas by the single entity, so congratulations to Zack Ware of Downtown Project and Elon Musk and crew at Tesla Motors for making the sale. Second, if you live downtown and have the estimated $400/month to plonk down, there’s a chance you may find yourself driving (or riding in) one before the year is out.

So this is how it’ll work. Once you’re a member of the service, powered by VegasTechFund beneficiary Local Motion (the same team that runs transportation across Google’s sprawling Mountain View campus), you’ll be able to launch the app on your phone and be given multiple options, depending on both your location and transportation needs. Alongside the Teslas (both with and without a provided driver), other vehicles will be offered, including shuttle buses for pick up services and even bicycles for door to door travel.

The aim of Project 100 is to serve as a complete replacement for car ownership, providing (nearly) immediate access to (fancy) transportation without the planning and mixed availability often seen with typical car sharing programs. To meet this goal, Project 100 will launch with “100+ on-demand drivers, 100+ shared cars, 100+ shared bikes, and 100+ shared shuttle bus stops,” all within the same monthly membership program. That’s a slew of 100s, and those numbers will only grow if the project is successful.

The initial plan calls for what they call a “hub and spoke” system, with most of the vehicles based around a high traffic hub (like say, Fremont Street), aided by spoke locations throughout downtown and other areas as the service grows.

As a born and raised Las Vegan, I’ll admit, the thought of not owning a car is the sort of fear that strikes deep into one’s soul. But hell, I’m excited, and if Project 100 can successfully pull this off, along with perhaps introducing more reasonably priced tiers for the less demanding (and less cash flushed) residents of downtown, this could bring our big spread out town just a little bit closer together.

Question for the class:

1. Where will all these vehicles live?
   

2. How will the downtown parking landscape change as a result? Once Project 100 launches, will it be easier or more difficult for existing car owners to find a parking space downtown?

   

3. How will the infrastructure be handled? Will private electric car owners be able to refuel at the same stations as those used by Project 100?

   

4. When can I drive a Tesla?
   


Originally published in Las Vegas Citylife on March 20, 2013

South by Southwest is a film, interactive, and music festival held annually in Austin, Texas. Last week, in an effort led by Gabe Shepherd (who will also be helping build the inaugural SXSW V2V conference taking place locally this summer, but more on that later), over 120 local members of the tech community made the trip out to Texas with a singular goal: to promote Las Vegas as the place to create and grow your next startup.

I spoke with Dylan Bathurst, founder of Rumgr and Used Gear Sale, and organizer of local community events Vegas Jelly and Startup Weekend about both his experience at the conference and the evolution of the Las Vegas tech scene.

What was the reaction of the SXSW crowd to the local push? What do you expect to come of it?

I think the reaction was pretty incredible. Vegastech was trending globally on twitter, and the cocktail hour and other parties were completely overbooked the whole time. You couldn’t go anywhere without seeing a #vegastech t-shirt of poster. It was awesome!

Since this was the first time doing something like this, I didn’t really set any expectations. Like any first time venture you just have to go big and put yourself out there, see what went well, what didn’t, and what you can do next time. I think Gabe and the Vegastech SXSW crew gave us as startups an incredible stage to experiment with and I think each of us came away with some great lessons learned.

What stood out in particular?

…the tradeshow booth. Each startup had a section of the booth to make their own and pitch their company from. It was a way for the founders of the company to be able to talk to people one-on-one for three days straight. We received a lot of feedback from passers by in that time, and some, like Rolltech, even got featured in a VentureBeat SXSW video contest.

As you mentioned, #Vegastech was the number one trending topic for a while there during SXSW. How did you all pull that off?

Focus. Gabe and his crew weren’t down there just kicking back and letting everything they worked for the whole year before SXSW go down. They were all over downtown talking to people, tweeting, retweeting, setting up, tearing down, and just hustling in general. It was definitely their effort that made everything go as well as it did.

On DTLV as tech accelerator

Is brain drain a concern, where we’ll end up losing talented developers faster than we can rope them in?

Not trying to self promote but I wrote an article about this exact issue.

The gist is that having successful and growing companies come out of Las Vegas is a win. Maybe not at face value, but it is. It gives us credibility as a legit accelerator city with a great culture that fosters crazy ideas like cellphone powered robots.

In Romotive’s case, I think only one or two of their 20+ people are actually from Vegas. Most were attracted here from around the US. That’s awesome! As far as capturing local investment, if Romotive and others get investment and then leave to go to SF or somewhere else where they think they can be more successful, that’s great. When they are successful, and their investors get 10x their initial investment, a lot comes right back here. 

So from your view, what does the downtown Las Vegas tech scene look like in 2013?

I think our tech scene is getting smarter.

By that I mean that 2011 and 2012 was where a bunch of startups rose and fell learning that you can spend all your time building a cool product and it doesn’t matter if nobody wants or uses it. We’ve all been learning what it takes to start a startup and have come together in different ways to help each other learn faster. “A rising tide raises all ships.” I think as the Vegas Tech Fund funds more and more awesome companies in 2013 for their ROC (Return on community) as well as ROI, and that knowledge is shared among the rest of the community, we all benefit and get smarter. 

Let’s talk about Dylan.

Used Gear Sale, your newest project, is now live. How did your experience building and launching Rumgr affect the path you took getting Used Gear Sale up and running? Did you do anything different this time around?

It took us three months to get Rumgr live, and another 9 months to learn some valuable lessons. UGS took us 1 week to bring live and 1 month to learn even more valuable lessons. We did everything differently. We’re still not done learning, and still not done changing. You just have to keep going.

Two efforts you helped found, Vegas Jelly and Startup Weekend, have been instrumental in facilitating and bringing together the local tech community. What’re your suggestions for folks that are eyeing Las Vegas, or those that simply want to get involved?

I really like the way Brad Feld puts it in his book Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City.

If people come asking how they can get involved, give them a task to do. If they do it, they’ll become part of the community and thrive. If they don’t do it, they didn’t really want to get involved in the first place. We saw that over and over again at the Jelly.

My suggestion for people that want to get involved is to get a lay of the land first. Find the other people that are doing things. See how you can help. Really execute on that, and then you’ll find your niche in the VegasTech community with other folks. It has to be a “give before you get” type of community. So embrace that and everything will be awesome.