Attended the Startup Grind at the mansion formerly owned by Mike Tyson (and Wayne Newton) which is now owned by Equiinet to hear Rick Duggan of Rolltech and Vegas Tech community leader talk. Mike Terpin, founder of the Las Vegas Startup Grind and owner of Social Radius, started the meeting by interviewing Rick on his career, the Vegas
Tech community and Rick's new position. When Rick worked for Zappos, he volunteered to help develop the Las Vegas Tech community. One of the first things he started to work on were the downtown Jellys which brought coders (programmers) and startup companies together. The Jellys started slow in 2011 but after a couple of months, the room, over the Beat Coffee house was jammed to capacity. It was truly the start of the Vegas Tech scene. After a couple of years the Jellys were discontinued due to their success. Several groups sprang out of the Jellys and are still meeting. Rick was also advising several companies as a consultant of which Rolltech was one. Rolltech is focused on bringing useful apps to bowling. Bowling is a $6 billion market with millions of dedicated players. Rick decided to become the CTO for Rolltech. At the event were Ruth Hedges of Crowd Funding Roadmap, George Moncrief of the Vegas Tech Fund, Sonya Levy, giga fiber activist; Dan Hugo of Intel and technologist, Steve Mason of Brand Mason, Matt Waymire CPA and Startup Strategist, Stu Waymire, Entrepreneur; Ross Newman of Innovate Health Research and many other leaders and entrepreneurs. Over 70 attended the meeting.
Attended the Medical Marijuana hearings at the Clark County commission hearings. The aim of these hearings was to review the applications for cultivation, production and labs. Most of the applicants had been seen by the commissioner at the previous dispensary hearing two weeks ago. Most of them were applying for cultivation and production. Two companies were seeking labs. Over 100 applicants were on the agenda. Because the state has not put a limit on these licenses, the county approved all of the applicants.
Attended the Southern Nevada Economic Priorities meeting. The meeting is primarily run by Assemblywoman Irene Bustamante Adams. This meeting's focus was on the opportunities for Southern Nevada in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones). We had several speakers including Tom Piechota, PhD from UNLV talking about the minor in UAV systems available at UNLV. Over 40 people attended included Assemblyman James Healy, Arnold Lopez from NV Energy, Bob Coyle from Republic Industry and lobbyist George Ross.
Stopped in to review the proceedings of the Legislative Interim
Finance Committee. The interim finance committee reviews budget issues that affect that state's finance. Since the legislature only meet every other year, the interim finance committee keeps track of the items that affect the budget. The meeting was taking place in Carson City but those interested could watch it from the 4th floor at the Grant Sawyer Building. A number of changes were occurring to the budget. One of the key changes was the loss of $70 million of projected tax revenue from mining. About 30 people attended the talk, mostly government workers and a few lobbyists.
Met with Scott Fraser, CEO of Empowered Products. Scott's company manufactures a number of products for the Sexual Wellness market. He moved the company to Las Vegas to avoid the taxes, regulations and challenges of California. He has set up an impressive manufacturing facility and has his products in over 30,000 locations.
Met with Father Max Oliva, Joe Brown and Steve Curtis for cigars and drinks at Binions. Father Max has finished his book on the ten commandments and was the reason we were celebrating.
Attended the CEO-CFO Group mixer at the Art Bar at the Grand Hotel Downtown. Over 70 attended the mixer. John Guedry, President of Bank of Nevada spoke briefly about his involvement in education and that answer to help fund education, the Gross Margins Tax, would not help and would be devastating to businesses in the state.
John Lau
Met with Al Trivelpiece who was the former director of the Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Oak Ridge is one of the top national laboratories in the United States focusing on energy research with over 4,000 employees. Dr. Trivelpiece was also the director of the Office of Energy Research at the Department of Energy. In that position he began funding what later became the human genome project. The human genome project started in DOE because NIH at the time didn't believe that creating a database was important. As soon as NIH saw that it made sense, the project was taken over by NIH. Al and I talked about his ideas (which were talked about at the Sci-Tech meeting on May 30, 2014) to follow the science development model that Tennessee followed. When Al was at Oak Ridge he helped developed a science development program with the state to help develop science-based companies. Al has offered to lead a delegation to Tennessee to meet with the governor and other leaders.
My wife and I had dinner with Sangha and Souresh Basu at the Weera Thai restaurant on Sahara and Valley View. Sanga is anesthesiologist (Sans Pain Clinic) and Souresh is a computer programmer.
Ran the NevBio luncheon featuring Dr. Nabil Sakkab, former director of Research & Development for Procter & Gamble. Don Snyder, President of UNLV welcomed the group and Dr. Sakkab to UNLV and noted that
UNLV is focused on innovation and that his topic fit well with the goals of the university. I thanked Dr. Tom Piechota, VP of Research & Economic Development for his help with arranging the meeting. Dr. Tim Porter, Dean of the College of Sciences, introduced Dr. Sakkab. Nabil talked about Radical Innovation which was opposed to incremental innovation. Radical Innovation was disruptive and created new products and industries. He believes that the United States and businesses need to have a focus on creating Radical Innovation. He gave stories about how Procter & Gamble's revenues had flattened and that they needed to new ideas. One of the ideas was to reach outside of the organization for ideas - not just contract research - but developing prizes for anyone with a breakthrough. One example was that P & G wanted to write trivia questions on their Pringle's potato chips; after spending close to $100 million, they set up a prize of $25,000. A baker in Italy came up with a way to make it happen. He stressed that Radical Innovation is how companies survive - that it's the new products that build the future. He noted how Netflix has evolved where Blockbuster Video and Hollywood Video did not. Netflix first started sending movies in the mail, moved to online movies and now has created its own movie series - House of Cards. These were bold steps but the company continues to survive. Dr. Sakkab said that innovation requires constant changing as new information is learned - many times. In the startup world it's called pivoting. Dr. Sakkab's talk was the basis of an article has submitted to the Harvard Business Review. Over 50 attended the talk including many inventors in Las Vegas - Dr. John Lighton & Robbin Turner of Sable Systems, Terry Howlett of Skinvisible, Joe Vicente and Dr. Geoffrey O'Neill of CorCell, Dr. Jason Burke of Hangover Heaven, Craig Miller of Pictographics, George Moncrieff of the Vegas Tech Fund & Raster Media, Dr. Oliver Hemmers of GP Micro and others. A number attended from UNLV including Dr. John White, Provost; Dr. Carl Reiber, Vice Provost; Dr Chris Hudgins, Dean of Liberal Arts, Justin McVay of the Startup Center and other faculty and students. Jonas Peterson of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance and Bob Potts from the Governor's Office of Economic Development also attended.
Attended the CPA Education breakfast (open to everyone) that is sponsored by High Tower Advisors. Jeffrey Barr, Esq. of Ashcraft & Barr talked about tax aspects of medical marijuana including the fact that "Ordinary and Necessary" business deductions are not allowed for medical marijuana. In 1982 Congress pass a law disallowing deductions for illegal activities (medical marijuana is still a schedule 1 drug and is illegal). Cost of goods sold was still allowed and dispensaries will need to properly allocated overhead costs to
inventory. He also noted that the state is charging a 2% excise take
on growing, 2% on production of edibles and 2% on the final sales on top of the sales tax.
Laura Thalacker of Lionel Sawyer & Collins talked about how to deal the employees that are using medical marijuana and the reasonable accommodations that are required.
Attended the CEO-CFO luncheon featuring David Chavez of Assured Strategies. David talked about he had started Assured Strategies to help businesses improve their success. He noted that when he ran a CPA firm he was bringing in consultants to help him but it never stuck. Once the consultant left, his firm would slide back. After selling his CPA firm, he found that the Gazelles method of business consulting to be highly effective. There are four decisions that are critical to success: 1. People Decisions, 2. Strategy Decisions, 3. Execution Decisions and 4. Cash Decisions. David also noted that the CEO-CFO Group members will now have private access to the Gazelles's website of books, speakers and videos on managing your business - strategy, selling, people and execution - an $800 value at no cost. The meeting was held at Simon's at the Palm Place and over 30 CEOs attended the meeting.
Attended the Las Vegas Metro Chamber of Commerce Business Expo at the World Market Center. Several hundred businesses has booths at the event. It's a good opportunity to meet and talk to people. I visited the following booths: Turntable Health, Hightower, Neuropathy & Pain Centers, MistAmerica and several restaurant booths. I ran into a number of people including Ray Garza of the I Love LV brand, Greg St.Martin of Sun Commercial Centers, Allan Palmer & Kathleen Frantz of the Atomic Testing Museum, Peter Bhatt of SolveBizProblems.com, State Senator Barbara Cegavske and many others.
Joined Dr. Francis Tsang of Global Medical Isotopes (GMIS) at his facility to show Dr. Al Trivelpiece their progress. GMIS is developing medical isotopes using depleted uranium instead of a reactor which will lower costs and increase the supply of medical isotopes. GMIS has purchased a company in Tennessee. Dr. Trivelpiece ran the Oak Ridge National Laboratories in Tennessee. Besides talking about the people they knew in common in Department of Energy, they also talked about supporting the connection between Nevada and Tennessee.
Attended Bob Ellis's Deli Day which brings together politicians, political activists, governmental affairs people and lobbyists together for lunch. At this lunch were Joe Hardy Jr. (running for Judge), former Senator Richard Bryan, political activist, Chuck Muth; Bob Coyle of Republic Services, former Mayor of Henderson Jim Gibson, assemblyman Lynn Stewart and others.
Met with Dr. Bob Odell and Lianne Nishida-Costello of Senator Reid's office at the offices of Neuropathy and Pain Centers of Las Vegas to discuss how Senator Reid can help the clinic. One of the patients at the clinic was an airman from Nellis who had had his foot crushed by a Humvee. He told Linnane that he'd been to many doctors but Dr. Odell was the only that was actually helping heal his foot. He asked if Senator Reid's office could make Dr. Odell's therapy available at Nellis and the VA hospital. The airman had been worried that he would've been discharged if he foot didn't get better; however, with the progress that he's making now, he'll be able to return to active duty. Dr. Odell's treatment uses pain blocks and electro-therapy to help the nerves regenerate.
John Laub
Attended part of the State of Nevada Economic Forum which was created by Nevada State Senate bill 23 in 1993 to review the forecasts for the state of Nevada's budget. These hearings last all day and are an up-to-date review of state's tax revenue and expenses. Each even-numbered (2014) year the forum is required to provide their forecasts of the state revenues by December 3rd. The December forecast is used by the Governor in preparing the budget recommendation for the legislative session. The Economic Forum is run by 5 appointees of which none can work for state government. See the list here. The highlights of the meeting were that Medicaid has expanded under the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the state is required to pay for a portion of the newly eligibles - single men. In addition the normal Medicaid roles have expanded. Mike Wilden, NV Director of Health & Human Services, the second largest budget area for the state, after education, would only guess at amout of the increased expense but did say he expected the state portion of expenses to increase several hundred million. (This will further squeeze the budget for other programs such as funding doctor residency programs, GME, and a UNLV Medical School.) The other forecast that should affect the state is the mining tax which is expected to decrease by $70 million (it was projected to be $90 million). See the state budget here (it's several thousand pages). Only a handful a people attended the meeting.
Met with Greg St Martin for lunch. Greg was the founder of the Green Chamber of Commerce. He is now working as commercial realtor for Sun Commercial Real Estate Services. Greg wanted to thank me for serving as a reference. (He bought lunch which is a nice way to say thanks). Cathy Jones is the founder and president of Sun Commercial. She has been active in United Way. Cathy and I worked at Deloitte many years ago. She is very sharp.
Attended the UNLV Intellectual Property committee which reviews research at UNLV that could be patented and promoted for licensing or creating spin-off companies. As an outside member I bring a private industry experience to the committee. Zach Miles, Esq. runs the committee. He's also the university's director of Technology Transfer. Zach is looking at making the entire process more efficient and effect which the creation of a committee of outside investors to help evaluate the technology. Zach has previously worked at the University of Utah which had a very successful technology transfer program. The committee meeting was attended by the UNLV VP of Research, Tom Piechota; Dean of Sciences, Tim Porter; Dean of Engineering, Rama Venkat; Director of Entrepreneurship, Andrew Hardin; Robert Nielson, UNLV Economic Development; Jim Thompson, Special Advisor to the UNLV President and Dr. Robert Schill.
Met with Barbara Atkinson, MD, Planning Dean of the UNLV School of Medicine. Barbara was interested in understanding the State of Nevada, its people and the politics. Carl Reiber, UNLV Associate Provost, also joined us in the meeting for a discussion on Graduate Medical Education commonly called residency programs for doctors. We also talked about the beneficial effect that medical school would have on Las Vegas and the state including, increasing the number of doctors, medical research, trials, medical tourism and increasing the quality of healthcare. Barbara had built the University of Kansas Medical School into a powerhouse. She appears to be the right person and the right time to make that happen in Las Vegas. We are fortunate to have such a leader. She also mentioned that the current UNLV President, Don Snyder, was critical in her decision to take the position.
Attended the Las Vegas HEALS Medical Mixer at the Capital Grill. The location was spectacular with a view of the strip and the Wynn Hotel. The drinks and appetizers were first class, especially the roast-beef carving station. Over hundred people attended the mixer. It's one of the best mixers, judging from the quality of people and the ability to talk with the attendees.
Attended the hearings on the Medical Marijuana licenses at the County for three days, over 80 applicants made presentations. All of the applicants were required to strong finances, experts to help the process, a viable business plan and a concern for the community. One third of the consultants came from Colorado, another third from California and the other third was from Arizona. A number of prominent individuals and attorneys were at the hearings: Brian Greenspun, John Ritter, Larry Scheffler, Frank Spady, Otto Merida, Randy Black, Steve Byrne, Robert Ellis, Rory Reid, Jay Brown, Joe Brown and many others. After all 80 applicants had been heard, the commission went through the process of selecting the winners. The process took several hours and was done in front of a packed audience of applicants. The final 18 had dispensaries that were geographically dispersed throughout the valley and represented some familiar names in Las Vegas: John Ritter, Troy Herbst, Adam Corrigan, Jane Tobman, Camille Ruvo, Rich Abajian, Chad Christensen, David Goldwater, Mark James, Jonathan Fine, Otto Merida, Richard Perkins, Hank Gordon, Brian Padgett and others. Some that did not make the cut include Brian Greenspun, Sig Rogich, Gary Primm, Renaldo Tiberti, Ed Bernstein, Irwin Molasky's stepchildren (Michael, Gary & Robert Frey) and others
Attended the Governor's Hire-a-Veteran forum at City Hall. The governor wants to make Nevada the most military and veteran friendly state in the country. Caleb Cage, Director of Military & Veterans Policy for the State of Nevada, talked about the Green Zone Employer Program which is a drive to make it easier for companies to hire veterans and for veterans to find those companies. About 100 attended the meeting including attorney Joe Brown, Military Support Alliance; Gian Brosco, Nevada Community Foundation; and Terrence Thornton, Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance.
John Laub
Joined Oliver Hemmers, PhD for lunch. Oliver is running UNLV's Linear Accelerator Center. The center was setup after the donation of several accelerators from Varian Medical Systems, the M-6 and a K-9. Senator Harry Reid assisted with the donations. A linear accelerator is similar to the unit in a micro-wave oven except many times stronger. This center can be used for research, training and working with companies. Oliver attended the American Nuclear Society meeting - Las Vegas chapter, last Thursday. The speaker was a Dr. Jerry Cuttler, Past President of the Canadian Nuclear Society. He talked about how a certain low level amount of radiation will engage the body's immune system which will help it fight off disease. He gave an example of an apartment building in China that ended up being built with steel that was radioactive. When the Chinese authorities discovered the problem, they wanted to understand the magnitude of the problem. What they found was that the incidence of cancer was lower at this apartment building as compared to apartment buildings around it. Oliver is also working closely with the Nevada Alliance Foundation which is focused on converting research into commercialization.
Stopped by Pictographics and visited with Craig Miller, the president. Craig was hosting the Vegas Inventors Group for their monthly meetup run by Daniel Braisted. Pictographics takes digital images and puts them on anything and everything in a very spophistaced and colorful way. Much of their work is seen around the valley; some examples - party in the pint graphics on Fremont Street, Coca Cola bottle on the side of the Coke building, pictures of rock starts in the Hard Rock hotel, various building and vehicle wraps and numerous booths at conventions. At the time I was visiting they were preparing for the licensing convention. Above all else, Craig and his crew, are inventors. They have numerous projects from indoor GPS for indoor UAVs, friend or foe sensors, sophisticated identification software and many other items.
Attended the Startup Grind featuring George Moncrief at Raster Media. The Las Vegas chapter of Startup Grind was founded by Michael Terpin. Michael also had his own successful startup called Market Wire, which was the first company to use the internet for press releases. Michael specializes in public relations for tech companies and has worked with 500 to 600 startup companies: companies like Earthlink when it had three employees or Motley Fool when it had two employees. Besides tech companies, he is now working with bitcoin companies and is the President of Bitcoin Angels. Michael knows startups and he is always the one that is interviewing the guests at these events.
George Moncrief was the guest tonight. He was one of the co-founders of Raster Media, along with Micheal Smith, in 2000. They were working on websites, user interfaces, CRM and other areas. In 2008 they went full force into Mobile apps - I-phones, androids, IOS and became a mobile development shop, the first in Las Vegas. In March 2014 the Vegas Tech Fund asked George to be their Entrepreneur in Residence. His job is to help evaluate companies. The Vegas Tech fund only looks at companies that have gone through a business incubator and have been referred to them by someone else. Even with those restrictions, they have more companies to look at than they can handle. The Vegas Tech Fund is looking for companies that have products that people will buy or use. George said too many inventors make products and then look for customers. He stressed that inventors need to get feedback from potential customers as they make the product in order to make changes that the market wants. One of the goals of the Vegas Tech Fund is to create a tech eco system in Las Vegas. Part of that process is to make Las Vegas a stimulating and fun place to work. He noted that the Downtown project breaks down each month into four weeks: 1st week - Art and Music with First Friday, 2nd week is technical with speakers from Tech Cocktail plus workshops, 3rd week is Fashion - Stitch Factory speakers and the 4th week is creative with mini-Ted talks.
Over 50 attended the meeting, including Sonya Levy, Andy White, Anthony Hurtado, Michael Smith, Brea Silva, Steve Miller, Nathan Rowe and others.
Attended the Lunch & Learn at the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health featuring Dr. Dylan Wint on Brain Imaging. Essentially, brain images help doctors make a better diagnosis. Dr. Wint covered three types of imaging. The first was CT Scans - Computed Tomography which is based on x-rays and creates an image like a detailed X-Ray. The next was Magnetic Resonance Imaging - MRI. This technique reads characteristics of tissue - hydrogen atoms. The images are captured in three dimensions. The system uses high powered magnets, up to 30,000 gauss (earth has .5 gauss). Some of the problems with MRIs are that the magnets might turn off one's pacemaker, it takes time and one has to be very still. The third type of imaging was nuclear medicine imaging. Radiation is injected into the body and then measured from the outside such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT). PET & SPECT give the best resolution of imaging. The challenge is that patients have to be injected with medical isotopes which can be in short supply at times. About 40 attended.
Attended the Father Max Advisor panel meeting with Mike Bonner, Gian Brown, Michael Buckley, Susan Sullivan, Jeanne Hamrick, Marlene Richter, Bob Brown and Father Max. This board assists Father Max with his ministry in Las Vegas. Father Max gave us a brief talk on his activities including classes, services and his writing. Bob Brown suggested that Father Max lead a men's retreat. It will follow Father Max's book, The Masculine Spirit, which can be found on Amazon. Father Max is finishing a book on the Ten Commandments. Father Max Oliva has a website called Ethics in the Marketplace.
Attended the Turnaround Management meeting at the Las Vegas Country Club. The event featured a panel presentation and discussion from three prominent Nevada-based economists, John Restrepo with RCG Economics, Bill Anderson, State of Nevada DETR and Marcus Conklin, Strategies 360 and formerly of the Lied Institute for Real Estate Studies at UNLV. Bill Anderson talked about how the state has been adding jobs since the recession: 11,000 in 2011; 19,000 in 2012; 30,000 in 2013 and an expected 40,000 in 2014. He said that the governor had promised 60,000 new jobs by the end of his term. John Restrepo said that the economy is not that strong and that wages in these jobs are lagging below their previous rates. Many of the new jobs are retail jobs which generally lower paying jobs. He said that consumers need to have money to buy things which creates demand which then pushes the creation of supply. Marcus Conklin was the great simplifier. He brought things down to earth on issues and trends that were effecting people and the economy. It was a lively meeting with lots of questions to the panelists. Jason Thomas, CPA is the president. Leonard Wright, CPA and commentator on Financial Fridays was there along with Bruce Isaacson, Richard Hanseen, CPA; Debra Baez and 50 others.
Left to attend the Funding Post event at UNLV; unfortunately, I could not find the room at UNLV. My phone had died and I could not pull up the email with the room number.
Joined Bob Ellis for lunch. He always invites a lot of people to lunch. At this lunch was Henderson Mayor Andy Hafen, UNLV Alumni Director, Jim Ratigan; former UNLV Athletic Director Jim Livengood, former Mayor Jim Gibson; Senator Majority Leader, Mo Dennis; State Senator Rubin Kihuen, County Commission Candidate Michael Schneider, Scott Lien, Constable Earl Mitchell, former US Senator Richard Bryan and many others.
Attend the Up Global luncheon at the InNEVation center. Adam Kramer of the Innovation Center was hosting a group from Up Global. Up Global supports entrepreneurship around the world and in the US with events such as the Startup Weekend. In attendance was Dave Williams, Rob Nielson, Mike Mehr , Warren Whitlock, Daniel Braisted and many others. Ran into Michael Walsh and Chris Zunis of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance on the way in and on the way out, talked with Jonas Peterson of LVGEA.
Attend the SciTech Mixer at Nacho Daddy featuring Al Trivelpiece, former director of Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Ran into Robin Cresiski, NSC; Zach Miles, UNLV; Rich Helfrich, Rob Nielson, UNLV; Danny and Kathy Bax of Elutin, Chandler Mars, Jeff Saffer and Vick Burnett of Quertle; Allan Palmer and Kathleen Frantz from the Atomic Testing Museum and many others.
