- Teddy Liaw is a tech CEO who moved from San Francisco to a Las Vegas suburb in 2021.
- Liaw was frustrated with crime in the San Francisco Bay Area and wanted a vibrant, family-friendly city.
- Since moving, Liaw said it’s been his mission to introduce others to all that Vegas has to offer.
This essay is based on a conversation with Teddy Liaw, the 45-year-old CEO of contact center solutions company NexRep, who moved from San Francisco to Summerlin, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas, in 2021 after becoming frustrated with crime in the Bay Area. Liaw founded Las Vegas Tech Summita multi-day technology conference promoting Vegas as a booming tech hub.
The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I absolutely loved the San Francisco Bay Area. I loved the culture, the food, the people, the intellect, and the beautiful water views surrounding an incredible city.
But Covid-19 has completely destroyed the city. It’s not the same San Francisco it was before. The city is still recovering, and it hasn’t fully recovered yet.
I lived in San Francisco for about 15 years before moving. I owned a condo with a great view of the bay, on top of the hill.
The Bay Area had a lot to offer, including a thriving entrepreneurial and tech ecosystem that made very smart people even smarter.
But during the pandemic, crime was rampant. I don’t appreciate people making it a homelessness issue, because San Francisco has had homelessness before and found ways to provide services. That was the narrative during the COVID pandemic. But it wasn’t a homelessness issue. It was a safety issue.
At the end of 2020, my house was burglarized. My experience with law enforcement was not positive. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
I have two young children and I asked myself: is this the type of environment that would be safe for my family? The answer, unfortunately, was no.
Everywhere was on the table
I was considering Los Angeles, Washington State and Texas.
In January 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to take a reconnaissance trip to Las Vegas. It opened my eyes to what Las Vegas had to offer, including new homes, healthy living, and expansive playgrounds for kids.
There was amazing food from every ethnicity, cuisine and culture. Vegas offers entertainment, family life and suburban living, just 20 minutes from all the social activities you could need.
It became a very easy decision to make.
Summerlin is a planned community about 20 minutes from all the action. You can’t go more than a mile without hitting a park. We’re in a desert, but there’s plenty of greenery.
Summerlin is designed with families in mind. It offers an impressive list of school options, from preschool to high school, including some of the best private schools in the state.
Also, I enjoy playing golf and there are many golf options.
I got nearly 7,000 square feet and two pools here for the same price I paid for my four-bedroom condo in the San Francisco Bay Area. I needed a house that my friends wanted to visit.
As soon as I moved, I started inviting friends to come visit. Many of them ended up being impressed with what Las Vegas had to offer. I convinced a number of my friends to move. There’s a whole wave of people I “imported” from California.
Everyone always worries about the 110°F heat, but in just 35 minutes you can be at Mount Charleston and it’s only 84°F. Yes, we’re in a desert, but we can drive 35 minutes and find sledding in the winter.
Frankly, Las Vegas has far exceeded expectations when it comes to quality of life.
Las Vegas is on its way to becoming a thriving tech ecosystem
There’s nothing like the Bay Area to work in. It offered unexpected opportunities. Back then, you could get in a shared Uber, sit down with the VP of a tech company, and have a great 20-minute conversation. Or you could be in a restaurant and overhear an executive talking next to you. That was the spirit of San Francisco.
The magic of the San Francisco Bay Area hasn’t reached Vegas yet, but it’s coming.
When I got to Vegas, I started meeting with government officials and was appointed to the previous governor’s startup and business council.
I then founded a nonprofit called Vegas Tech Summit, which has already attracted entrepreneurs and tech enthusiasts from all over the country to see what Las Vegas has to offer.
My goal is to show people that Las Vegas has the potential to become a thriving tech ecosystem, and we’re well on our way to doing that. I see a lot of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who have already set up shop here.
The last thing I miss here is a group of friends. You can’t replace decades of friendship. But I’ve realized that there are so many new people moving here, and everyone is eager to find good people and build a community.
This is the spirit of Vegas.
