We’re now in the mobile, post-PC era and with mobile, we’re never really offline, we’re just asleep. In just two years, more people will use their mobile phones than PCs to go online. By 2015, there will be one mobile device for every person on earth. Eleven years ago, forward-thinking folks in Helsinki, Finland, organized themselves into an open community of mobile industry visionaries, developers and thinkers with the purpose to foster brand neutral cooperation and cross-border business opportunities. Mobile Monday chapters now exist in 130 cities worldwide. The local events provide a platform to demo emerging mobile products, discuss trends and brainstorm ideas. Having a global connection also allows local and regional products to benefit from an international reach, making product launches, user acquisition, crowdsourcing and funding easier to accomplish on a broader scale.
In #VegasTech, there an increasing number of startups focused on mobile or with a strong mobile component. Co-founder of the Las Vegas chapter, Dave C. Williams of Explorateur Ventures, has worked to bring Mobile Monday to Las Vegas (MoMoLV) in order to support the mobile community here. MoMo LV’s inaugural event was held on Monday, December 5th at the Lee Business School at UNLV. A healthy turnout of mobile enthusiasts, developers, investors and entrepreneurs gathered for an evening rich with presentations, live demos and audience participation segments.
I had the opportunity to be a co-moderator for the evening, along with my husband and business partner, David Gosse. We had the pleasure of introducing the night’s speakers and company demos. What a line-up! The evening started with Dr. Andrew Hardin, Associate Professor of the Lee Business School at UNLV, who let us in on recent initiatives to bring more tech-focused entrepreneurial education to UNLV. That’s fantastic news for a city that talks a lot about diversifying the economy beyond hospitality but has been slow to really provide outlets to make it happen. Then, Dave Williams spoke about Mobile Monday as a global organization, its success stories and how the local chapter intends to help foster innovation.
Next up was a novel feature for a Vegas tech event: demoing a local app and getting audience participation. We held a live real-time auction to raise a little money for future Mobile Monday events with Rumgr’s local garage sale app! Donated items were auctioned off using Rumgr’s iPhone application, including some serious bottles of wine (graciously donated by local tech supporters Dennis Bonilla and Michael Terpin), two Zappos $100 gift certificates (thank you, Zappos!) and a Booq laptop bag. Dylan Bathurst and Ray Morgan of Rumgr demoed how easy it is to list an item: 1) Snap a photo with your phone using the app, then 2) Post it for sale. Done! Your item is viewable by other “rummagers” who can comment and bid on the item. Banter between crowd bidders made for many LOL moments. Thanks to all the donators and winners for supporting MoMo!
Next up were mobile guest presenters Sunny Tara and Felix Danciu. Sunny demoed the just-released docBeat, a mobile app that changes how physicians connect with each other so that they can coordinate better care and spend less time trying to connect. Felix wowed our brains with a convincing mobile trends video, then shared his background in mergers and acquisitions and how his local firm, Elmcore Group will help the economy with strategic investments into mobile technologies.
Rallying the crowd again, Jimmy Jacobson of Wedgies lived demoed his simple social survey (and mobile-friendly) application. With typical humor and developer agility, Jimmy drew us into replying on our mobile devices about smartphone usage, iOS platforms, and well, things of less intelligent relevance. But that’s what keeps us loving Wedgies.
Next up, Michael Terpin, CEO of Social Radius told us about his move to Las Vegas several years’ ago and how its unique business and cultural environment provides a great launching pad for many types of businesses.
To wrap up the evening, Kevin Fong of GSR Ventures, brought his sage advice about mobile growth, China and advice for sharing within the Vegas tech community and growing our share of the market. Vegas’ tech future. In China, the mobile phone is the internet; there are 600 million subscribers to China Mobile. Kevin was responsible for starting the first international fund in China via GSR Ventures. The firm is now on its third fund, with over $1 billion in capital, focused on early-stage tech investing in China.
Oh, and I won the Wedgies audience participation prize: a bottle of Chilean Carmenere, donated by the Las Vegas Chilean Consulate! Survey says: Chile and Wedgies rock! Thank you!
Despite ending an hour late, the attendees were still jazzed, which is amazing for a 2 ½ hour event on a cold Monday night. It really put the focus on what’s so special about Vegas tech: passion, collaboration and enduring supportiveness of its people, initiatives and startups. #VegasTech and #MoMoLV FTW.
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I was given the fantastic opportunity to help organize the startup segment along with 
The audience was quite engaged both afternoons. After most of the presentations, I observed presenters being approached by audience members and friendly, animated conversations ensuing on the exhibit floor. Many business cards were exchanged, tweets were sent and meetings set up from this event. I’ve talked with many of the startups in the last week and most have been introduced to viable new contacts including potential users and/or investors, coworking outlets and services share opportunities. One founder booked two weeks of business meetings out of his one 10-minute presentation! Some are following up on potential funding options. Others got commitments from well-known local and national brands to use their services.