
Tony Hsieh Steps Down from Lead Role at Las Vegas Downtown Project - dkoch
http://recode.net/2014/09/30/tony-hsieh-steps-down-from-lead-role-at-las-vegas-downtown-project/
======
ganeumann
Wait, wasn't it just _yesterday_ that Re/Code published its glowing profile of
Hsieh's Downtown Las Vegas?

Yes, yes it was. [http://recode.net/2014/09/29/downtown-las-vegas-is-the-
great...](http://recode.net/2014/09/29/downtown-las-vegas-is-the-great-
american-techtopia/)

How did they miss this until today?

~~~
bronson
Saw "Connie Yeh, a former Citibank trader, nows runs an entrepreneurship
preschool" and couldn't continue.

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w1ntermute
Can someone explain why it makes sense to build a new community/ecosystem in
Las Vegas? Not only is the climate terrible, there are problems with even
having enough water:
[http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/06/05/lake_mead...](http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2014/06/05/lake_mead_which_supplies_most_of_las_vegas_water_is_at_record_low_levels.html)

There must be plenty of cities across the Midwest without such problems that
would be a better choice for such an initiative.

~~~
nugget
Bad climate and lack of water are two common misconceptions applied to both
Las Vegas and Phoenix.

Both are hot and dry, which many people love. Hot and dry > hot and humid,
which is Texas, Florida, and most of the area in between. Nevada, Arizona,
Texas, and Florida are the top retirement destinations for folks from the
Midwest and Northeast, sick of cold and snow. Personally I prefer Las Vegas to
the others because it's dry and doesn't have bugs (unlike Texas and Florida)
but it's not quite as hot as Phoenix (which runs about 10'F hotter).

Water wise, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States, less than
an hour's drive away from downtown Las Vegas. Lake Mead's water is used by
several states under a complicated water sharing agreement, but push come to
shove, you can't physically move it out of Nevada. No significant water use
restrictions have been placed on Las Vegas. By contrast, look at the situation
in California, where some towns have had to resort to trucking in water
because even their groundwater resources are entirely depleted.

~~~
dragonwriter
> Water wise, Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States, less
> than an hour's drive away from downtown Las Vegas. Lake Mead's water is used
> by several states under a complicated water sharing agreement, but push come
> to shove, you can't physically move it out of Nevada.

Actually, it really wants to move out of Nevada on its own, which is why it
takes the Hoover Dam to keep it there -- and, even so, its not all in Nevada
to start with.

And, push come to shove, the Colorado River is dammed further upriver than
Lake Mead, so, in a sense, the reservoir _could_ be moved out of Nevada. (As
the reduction in releases from Lake Powell to Lake Mead recently
demonstrates.)

Or, more importantly, it could cease to exist as useful reservoir with only a
few more of the poor water years without a significant break that have been
the norm since 2000.

~~~
toomuchtodo
> Or, more importantly, it could cease to exist as useful reservoir with only
> a few more of the poor water years without a significant break that have
> been the norm since 2000.

I've seen Hoover Dam from the inside. I'd pay to see it again at the bottom
from the former lake bed.

------
bronson
His presentation at Long Now was inspiring:
[http://longnow.org/seminars/02014/apr/22/helping-
revitalize-...](http://longnow.org/seminars/02014/apr/22/helping-revitalize-
city/)

(I only listened to the podcast, didn't watch the video)

It sounded like everything was coming up roses and money back then. Hoping to
hear an update.

------
kuida0r3
I've always been interested in the Downtown Project but haven't had a chance
to visit. Can someone more familiar with it comment on the state of download
Las Vegas now?

~~~
enraged_camel
I know a couple of people who live in Vegas who are familiar with the project.
Based on what they have been saying, it is a prime example of why it is not
possible to create a "startup hub" just by pouring money into some random
city. You also need great educational institutions nearby as well as a healthy
mix of angel investors and VCs. Attract enough smart, curious and self-driven
people to create a "critical mass" and then have lots of money available to
fund the ideas that emerge. That's what made SV what it is.

I was actually asked if I'd be interested in moving to Vegas to join an
accelerator to seriously pursue one of my ideas, but I declined. In my mind,
Vegas is for weekend getaways. I could never live there.

Besides that, the project seems to suffer from typical nepotism. When you're
giving jobs to family and friends without paying any attention to whether they
are qualified, you are shooting yourself in the foot and significantly
decreasing your chances of success in a project that's already very ambitious.
I hope things work out but it isn't looking good right now.

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AVTizzle
If you read reviews from Zappos employees on GlassDoor starting a couple years
back, you got the impression that Tony's heart wasn't in zappos anymore, it
was in the Downtown Project.

I wonder where his heart is now? It's sad to see, Tony's Vegas ambitions were
so wild and unique. It was impossible not to root for him.

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UrsWeller
I can't help but conclude that someone who is so obsessed with creating
"Happiness" is actually not that happy. Otherwise why would he be chasing it
with such desperation? One profile of Tony Hsieh said that he has literally
read hundreds of books about how to create happiness, and of course he wrote
one too.

A person who is happy is not reading hundreds of books about happiness. And
that person will also not become happy through doing that. Happiness is not
something you can create externally. (Yes, if you're starving and homeless
then having some money and material possessions would definitely make you
happy. But we are talking about multimillionaires and billionaires here who
are not in that situation.)

I think the entire downtown project has much less to do with creating some
sort of startup utopia than it has to do with something personal that Tony is
seeking for himself. But he won't find it outside of himself.

------
discardorama
More from the LVWeekly: [http://lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-
it/2014/sep/30/breaking-...](http://lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-
it/2014/sep/30/breaking-bloodletting-downtown-project-layoffs/)

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WoodenChair
Editor, is there an editor around!? Or do we just have _people_.

"Hsieh’s move comes as the project has laid off about 30 percent of its staff,
or 30 people, which does not include the community of entrepreneurs funded by
the project. or about 30 people, these people said."

------
rdl
I'm really impressed that he set this up -- optimistic about it in the long
run.

