[jzellis]

I worked for one of the startups Tony funded in Vegas and was around for most of the Downtown Project stuff, and was also one of the most vocal critics of what happened there. This story covers just the tip of the iceberg.

I'm really sorry he died, even though I was horrified by the externalities of what he did in my town and, frankly, didn't much like the cat personally. But this idea that all of this started when he went to Park City is just not true. The culture of heavy boozing and drugs was very much always a big factor in the Vegas downtown tech scene. I don't think that statement would be considered controversial by anyone who was around for the real surge of it, from about 2010 - 2014 or so. And look, I'm not a Puritan or an abstainer, but it's hard to take people seriously when most of the meetings seem to be done whole day drinking at the casino or by the pool in the Ogden condo.

Whatever. It's all over with now. I didn't even know Tony had left town - he'd stopped really making the scene outside his trailer park long before that. I wish he'd had people who could help him, but he spent a long time being told that he was an instinctual visionary whose every act was an act of genius. That isn't very good for honest self-evaluation.

I wish everything had happened differently, but it didn't. It's a shame.

[devinegan]

I was a founder of a VTF (downtown project VC) funded company. We had an exit. I can’t vouch for the rest of the companies but hard drinking wasn’t part of our culture. Careful painting all of us with that brush. I was around for the first Vegas Jelly, and was funded in 2012 so I would be part of the “surge” you defined.

[sadgrip]

Hey I'm from Vegas as well and I have a friend getting his MFA working on a story on the Downtown Project and it seems like he's coming to a lot of the conclusions you've come to. If it's possible I'd love to get you in touch with him to talk about your experience a bit.