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Downtown Project Suicides Shock High Tech Community 185

Posted by timothy from the under-pressure dept.
HughPickens.com writes Nellie Bowles writes in Recode that three of the most prominent high tech entrepreneurs involved with Tony Hsieh's project to build a startup city in Downtown Las Vegas have recently committed suicide, sending the tight-knit community into a tailspin. In January 2013, Jody Sherman, the 48-year-old founder of Ecomom, one of the most prominent Vegas tech-funded startups, shot himself while in his car. His company had been going south. In January 2014, 24-year-old Ovik Banerjee, who was part of the first Venture for America group in Vegas and an integral member of the Downtown Project team, leapt from his Town Terrace apartment in downtown. In May 2014, Matt Berman, the 50-year-old founder of Bolt Barber, the flagship shop at the center of the Container Park, was found in his home in an apparent suicide by hanging. Whether or not the suicides are statistically significant, the deaths have clearly shaken the entrepreneurs.

According to Alyson Shontell, in a social media age where word of success and failure travels fast, entrepreneurs say it's harder than ever to run a company — and it's harder than ever to fail. "It was a hell of a lot of work for not a hell of a lot of return," says Dave McClure, an investor in Ecomom and the entrepreneur behind investment firm 500Startups. "And then there are days when you sit in a corner and cry. You can't really do anything else. You don't have a social life. You don't really want to interact with family and friends because there's just not much context for them. Your world revolves around your startup and it's all about trying to survive and not look like an idiot in front of employees." "In the past, failure was very contained," another entrepreneur says. "When you failed, you felt bad around your family, the people you raised money from, but it wasn't as public. Failure in an era of social media and social video and global events is a very public thing. Jody [Sherman] put himself out there this time and became very respected for what he was doing. That possibility of very public shame is something that didn't exist before." Brad Feld writes that if you are ever considering committing suicide, reach out to someone and ask for help. "It's ok to fail. It's ok to lose. It's ok to be depressed. If you are contemplating suicide, get help. If you have an entrepreneurial friend contemplating suicide, do your best to get them help."
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Downtown Project Suicides Shock High Tech Community More

Downtown Project Suicides Shock High Tech Community

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  • Suicided (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Professional hit men kill their victims by apparent suicide or accident: overdose, auto accident, ski accident, etc.
    1 or more of these could have been suicided.

    • 1 or more of these could have been suicided.

      That seems like a fairly natural thought, doesn't it?

      • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

        by koan ( 80826 )

        In this day and age... it was the first thing that popped in my mind when you get a cluster like this.

        But in the end, so many people seem to opt for suicide for reasons stemming from Facebook harassment to a failed business which tells me they are weak minded, weak willed, and frankly we are better off without them.

        • Re:Can't help but have the same thought (Score:4, Interesting)

          by DexterIsADog ( 2954149 ) on Saturday October 04, 2014 @08:16AM (#48062279)

          In this day and age... it was the first thing that popped in my mind when you get a cluster like this.

          But in the end, so many people seem to opt for suicide for reasons stemming from Facebook harassment to a failed business which tells me they are weak minded, weak willed, and frankly we are better off without them.

          Ah, okay, you have stated it more plainly than in your post, above.

          You reveal you are without empathy for your fellow humans. Sociopath, perhaps? You might make a good CEO.

    • That makes me wonder, why them and not the heads of some investment banks? Not only did they give a lot more people a reason to want them dead, it would also made a damn lot more people happy.

    • You've watched too many movies and/or played too many games.

  • Suicide my ass! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 04, 2014 @07:49AM (#48062187)

    You're talking about Vegas here. I seriously doubt that three guys all decided they couldn't handle the failure of a project like this.
    All three methods of suicide are suspect as well.

    I lived in Vegas for years and it's a really shitty town. I wouldn't be surprised at all to find some corruption behind it all that was coming to light.

    Suicide? Meh...

    • There is no such thing as a coincident. Need to bring in some outsiders to investigate.

    • Learn this. (Score:5, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 04, 2014 @10:10AM (#48062741)

      Chronic stress causes overt brain damage which reduces the cerebral cortex's ability to regulate the lymbic system. When you are too stressed for too long, you literally lose emotional control. This is a fact of neurology, and has nothing to do with your mindset or strength of will.

      Once this has happened, something like depression is deadly. It isn't just feeling sad; it warps your perception of reality to the point where suicide actually seems to make sense. Simple clear rational thinking stops being possible because your brain is too damaged for it, at that point. The painful muscle cramps, panic attacks, and insomnia that go along with depression only make matters worse.

      Running a business, especially in this cartel-dominated economy where it is nearly impossible to get your foot in the market's door, creates precisely the sort of endless stress that will cause this.

      The only good news is that the brain damage is reversible; the brain will heal itself if given enough time (measured in months) without high stress levels. But an entrepreneur scrambling to keep his (or her) company afloat will not have such an opportunity.

      • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Anonymous Coward

        [q]Once this has happened, something like depression is deadly. It isn't just feeling sad; it warps your perception of reality to the point where suicide actually seems to make sense. [/q]

        I've had this.
        It's a constant stream of severe negative feeling. One day, for a fraction of a second, i saw that suicide was an option for making is all stop. I'm still thankfull that i discarded that thought instantly. But i'm also still shocked that i had it in the first place.

    • On the other hand, I know of someone who went to Vegas specifically *to* commit suicide.

  • high tech community? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by silfen ( 3720385 ) on Saturday October 04, 2014 @07:53AM (#48062193)

    How does "providing eco friendly and organic products to moms who desire an eco-conscious lifestyle for themselves and their children" amount to being a member of the "high tech community"? How does real estate development or running a barber shop make you a member of the high tech community? All these people are businessmen, and their troubles seem to be due to bad business decisions. No "high tech" involved, except perhaps that they were hoping that they could sell to "techies".

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tomhath ( 637240 )

      How does ... amount to being a member of the "high tech community"?

      That's a big part of the problem. These people were trying to do two things: 1) Start a business, and 2) Transform a run down part of Las Vegas into a "high tech community".

      Either one of those is very difficult, combine them and your chance of success is miniscule. Plus in that situation, when your business fails you have failed not just your investors and employees but also your colleagues who depended on you to make the community work.

  • The summary does do a very good job of explaining what was going on...

    All of these men are involved in the same project... "The Vegas Downtown Project" who's goal seems to be to bring a tech sector to downtown Vegas. Why that would be a good idea is anyone's guess.

    The CEO has stepped down as well. http://techcrunch.com/2014/09/... [techcrunch.com]

    The whole thing seems pretty fishy. I don't go to Vegas for a reason...

  • In Business for the Wrong Reasons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by flyneye ( 84093 ) on Saturday October 04, 2014 @08:22AM (#48062295) Homepage

    While the thought of loans from corrupt sources comes to mind as a catalyst, I believe there are other reasons. (this is Vegas, and while Corporations are now the Casino hoods instead of Cosa Nostra, hoods will still make you short-term, high interest loans featuring successful collection agents)

    Business IS business.
    These people were living their dream, too close to the bone.
    1. Never Marry Your Business. That's like marrying your hammer or pocketknife, it is a tool. If it doesn't work , replace it. You are not there to serve it as a marriage partner. It will never fullfill this role and you will waste your life trying. If you spend your life trying and failing, you aren't interested in what you are doing. If you learn from your mistakes and others mistakes, you can't help but climb.Your business that you love is still a soul sucking vampire that will drain you and leave your husk to rot in a ditch. Avoid giving it priority above family, health and other dreams you have. Sacrifice is for chumps.
    2. Build your BIG business from smaller businesses and investments. This gives you throwaways to practice your chops with and if they fail, you have learned with one of many baskets of eggs, not the whole hen house. Keep yourself the main investor in the Big One, sell off other ventures as your time and profits demand.
    3. Avoid investors in the BIG one, unless you want to retire. Even then, keep a vast majority of it unless the rat race appeals to you less than that island you've been eyeing.
    4. Short of transgressing ethics, take every positive break you can, incorporate with the government as little as possible and be honest in your dealings. You are only as good as your word. Even accomplishment is second to this.
    5.Go with your intuition every chance you get.

    • I think #1 was probably the key driving factor here. People became emotionally invested in their business, and started to identify with it. When the business went south, they had invested so much into it (personally - the financial investment was probably secondary) that they had nothing to fall back onto. At the risk of assuming something of people I never met, I'm going to guess that they justified everything with "if this is gonna make it big, it was worth all the sacrifices I made". And when the busines

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by flyneye ( 84093 )

        I like the way you put it.

        I did neglect to add that borrowing from friends and family is a BAD thing. OPM (other peoples money) is workable in some cases, but other people invest, knowing their risk. Friends and family invest in YOU, not so much as your business. I won't do business with anyone that I wouldn't sell a car to; which means; friends and family. This is part of my reasoning for being self-made.

        I also cannot emphasize enough that building from multiple small businesses provides a resource for edu

        • "Life is too short not to do whatever strikes you."

          Exactly this. Telecom for 35+ years and during that time I studied and taught MA, ran a stunt group (great stress relief, lemme tell ya), sculpted, wrote, painted and did other things. Accept that you *do not* need all the bells and whistles you can accumulate and with the of nicest trimmings and you'll be much better prepared to dump the bad business decision.

    • incorporate with the government as little as possible

      Are you trying to say don't file for corporation status or don't do business with the government? Because if it's the latter and your startup is defense-related, it's very bad advice. I mean, what if someone told Carl Norden not to do business with the government? We'd all be speaking German.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by flyneye ( 84093 )

        I've been the defense route. I call it an early mistake, not because of profit, profit was alright. Involvement in defense contracts are time consuming beyond my tolerance. Better things to do.

        Simply put, the less government has to do with ANY aspect of your business, the better off you are. Reasons will become apparent with a beer and some quiet thought.

        • "time consuming beyond my tolerance" The key. Find and understand that tolerance - and don't fudge for the "well, this time" - and you can deal with your stresses.

        • are time consuming beyond my tolerance.

          Yeah, you're right. People have different tolerance, though.

          I've done some non-computer related projects for the local government and they worked out pretty well. Paid nicely and on time and pretty stress-free. The fact that this is Chicago and a powerful city councilman is my next door neighbor did't hurt. Of course, it makes it a little easier that we're basically a one-party town and we don't really have regime changes, just sort of an orderly progression of one

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by flyneye ( 84093 )

            Yow, the famous Chicago politics! Nice stroke of luck to have that neighbor.
            I think my caveats are pointed more toward the Fed as entrance to a nightmare.

            Yeah, probably a lot of approaches, but, like mathematics , there are a lot of constants and similar considerations, as well.
            Business schools might be a good place for some to start, dunno, I never went. Although, I could recommend joining an MLM, even if it is not your thing, just for the education you get with it. It turned out , not my thing, but, thei

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      This seems like good advice, but it does not necessarily lead to the idea of a suicides because a business failed. Suicide, especially at a young age, I think is either a mental issue or lack of experience with failure. It is not failed bussiness tactics, or losing respect among your peer group, or being made fun of on twitter, because, really, what does a person care about what some strangers think(unless you are a 13 year old adolescent). When we look at some suicides, these kids have had their life pr

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Livius ( 318358 )

      I have to wonder how many people are attempting entrepreneurial endeavours that they are not suited to simply because of the economy. High unemployment is not merely a number, it is desperation and poor decisions and the terrible harm that these can lead to.

    • This just seems to be written around the culture of tech startups, there are plenty of small family businesses that are not there to become huge megacorps but to run a shop or make things on a small scale.

  • Hmmm... Three linked "suicides" in Las Vegas. This sure would be a nifty bit of viral marketing for the new season of CSI... Just sayin'...

  • "It's Las Vegas, Jake. Of course people are killing themselves."

  • Silly as it sounds, they would have had much easier time raising money for next project than some unknown guy. Sounds like personal problems.

  • Man, my comment subject looks like it was written by a 14 yo. But that aside...

    ...I can absolutely relate to that. My biggest fear in life is rejection, I hate rejection, I have such a hard time handling rejection that last time I was rejected for something, it took me 3 years of my life just to recover. Many times I contemplated suicide, but I wussed out every time I tried (and that's a good thing).

    That's the NO #1 reason I'm not starting up my company right now, I have experience and TONS of it, I've
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I'm curious, why do you give a shit what others think of you if you yourself are comfortable you're a decent person? I ask with all seriousness. I used to feel that way when I was much younger and at some point sat down and examined myself and how I related to others. I came up positive and thereafter didn't really care what others thought. If you're a good person, that's it, end of story. They're rejecting a good person, the onus is on them.

      • Re:OMG! I can SO relate to this. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by MindPrison ( 864299 ) on Saturday October 04, 2014 @11:14AM (#48063193) Journal

        I'm curious, why do you give a shit what others think of you if you yourself are comfortable you're a decent person? I ask with all seriousness. I used to feel that way when I was much younger and at some point sat down and examined myself and how I related to others. I came up positive and thereafter didn't really care what others thought. If you're a good person, that's it, end of story. They're rejecting a good person, the onus is on them.

        It's a good question, and to an extent I do care less and less what others think of me, I guess that comes with age. But I still care how others feel, this is how we learn and evolve. If we where perfectly content with who we are and what we know, we wouldn't learn anymore. Now that would be truly tragic.

        In life, you never stop having to prove yourself. Sure - you can have money and riches, as an example I can tell you that I have a fully paid house, property and all the gadgets I could ever want, this "oddly enough" buys me a lot of credit with the locals, but also a lot of envy as very few around here actually owns their own property...rather the banks and their mortgages. Still - I always feel that I need to evolve, to become more than I am.

    • I'll give you some keys:

      1) if you doubt, it means that you think too much.
      You are probably obsessed by your thoughts, from what I read.
      Since this is a compulsive behavior, I would suggest that you try to actively stop thinking, by practicing meditation, fishing or gardening.

      2) you are so much afraid about failure that it pains me.
      Probably in your past, you encountered people that were unable to cope healthily with failure (probably your parents, who wanted that you "succeed" so much).
      Failure and success are

  • depression is a terrible fate from which to suffer. only the strong-willed survive, as the weak kill themselves after depression has feasted upon their souls.

    • depression is a terrible fate from which to suffer. only the strong-willed survive, as the weak kill themselves after depression has feasted upon their souls.

      I'm not sure that's accurate. I went through a really brutal depression where I had essentially no will-power yet I wasn't suicidal for a moment. Maybe that would have changed if the depression was worse but I suspect there was some other factor at work. It's probably different for different people but I think one of the big problems is a complete loss of hope and a perception of suicide as the answer and a way to escape the pain. In this case strong will can be a problem, when you're depressed you have no

  • founder of Ecomom, one of the most prominent Vegas tech-funded startups, shot himself while in his car.

    I sincerely hope that he stopped the car first. Otherwise, he could have hurt a number of other people.

    Another consequence of the US's stupid attitude to guns. With them being so readily available, many people use them for suicide with a high rate of success, where if they'd had to try less effective methods they may well have had time for second thoughts.

    How did Dorothy Parker put it?
    Razors pain you;

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