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.

Originally published in Las Vegas Citylife on March 13, 2013

This summer, downtown Las Vegas will join Denver, El Paso, Houston and dozens of other municipalities that have installed free wi-fi service in their city centers in an attempt to foster their burgeoning tech scenes.

Phase 1, active by early summer, will include an area bound by U.S. 95 to the north, Eighth Street to the east, Charleston Boulevard to the south, and I-15 to the west. Phase 2, following shortly after, will add an additional area bound by Charleston to the north, Las Vegas Boulevard to the east, Wyoming Avenue to the south and Main Street to west. A third phase is also in development, which will extend service further southeast along Fremont.

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Originally published in Las Vegas Citylife on February 21, 2013

As of last week, SYN Shop is open for business.

Nestled within a row of shops on Fourth Street between Fremont and Ogden, the freshly painted space is bustling with activity as founders and friends build shelves, test hardware and set up equipment. Rows of soldering irons, copper wire tip cleaners and multimeters sit on a workbench under an oscilloscope, waiting to be arranged. A 4-foot-tall wirelessly controlled PDP-11 microcomputer, christened “NOMAD” and mounted to an electric wheelchair base, rumbles around the room.

With its origins in the monthly gatherings held in the garage of founding member Krux, SYN Shop is five years in the making. Several years of planning, negotiation and finally the acquisition of a viable location has led to this: Las Vegas’ first hackerspace.

Think of a hackerspace as something like a gym membership for your brain — a community workshop where, instead of treadmills, ellipticals and weights, you are given access to tools, electronics gear and manufacturing hardware. A place to create and a place to meet, collaborate and learn from other creators.

Hackerspaces are not new. However, aside from a few standouts early on in their history (with the majority of those started in the 1990s), they have only in the last decade begun to be seen as generally viable and self-sustaining, bolstered in part by the growing awareness and popularity of the maker movement.

A repurposed traffic light in the front window shines steadily, indicating the current hours of operation. Green for open, yellow for an hour or less remaining and red for closed. This is especially useful, as while there are posted hours (Monday and Thursday from 6-10 p.m., and Saturday 3-10 p.m.), founders will often open the doors as available, and anyone is welcome to come in and check the place out when the light is on. Access will expand once the space is fully up and running, but for now, the traffic light acts as gatekeeper.

Brian Munroe, ringleader of the group of volunteers that manages SYN Shop (everyone involved is a volunteer), walks me through the space, which features a planning area, a classroom and a maker’s dream list of hardware and machinery.

Thanks to member donations and the support of Work in Progress (which is itself funded by Downtown Project), SYN Shop has already acquired an impressive list of gear, including a Full Spectrum 90w laser cutter, an electronics lab, hand tools, an industrial sewing machine and other crafting tools, two 3-D printers (including a top-of-the-line MakerBot Replicator 2), a Shapeoko CNC mill and the crown jewel of the hackerspace, a Shopbot full-size CNC router.

Everything in the hackerspace is accessible after paying the $40 monthly membership fee, although members must supply their own materials and undergo a brief certification process with the more complex machines to ensure proper use and safety. For traveling makers looking for a place to tinker, day rates will also soon be available.

As the goal of the space is to give builders and tinkerers a place to share, create and learn, Brian emphasizes that SYN Shop is not a traditional or service-based business. At SYN Shop, parts or projects cannot be simply ordered for pickup later — this is an entirely do-it-yourself operation.

Thankfully, makers will not be entirely on their own when it comes to building their creations, as classes will be scheduled frequently, covering everything from basic soldering technique to advanced electronics and hardware design.

With so many of us spending our day-to-day lives working digitally, we often miss out on the pleasure of creating something we can grasp with our hands. To conceive and plan and construct, from the tactile pleasure of handling your own fully formed 3-D model, to placing a soldering tip to a board and seeing that which you’ve labored over suddenly come alive, that is an experience worth having.

Now that can be ours, simply for the price of membership and the willingness to learn.

SYN SHOP 117 N. Fourth St., synshop.org