Welcome to Las Vegas Startups

In an article that came out today on Forbes, they highlight the various areas of the country where a “Silicon Valley” like environment is taking shape. As they say, ““Silicon” is no longer literal, but a metonym for the entrepreneurial spirit that’s fueled the region’s growth for decades.”

Here’s their section on Las Vegas startup companies and entrepreneurial spirit:

Silicon Strip (Las Vegas)
Shoe retailer Zappos has been based in the Las Vegas suburbs for nearly a decade, but it’s finally getting some company, thanks in part to CEO Tony Hsieh. His Downtown Project is making plans to turn Las Vegas into a meta-incubator of innovation and ideas: With $350 million committed to seed businesses and build infrastructure, it’s almost as though the city itself is a start-up. “In the last six weeks, at least four tech start-ups moved here from other states,” Hsieh explains excitedly. “We’re building this community from scratch—it’s Sin City to Sim City.”

This entrepreneurial renaissance is also evocative of a co-working space, where like-minded organizations come together to build a community. But what unites the diverse ventures—from robot maker Romotive to local marketplace Rumgr—isn’t their industry, it’s their founders’ desire to be part of the reinvention of a city.

Forbes is definitely right about Las Vegas building a real community of tech startup companies. It’s been amazing to watch the community finally come together. My only complaint with their description of the Silicon Strip is that they’re missing a lot of the other things that are happening in Las Vegas. Certainly Tony Hsieh’s Downtown Project has been extremely visible and is a fantastic part of what’s happening. However, it is only one part of the amazing things that are happening in the Las Vegas startup world. I hope that Forbes will dig a little deeper to see a lot of the other things that are happening in the Vegas Startup world as well. A few announcements that I know of in the January-March time frame are going to be huge.

The best part of it all…we’re only at the beginning! The description is right that the Las Vegas Startup scene is like a startup and we’re starting to see lots of awesome iterations happening.

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5. Welcome to Las Vegas Startups!!