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I voted for Las Vegas, and I'll admit I'm biased since I live there, but let me elaborate as to why I think it could be a hotbed. Many people know Las Vegas as

I voted for Las Vegas, and I'll admit I'm biased since I live there, but let me elaborate as to why I think it could be a hotbed. Many people know Las Vegas as only a resort community, which was and remains its focus, but recently it has a growing entrepreneurial base. Small companies such as Heatlh Data Insights have been started here and grew exceedingly quickly. Moreover even its nature as a resort town is helpful to certain types of startups since numerous conventions are held here and thus facilitate networking with people in various fields with minimal travel. It currently has both a major university (UNLV) and a smaller community college (CSN). While neither are exceptionally highly ranked that is largely because they are young as institutions and UNLV was improving with impressive speed prior to the economic downturn. Boyd School of Law within UNLV continues to climb the charts in spite of the downturn. So there is a strong and growing academic base here. While the cost of living here is unfortunately high, it is less so than Silicon Valley so that is clearly no major barrier. In all, I think Las Vegas would be a rich vein for startups in the future.

anamax 17y ago
> Boyd School of Law within UNLV continues to climb the charts in spite of the downturn. And the relevance of this to startups is? (One possible answer is "they do startup law", but only if they actually do.) > While the cost of living here is unfortunately high, it is less so than Silicon Valley so that is clearly no major barrier. "barrier" has something to do with the relationship between cost and benefit. If the cost is 10% less but the benefit is 50% less....
- timwiseman 17y ago
  >And the relevance of this to startups is? It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. And for many of those, the more and cheaper the lawyers they can get, the better. HDI, a company I would cite as a recent success story here, requires frequent access to lawyers as part of its business model. >"barrier" has something to do with the relationship between cost and benefit. If the cost is 10% less but the benefit is 50% less.." You are completely right. Perhaps I should have more cautiously said "While the cost of living here is unfortunately high, it is less so than Silicon Valley so that is clearly not necessarily a major barrier in itself."
  - anamax 17y ago
    >> And the relevance of [a local aw school] to startups is? > It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. (1) Lawyers, yes, but you mentioned law school. I've seen plenty of "SV works because" stories that mention law firms, but I don't think that I've ever seen one that mentioned Boalt (Berkeley) or Stanford Law. (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? (Generally speaking of course, as you were.) Please be specific, because I don't see it.
    - timwiseman 17y ago
      > (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? Being neither a lawyer nor a founder I am speaking based on assumption and conversations with certain business people, so take this with a grain of salt. As I understand it, most tech and especially software startups can grow to a substantial size with no need (or limited) need for a lawyer. They might come in handy for things like working with angel investors and initial incorporation, but as I understand it if the founders are bold and willing to read the fine print themselves, lawyers are not actually needed as long as you can avoid getting sued. Certainly many other fields can get away with no (or limited) legal involvement to start with, but some businesses absolutely require a lawyer's services on a regular basis. Most government contracts, especially ones that involve any kind of personal information have such specific and detailed requirements mandated by federal law that regular legal counsel is required. Similarly, I understand that the biomedical field is so filled with patents that are aggressively enforced (not just in the defensive portfolio sense that many tech companies build) that lawyers are essential. Also, any company involved in gambling in Nevada is carefully overseen and will have lawyers on retainer with the larger ones holding them in house.
      - anamax 17y ago
        I'd expect a Las Vegas law school to have special expertise in gaming, but does it have special expertise in other start-up relevant areas? Like I wrote, no one mentions Stanford Law, they mention Wilson Sonsini, so why would Las Vegas be different?

anamax 17y ago

> Boyd School of Law within UNLV continues to climb the charts in spite of the downturn. And the relevance of this to startups is? (One possible answer is "they do startup law", but only if they actually do.) > While the cost of living here is unfortunately high, it is less so than Silicon Valley so that is clearly no major barrier. "barrier" has something to do with the relationship between cost and benefit. If the cost is 10% less but the benefit is 50% less....

timwiseman 17y ago
>And the relevance of this to startups is? It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. And for many of those, the more and cheaper the lawyers they can get, the better. HDI, a company I would cite as a recent success story here, requires frequent access to lawyers as part of its business model. >"barrier" has something to do with the relationship between cost and benefit. If the cost is 10% less but the benefit is 50% less.." You are completely right. Perhaps I should have more cautiously said "While the cost of living here is unfortunately high, it is less so than Silicon Valley so that is clearly not necessarily a major barrier in itself."
- anamax 17y ago
  >> And the relevance of [a local aw school] to startups is? > It depends on how you define startup. If you are referring specifically to high tech startups, then the relevance is fairly small. If you use the term more generally for recently formed, small companies then many fields require immediate access to lawyers. (1) Lawyers, yes, but you mentioned law school. I've seen plenty of "SV works because" stories that mention law firms, but I don't think that I've ever seen one that mentioned Boalt (Berkeley) or Stanford Law. (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? (Generally speaking of course, as you were.) Please be specific, because I don't see it.
  - timwiseman 17y ago
    > (2) Why do tech startups have less need for a law school, or lawyers for that matter, than other kinds of startups? Being neither a lawyer nor a founder I am speaking based on assumption and conversations with certain business people, so take this with a grain of salt. As I understand it, most tech and especially software startups can grow to a substantial size with no need (or limited) need for a lawyer. They might come in handy for things like working with angel investors and initial incorporation, but as I understand it if the founders are bold and willing to read the fine print themselves, lawyers are not actually needed as long as you can avoid getting sued. Certainly many other fields can get away with no (or limited) legal involvement to start with, but some businesses absolutely require a lawyer's services on a regular basis. Most government contracts, especially ones that involve any kind of personal information have such specific and detailed requirements mandated by federal law that regular legal counsel is required. Similarly, I understand that the biomedical field is so filled with patents that are aggressively enforced (not just in the defensive portfolio sense that many tech companies build) that lawyers are essential. Also, any company involved in gambling in Nevada is carefully overseen and will have lawyers on retainer with the larger ones holding them in house.
    - anamax 17y ago
      I'd expect a Las Vegas law school to have special expertise in gaming, but does it have special expertise in other start-up relevant areas? Like I wrote, no one mentions Stanford Law, they mention Wilson Sonsini, so why would Las Vegas be different?