@lenjessup

Founder and Managing Partner @DesertForgeVC | Startup investor | Author | Speaker | Building Nevada’s innovation ecosystem

 Las Vegas, NV
Joined April 2009
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Check out my latest article: My New Job as an Air Traffic Controller linkedin.com/pulse/my-new-jo… via @LinkedIn

My New Job as an Air Traffic Controller

People often ask what venture capitalists do all day. Some days it’s fundraising.

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It (Las Vegas) already counts biotechs like Heligenics, GenBioPro and PharmaCyte Biotech among the companies with operations there, and it’s actively courting and developing more. There’s also the professional organization, BioTech Vegas. biopharmadive.com/news/unlik…

Beyond Boston: Unlikely cities stake biotech claims

As Greater Boston’s biotech industry sheds jobs, three unlikely regions are showing promise as up-and-coming hubs.

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NEW: Nevada outpaces every state in the nation in year-over-year job growth for 11 consecutive months. This economic momentum reflects our focus on growing and diversifying Nevada’s economy, attracting investment, and creating opportunities for Nevadans.
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What does #AI mean to the future of #LasVegas? Former @UNLV President and Desert Forge Ventures Managing Partner @LenJessup shares his insight here from a recent #NAIOPSNV breakfast. Join #NAIOP today at bit.ly/4t29v3w #NAIOP #CRE #SNVCRE #tech
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Check out my latest article: Las Vegas Didn't Become a Startup City Overnight linkedin.com/pulse/las-vegas… via @LinkedIn

Las Vegas Didn't Become a Startup City Overnight

Last week, Las Vegas was ranked #2 in the world for startup community activity, as reported in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. That headline caught a lot of attention.

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Former @UNLV President and Desert Forge Ventures Managing Partner @LenJessup on his valuable connection to #NAIOPSNV as he moves #AI investment forward in #LasVegas. Want to connect with experts like Len? Join #NAIOP today at bit.ly/4t29v3w #CRE #technology
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Check out my latest article: Innovation is a Team Sport linkedin.com/pulse/innovatio… via @LinkedIn

Innovation is a Team Sport

Most people notice innovation when a startup raises capital, launches a product, or gets acquired. What they often don’t see is the infrastructure that made that success possible years earlier.

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Check out my latest article: MIS Was Built For This Moment linkedin.com/pulse/mis-built… via @LinkedIn

MIS Was Built For This Moment

For years, Management Information Systems (MIS) occupied an unusual place inside universities. Too business-oriented for computer science.

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Check out my latest article: What We've Learned Building a Venture Fund in Las Vegas linkedin.com/pulse/what-weve… via @LinkedIn

What We've Learned Building a Venture Fund in Las Vegas

We are approaching the closing of fundraising for Desert Forge Ventures Fund I. This is a meaningful milestone, and more than anything, it’s a good time to reflect on all of this as a learning...

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Check out my latest article: What a Research University Can Do for a City linkedin.com/pulse/what-rese… via @LinkedIn

What a Research University Can Do for a City

There’s a lot of debate right now about higher education in terms of cost, value, relevance. Fair enough.

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RUNNIN’ REBELS!!!!!
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Check out my latest article: Spring Conversations on AI & Entrepreneurship linkedin.com/pulse/spring-co… via @LinkedIn

Spring Conversations on AI & Entrepreneurship

It’s been a busy, and energizing, spring season filled with inspiring conversations. From a keynote at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center, to a session with Everspring and AACSB, moderating a NAIOP...

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Check out my latest article: Turning 65 and Rethinking Leadership linkedin.com/pulse/turning-6… via @LinkedIn

Turning 65 and Rethinking Leadership

I turned 65 yesterday, and it made me think about leadership in a different way. For most of my career, leadership was about forward motion, building, fixing, creating momentum.

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Check out my latest article: The Goal I Set When I Turned 60 linkedin.com/pulse/goal-i-se… via @LinkedIn

The Goal I Set When I Turned 60

When I turned 60, I thought I was taking reasonably good care of myself. I had just come off the wear and tear of the UNLV presidency and moved to Claremont.

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Check out my latest article: Why I'm Not Slowing Down linkedin.com/pulse/why-im-sl… via @LinkedIn

Why I'm Not Slowing Down

There’s an assumption that as you move into your sixties, life begins to narrow. You wind things down.

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Check out my latest article: Building a Portfolio Around Foundational Infrastructure linkedin.com/pulse/building-… via @LinkedIn

Building a Portfolio Around Foundational Infrastructure

Over the past year, we’ve been intentionally building the first portfolio at Desert Forge Ventures around a simple conviction: The next decade of venture value creation will be driven by foundational...

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Check out my latest article: The Flywheel Is Starting to Turn in Las Vegas linkedin.com/pulse/flywheel-… via @LinkedIn

The Flywheel Is Starting to Turn in Las Vegas

Innovation ecosystems rarely arrive all at once. They develop slowly, often quietly, until one day you begin to notice that something is changing.

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Check out my latest article: Quiet Milestones linkedin.com/pulse/quiet-mil… via @LinkedIn

Quiet Milestones

About eight or nine months ago we began fundraising for Desert Forge Ventures, with our intent to build something that was needed in our region. A venture capital fund by, of, and for Las Vegas.

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Check out my latest article: AI as Infrastructure Revolution linkedin.com/pulse/ai-infras… via @LinkedIn

AI as Infrastructure Revolution

AI Isn’t just a Software Revolution. It’s an Infrastructure Revolution.

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Check out my latest article: The Lesson From Cherry Creek: Thinking Big About Vegas Tech linkedin.com/pulse/lesson-fr… via @LinkedIn

The Lesson From Cherry Creek: Thinking Big About Vegas Tech

About a decade ago, when I was President of University of Nevada-Las Vegas, we launched something that many people in Las Vegas didn’t fully understand at the time. But looking back, I believe it was...

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