Change is in the dry desert air here in Las Vegas: change that could be very good for diversifying the Valley’s economy, especially considering the recession that has hit the city since the economic downturn.
- Photo courtesy Jonathan Mumm.
From June 24-26th, the first ever Startup Weekend was hosted in downtown Las Vegas. Startup Weekends take place around the world and aim to build communities and start companies. The super-packed 54 hour event focuses on building web or mobile applications that could be viable businesses.
It was my first Startup Weekend and I apparently hit the jackpot: seasoned attendees and sponsors gushed that it was one of the best they’ve attended. The judges panel was a veritable internet who’s who and included: Tony Hseih (CEO of Zappos), Kevin Rose (founder of Digg.com and CEO/Founder of Milk, among others and former Las Vegan), Tom Anderson (Co-Founder of MySpace), Ryan Carson (Founder of ThinkVitamin and Carsonified Events) and Josh Reich (CEO of Bank Simple).
The event sponsor was Zappos, Las Vegas’ e-tailer darling and good-hearted contributor to the community. Other Vegas businesses mentored and provided professional services to support the teams.
Fourteen teams labored for two days in pursuit of startup-dom: brainstorming, planning, coding, branding, market researching and PowerPointing their five-minute final presentations for judges. I was reticent about how much could really be accomplished in a weekend but as enthused teams shared their brainchilds with the audience, I became a Startup Weekend believer. Sure, teams were competing but what really became apparent was the power of passion, collaboration and a supportive community. Not every team was comprised of Vegas locals but it was the local community itself that produced and supported the event, giving every attendee and sponsor the platform to collaborate on something with long-term viability.
A few highlights from the presentations include second place finisher IOTW (I Am On the Way), a mobile app for volunteer firefighters, claiming to reduce response times by minutes and ultimately, save lives. ClippPR, the first place team, produced a PR clippings organizer that is already in beta. Rumgr is a virtual garage sale app built by Zappos employees (including event organizer Dylan Bathurst) and heralded with the crowd favorite and “most likely to continue” designation. Sojo, an online journal, lets you gather your life experiences into stories with the help of others with whom you’ve shared experiences.
During the weekend and in the spirit of startups, my company alpha released a software project to a very receptive welcome. With the majority of attendees signing up, we’re getting productive feedback from the crowd and keeping in touch with this freshly invigorated group.
All this innovation reminds me of the energy I witnessed in Vegas over a decade ago when the dot-com boom had infiltrated the Valley. Myriad startups were enjoying the cash conveyor from Silicon Valley into Vegas, a.k.a. Silicon Oasis at the time. Our company, Vortaloptics, was a startup in 2000, but we were here for the connectivity. Our vertical search solutions needed reliability, speed and cost-effective data hosting and fledgling Switch Communications fit the bill. Switch (SuperNAP) is now one of the premier tier-4 data center facilities in the world.
While the vast majority of the dot-com boom startups went bust, companies Switch and 2004 transplant Zappos, are thriving. There is a viable foundation in Vegas for new ventures. The city needs more economic diversification apart from entertainment and tech provides real promise. We recently learned of a couple of business incubators that are in the works for the near-term. This and other developments could provide a platform for local entrepreneurs to build upon existing infrastructure, established corporate support and an eager talent base to become a true Tech Oasis.
So while Vegas was built on the competitive notion of gaming, Startup Weekend demonstrated that collaboration and community can produce a diffusely productive result that can diversify the Valley’s economy. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come for a #winning Vegas tech community. Like anything worth pursuing, we’ll have to work diligently and as we learned from Startup Weekend, we’ll need to work as a team.
Thanks to the event organizers for making this inaugural event a launching pad for #VegasTech!