When Brian Lee, the co-founder of The Honest Company with actress Jessica Alba and a serial entrepreneur, moved his family last year from Los Angeles to Summerlin, an upscale housing development in Las Vegas, he had a lot of things on his mind.

“I’d lived there pretty much my entire life, and L.A. is just not what it used to be,” he said from the VideoPoker.com Hangar at Harry Reid International Airport for the fifth annual Vegas Tech Summit. “And so my wife and I and our family were looking for some change and we discovered Summerlin which kind of reminds me of Orange County where I’m from.”

Lee was one of dozens of entrepreneurs in attendance who have relocated to Las Vegas or are considering a move. Each year, the Vegas Tech Summit seeks to attract founders by pitching Las Vegas as more than a business destination — a lifestyle change for millionaires and billionaires seeking an alternative to life in their home states.

Lee, who is also the founder of Legal Zoom, recently launched a new tech company with Derek Jeter called the Arena Club, a digital card-collecting platform. He said he knows why he left California and is intent on not letting the Golden State’s issues follow him here, and that starts with politics.

The Las Vegas Valley remains the top destination for people leaving Los Angeles, according to Redfin’s relocation models. Historically, about a third of people moving to Nevada from other states have come from California, primarily Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose. California’s long-standing Democratic leadership has alienated some in the business and tech communities, as have Democratic-led states such as Washington and New York.

Florida and Texas have been among the country’s fastest-growing states over the past five years, buoyed in part by business-friendly policies and relatively low taxes on individuals and companies. Since the pandemic began, Nevada has also consistently ranked among the top five destinations for people relocating from blue states.

Surprises and misconceptions

Lee said a few things surprised him when he moved to Summerlin, one being the hidden gems the valley offers locals looking for places to eat.

“The biggest thing that surprised me is how good the food is here,” he said. “Even off the Strip, we’re finding some amazing little restaurants, and my wife and I are big foodies so we’re still discovering new spots and things we love.”

Tech Summit founder Teddy Liaw, who moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas in February 2021, said the biggest issue he dealt with when he moved here was loneliness. The CEO of NextRep said that’s all changed now as he has a huge crew of friends he can lean on in times of need.

“When I came to town, I had to make friends, and I literally had three friends to begin with,” he said. “And now we’ve got a community and a support system, emotionally and socially, as well as advice, mentorship and guidance. It’s so powerful, and so the community is a lot different than it was five years ago.”

He said the Tech Summit continues to work with local businesses and institutions such as UNLV to address two of the valley’s biggest weaknesses: its low national rankings in healthcare and education. He hopes an influx of tech founders and entrepreneurs will help improve those measures through increased capital and investment.

“A lot of people still have that misconception that Vegas is that two-mile Strip and it’s just not,” he said. “And now that they have friends who have moved or relocated here, they see it. And even the wealthiest people get lonely. And so sure, we have tax abatement, all these benefits, but at the core of it, at the end of the day when you’re fighting every day in the trenches to build your business, you still need an outlet, a support group, friends that can help you navigate through things, and now we have that.”

Piotr Tomasik, co-founder and president of TensorWave, an AI cloud computing company, and of the founders of the Tech Summit, said things have definitely changed in Las Vegas over the past five years, however he still likes the mix the valley offers on a political level.

“If you take a step back and think about Vegas, it’s a city that probably shouldn’t exist,” he said. “It’s very entrepreneurial and that’s sort of played out in our politics since the beginning, our state constitution doesn’t allow taxation, which keeps everything pretty much in line. And we are a purple state so we swing back and forth, gubernatorial especially, and I think that balance, it’s really key.”

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