If Las Vegas is to significantly diversify its economy in the next decade, it will probably need to attract more people like Aron Ezra.
A tech industry entrepreneur and innovator, Ezra moved to Las Vegas in 2011 after the company he founded, MicroView Labs, a mobile software startup that focused on making apps, was sold to Bally Technologies (now a part of Scientific Games).
Ezra, 44, worked as a senior executive for Bally for a time after the sale, but eventually went back to doing what he does best—starting tech companies.
In 2018, the Princeton University-trained entrepreneur sold another company he founded—a “gamification” marketing startup called OfferCraft—and soon after started Plan A Technologies, which calls itself an “elite” software and tech troubleshooting firm that does business with some of the most recognizable casino companies in Las Vegas.
This month, a report by Brookings Mountain West and the Lincy Institute, a public policy think tank at UNLV, said the Las Vegas economy remains “highly vulnerable to macroeconomic shocks” due to the “region’s over-reliance on tourism, gaming and entertainment.”
The report served as the latest alarm bell about the region’s need to branch out economically, an idea that isn’t new but has been pushed back to the forefront for many following the economic downturn caused by the pandemic.
The addition of more tech companies to the economic ecosystem in Las Vegas is one of the solutions provided by the authors of the report—in other words, the addition of more people who think like Ezra would likely be a boon.
“A lot of my friends still think Vegas is a fun place to visit, but they don’t want to actually move here,” Ezra said. “I say, why not? There’s no taxes here. It’s a great place. I think the mentality is starting to change. In my neighborhood in Summerlin, there’s like 15 houses in a row of California transplants.”
Shortly after he moved here, Ezra said he heard from some about how tech businessman Tony Hsieh was set to help Las Vegas turn into “the next tech hub,” possibly even rivaling the likes of Silicon Valley or Austin, Texas.
“I remember thinking, ‘Alright, we’ll see about that,’ ” Ezra said with a skeptical grin. “But the thing is, we don’t have to be San Francisco or Austin. The tech world is big, and it’s only expanding. If we just doubled the amount of [tech] companies we have here now, that would make a huge impact on the economy.”
Critics of how much of an impact a company like Plan A can have in Las Vegas might point to its low number of local employees—it has hundreds on its payroll around the globe, but only a handful stationed in Southern Nevada—but Ezra said he believes there are opportunities for tech companies to collaborate with other booming industries here.
Those include the health care sector, real estate and gaming.
Along with casino companies, Plan A also works with various startup firms and health care organizations, which can be based all over the world.
“If you look for, say, C++ computer programmers in Las Vegas on LinkedIn, there’s only about 35 of them,” Ezra said. “For us, we take on very high-level jobs, so we’re looking for very experienced people, and the talent pool isn’t very big here. There are a lot of incredible engineers who work in the gaming space here, but the other verticals are very thin. That can be difficult for a tech startup.”
Still, Ezra said he’s optimistic about the future of the Las Vegas economy.
It’s a view shared by Kiran Brahmandam, CEO of Gaming Analytics, a growing Bay Area artificial intelligence company that compiles and presents customer data to casino operators. In essence, Brahmandam said, it helps casinos know who their customers are and what their habits are, which can be used for marketing purposes.
Gaming Analytics, which does work for the operators of Sahara Las Vegas, along with other operators in town, has had a business relationship with Plan A for about three months.
“What we’ve seen is that very few casino operators have adopted machine learning and AI, which is why I started this company,” Brahmandam said. “Las Vegas is a good place for the younger crowd, and the cost of living is still cheaper than some of these other tech hubs. I do think Las Vegas will become more of a tech hub itself in the next three to five years.”
In the Lincy Institute report, the tech industry was among several others that were highlighted as sectors with growth and expansion possibilities. Others include the areas of health care, transportation and advanced manufacturing.
Ezra said he sees parallels between the gaming and health care sectors, which could play to Las Vegas’ favor in future years when it comes to the development of a beefed-up skilled tech and engineering workforce.
“Both are fast-changing industries, and both are highly regulated, so I’ve often thought there are similarities and opportunities there,” Ezra said. “The city has a lot going for it, and I know there are efforts being made to help with diversification. It’s something where you just need a lot of influential people to pull in the same direction, which I think is starting to happen.”
Click HERE to subscribe for free to Vegas Inc’s BizClick newsletter. Stay up to date with the latest business news in Las Vegas sent directly to your inbox each Monday.