The Pursue Vegas Podcast

From Nightclubs to Crypto: Jake Gallen on Tech, Entertainment, and the Future of Sin City

• Jake Gallen, Dave Burlin, Tawni Nguyen • Season 1 • Episode 7

Share episode

Jake Gallen is the CEO of Emblem Vault, a leading cryptocurrency company, and host of the acclaimed Jake’s Guest List podcast. A Las Vegas native with a rich entrepreneurial background, Jake has built ventures ranging from an antique store to a ticket verification app, showcasing his innovative mindset and commitment to his hometown.

With roots in hospitality and a passion for technology, Jake has become a prominent voice in crypto education and innovation, driving discussions about the future of Las Vegas’s economy and culture.

In this episode of Pursue Vegas, Jake shares how launching his podcast during the pandemic reshaped his career. “The traditional media world was changing, and I noticed that most of the emerging power players in the world all had a podcast,” he reflects.

Jake also offers candid insights into Las Vegas’s unique opportunities, including the vital role of women in its economy. He quips, “Women are the most important people in the city. The Strip would not work if women disappeared, but if all the men disappeared, I think it would run fine.”

The conversation explores bold ideas, such as the economic potential of formalizing the sex work industry: “Vegas, to me, it's such an easy layup if we expand what sex work means and create a district around that.”

Jake’s forward-thinking vision highlights how Las Vegas can continue evolving as a leader in tech, entrepreneurship, and innovation.

This conversation offers a fresh perspective on what it takes to thrive in Vegas while shaping the future of tech and innovation in the city.

Key Takeaways

  • From Nightlife to Crypto Leadership: Jake shares how launching a podcast during the pandemic paved the way for his rise as a leader in cryptocurrency.
  • Vegas as a Startup Ecosystem: The city’s unique blend of entertainment, hospitality, and tech creates unparalleled opportunities for entrepreneurs.
  • Empowering Women in Vegas: Jake highlights the indispensable role of women in sustaining and driving the Strip’s economy.
  • Economic Potential in Regulation: Legalizing and formalizing the sex work industry could unlock significant economic opportunities.
  • The Future of Education in Vegas: A specialized, industry-aligned education system could better support the city’s core sectors of hospitality and tech.
  • Vegas and Crypto: Jake explains how the city’s entrepreneurial mindset and tech-forward initiatives are positioning it as a leader in cryptocurrency adoption.

Resources

Thanks for tuning in to The Pursue Vegas Podcast!

Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform!

📍 Website: www.pursue.vegas

📱 Follow:

0:00:01 - (Jake Gallen): This is Jake Gallen with Emblem Vault. And this is Pursue Vegas.

0:00:05 - (Dave Burlin): All right, ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the Pursue Vegas podcast. I am your host, Dave Burlin.

0:00:10 - (Tawni Nguyen): And I'm your co host, Tawni Nguyen.

0:00:12 - (Dave Burlin): And we, when I say we're excited, this is another one of those things where there's so much history in today's guest because Jake Gallen isn't just the CEO of Emblem Vault. He's the host of the Jake's Guest List podcast. A podcast that I was on a long time ago and ever since I actually met this guy, he opened up some of the most incredible doors for me, a new kid to the city that have really got us right back here.

0:00:44 - (Dave Burlin): Not only that, whenever I did the first round of the Pursue Vegas series for the episode about entrepreneurship, Jake was really passionate about sharing some of the challenges that he saw. And I'm just gonna throw myself under the bus because I keep showing that video and the editor spelled his name wrong and every time I tried to ask him to fix it, the guy basically told me to go to hell. And so there's this whole thing of Jake Gallen out in the world that I keep showing him about Pursue Vegas. So this, this interview today is to get it right.

0:01:16 - (Dave Burlin): And I'm just going to leave out the fact that I also had him on the Dave Means Business podcast. And that episode, I lost it. We're not going to lose this one, man.

0:01:24 - (Jake Gallen): It's the lost episode.

0:01:25 - (Dave Burlin): The lost episodes. This is the, this is the episodes that really matter. So this is like the iceberg. This is the, the part that people see that's all the old stuff.

0:01:34 - (Tawni Nguyen): Just a tip, right?

0:01:35 - (Jake Gallen): You got it. You gotta love a full circle moment.

0:01:37 - (Dave Burlin): The full circle moment. And this is it. So Jake Galln with a G, bro, tell me all about you. What are you excited about? It's on you.

0:01:46 - (Jake Gallen): Well, first, appreciate you for having me on the show, both of you, and it's nice to meet you. This is probably the first in person podcast I've done in about six months. So maybe it's good to finally leave the bedroom for once in a while. Dud. I'm always ecstic about Vegas. I'm ecstic about life, static about my business, Emblem Vault, which is now which is a crypto company. But starting my podcast back in 2020, at the time it was actually called the guest list podcast. It's gone through a few names. You kind of figured this out as your podcast host.

0:02:20 - (Jake Gallen): That's really what opened the doors up to lead me to where I am today. And exploring it. It's a little background about the podcast. At the time of during the pandemic, I realized that the world was changing very quickly and you needed to have your to put your voice out there. You needed to have your voice owned through a few communication platforms. I've always been a Twitter guy, but as we were all locked down, I kind of made this decision to finally start the podcast. After kind of kicking the can around for a few years, and ultimately I started talking with just entrepreneurs.

0:02:56 - (Jake Gallen): My first two guests on the show were nurses from the city. We were talking about COVID and then started reaching out to my network. I'm born and raised out here in Las Vegas. Grew up on the east side, went to unlv, worked on the Strip, worked in the clubs for a long time. So I had d network from all over the city. And it really just blew up so fast within the first few weeks and maybe 30 episodes, it became like a top local show in the city. And I never had to reach out to a guest ever again. For the 200 episodes that were just Vegas based, I was in contact with PR companies, referrals, literally celebrities, billionaires hitting me up to come on the show, come interview in my little 400 square foot apartment in the arts district, which I still am there today.

0:03:41 - (Jake Gallen): And that always makes me as s it. And I eventuallynna get back to that. I did have to leave it to go pursue, you know, business and life aspiration opportunities. But coming back full circle, always had a big, huge belief and faith in Vegas that it was gonna be one of the top cities in the world. And it's finally, you know, starting to get that notoriety. Couldn't be more excited for, especially to be talking here with creators like yourself. Where four years ago I was looking for local Vegas podcast, there was none. There was like five. There's like five people doing it. It felt so desolate.

0:04:16 - (Dave Burlin): Well, yeah, man. And you're not wrong. And you've seen it from your whole life because you, you were born and raised here, right? And you've seen especially the changes of everything that's happened just in the last few years. We've obviously have seen the podcast world change, right? There's all these big studios and stuff now. And especially with like Hollywood 2.0, I personally can't speak to what that really looks like because there are people that are way more advanced than that industry than me.

0:04:43 - (Dave Burlin): But I see this middle fallout of like podcast studios everywhere, like 50 of them across the valley. Like, it's gonna be an amenity Just as common as a pool at an apartment complex. Like, people are gonna be like, oh, you're living in the apartment complex that doesn't have a podcast studio. Like, that's gonna be a real, like first world problem for people. But it's definitely something that we can all take advantage of.

0:05:09 - (Dave Burlin): Um, but you don't have to. I mean, you can shoot it, you can keep shooting it, you know, right out of your. Right out of your apartment.

0:05:16 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah, I made a big transition. So my podcast, I've done probably close to 500 episodes now at this point. The first 200 was just literally Vegas, local entrepreneur based, and it was all in person. Once I moved into crypto, it was all online. And the flow of the conversation naturally changes right here at being here, being able to pick up mannerisms, body language.

0:05:39 - (Dave Burlin): Social cues, handed arm signals.

0:05:40 - (Jake Gallen): Right handed arm signals. I can finally point and get mad at you. And you can feel my anger for not releasing that episode from years ago.

0:05:47 - (Tawni Nguyen): Throw your water at him too.

0:05:48 - (Jake Gallen): Right? That, that, that is, it's important to the conversation. There's reasons why all the top podcasters in the world all do their show primarily in person or they travel. Right. If you're Lex Friedman, then you actually travel and get to meet all these type of people. And Vegas, I pointed this out very early in my podcast history that Vegas is, is a city of entertainment. But it, what I saw was happening very quickly was moving to become the city of experience.

0:06:18 - (Jake Gallen): And when I was growing up in the city, I could tell you, literally since I was maybe early high school days or even late middle school days, the people in the city were always saying that Vegas was gonna be the next la. That was literally. It's probably still being ushered and uttered today, but it's transforming. And when I worked at Omnia nightclub and I worked in the day club scene, I kind finally understood what it actually meant.

0:06:43 - (Jake Gallen): It meant that Vegas is being able to commoditize a section of industry that's tangentially related to entertainment. And that was actually the nightlife space. What I had realized working in the club is you're working with supermodels, right? You're working with busrs, who are also models and very experienced people. And you're around very wealthy people consistently. And those. That is the Hollywood of the city is the strips, the servers and the bartenders and the busrs and all these positions where you actually have to audition.

0:07:16 - (Jake Gallen): When I got hired at Omnia nightclub, there was 5,000 servers applied in 2,000 busers, and they hired 60 people. Of each. That was back when Omnia was first opening and got to open and go through that whole experience. But it showed me that these servers, they have just as much star power as the Hollywood actors do and the influencers that navigate it. And then during the Pandemic, we saw a huge flow of the tech space and content creators move out here and really set up shop, right? And even have some of the traditional Hollywood people like Mark Wahlberg did.

0:07:51 - (Jake Gallen): But even a lot of the content creators, even like the biggest fintech or a fin influencer like Andre Jee, moved out here and I didn't get to have him on my show, but I was interviewing and talking with a lot of people who were tangentially related and it just became so clearly obvious that, that Vegas was just basically going to. It was basically going to take over la, but it was going to basically ratify it and modernize it, um, because it's not as bloated with the multiple centuries of, you know, bureaucracy and the pl, uh, and you know, that the political aspect of the entertainment industry, that's, that's what gets me excited about Vegas. There's so much room to go here.

0:08:33 - (Dave Burlin): I love that. I love that. Well, you've been here from the beginning, right?

0:08:38 - (Jake Gallen): Born and raised. Born and raised.

0:08:40 - (Dave Burlin): East side Vegas, seeing all the different changes in that. What do you think is like the biggest challenge right now? Especially in things that have happened since Pandemic, Obviously that was a catastrophic challenge, right? A lot of people have compared that to 2008. And I know I wasn't here. One person really yelled at me about it. I'm like, yeah. And he had a really great points. I don't even remember what he said, but it's like, I know that the casinos weren't boarded up in 2008. So he said, yeah, but it was still really bad. And he had great points. But like I saw in 2020 when there was like nothing and it literally looked like a ghost town.

0:09:16 - (Dave Burlin): But even now, as it's evolved since then, what do you see as the biggest challenge that we have here in the ecosystem right now?

0:09:23 - (Jake Gallen): I mean, the clearly obvious one is just the rising cost u to degree. But just admitting that. Cause I think that's kind of the, the boring answer right to this conversation. Education is a big hurdle, but I kind of see it in a different way. Vegas is a very large what can you do for me now Kind of town. It's built off of networking and the large majority of those who come here for, who are born and raised here Don they don't receive a stellar traditional education, but I think the C's already noticed that. And so most people, they don't opt to go to college and they just basically start hustling. There's a huge hustle culture here.

0:10:08 - (Jake Gallen): Some of it, you know, maybe some of it's more of black market hustle culture. And then a lot of it's more above board where you're working two, three jobs at a time. But the amount of money you can make on the strip, like I have friends. And even if you're working the nightclub, if you're working a staff, a staff position job at the nightclub or service staff, most of you are making six figures. But some of these people will have two, three jobs, right? And if you're lucky to get like a traditional banking or banquet job at somebod of these casinos, you're making three, $400,000 a year.

0:10:39 - (Jake Gallen): And now there is a lot of competition where it's not just the locals who are competing for these jobs on the strip, right? These highly touted jobs. It's now people from traveling all over the world not to go back to the auditions at the nightclub, but when I was there, there was a large majority of those were not locals. There were people flying in from all over the world for these type of jobs. So the competition is really heating up. And now you have professional sports that have joined and you're having.

0:11:13 - (Jake Gallen): There's a subtle tech scene that's slowly starting to migrate out here. And the adult entertainment industries moved out here. I'in setup shop over the last few years. And now you have Mark Wahlberg, who wants to build Hollywood 2.0, as you mentioned, and with casinos. So the ecosystem is changing. It's becoming a little bit more traditional or typical to like a metropolis that has commoditize an industry, which we're doing now today.

0:11:40 - (Jake Gallen): And it's going to make it a much tougher barrier for some of the locals because you have a majority of people who are competing for these jobs are not from the city. But then when they are hired for that, they then move out here.

0:11:56 - (Tawni Nguyen): Now, I really admire that you took the opportunity during COVID which is the time to where it really shows you who you are. It's either you pivot as an entrepreneur, but you started a freaking podcast. It's like when the world was going into its deepest depression, as we don't want to call it, but we kind of can look back on it and be like, wow, we were pretty depressed because we had no idea what was going on and coming from hospitality as well. Like when you see the world was shutting down, like what was that moment? Like that, like the light bulb moment to where you're like, I'm going to start a podcast. I'm not going to be a victim of this town because I grew up here. I'm going toa connect the people and make sure that, you know, our voice is still heard. And how was that moment like for you to step into that power and decide to do that?

0:12:36 - (Jake Gallen): I appreciate that's actually, it's actually a really good question. And was and was part of my thesis growing up. I went to a high school out here called Chopperl High School. Our graduation rate was 51%. It's very, very bad. There was more gangs at our high school than there was the graduation rate. I believe there was like 75 known gangs at the high school that I was at. And a lot of it was just because it was broken families and right. Single, single parent homes or no parent homes. These kids have to get jobs, they have to drop out, right? They get caught up in the gang life, et cetera. And when I went to UNLV thereafter, I had four classmates go with me to unlv.

0:13:14 - (Jake Gallen): So it was basically starting all over and going through the college experience at unlv, it was mostly those who were from the west side of the city kind of the more, you know, they were more well off as they grew up up. And what that showed me was that most of the locals in the city, they don't aspire to. They don't aspire to like greater lengths for them, right? If the opportunity is, hey, I could go get a bartending gig at a local bar and make 70 or 80 thousand dollars a year.

0:13:50 - (Jake Gallen): That's better than the national average. And hey, right, I just get the poor drinks my entire life and that's kind of it. And then they're like, oh, well, if I could have two of these bartending jobs and work 60 hour weeks and make over 100k right then I'm settled and I'm doing better than the majority of people in the country. For me though, when I was in college, I always wanted to, to build something. I've always been a little bit more of a go getter.

0:14:16 - (Jake Gallen): And when I was at the nightclub, I always come back to this. Cause it was just like a big turning point in my life. Uh, you know, it made the most money I've ever made. I was going out, spending a lot of it, right? Engaging in, you know, the typical party cycle that you do. And maybe we talk about that later, but after about two years, I kind of snapped out of it and realized that there wasn't really anything being done here.

0:14:40 - (Jake Gallen): I was just going out and, you know, indulging in all of the fantasies that, that you could kind of imagine or what people want, but it was never really what I wanted to do. So I started a few businesses before I got to the podcast. I started an antique store with my father. That was my first business. That was just like something we did when I was younger to survive. And so I thought it was like a cool opportunity. And then I started a company called Chameleon Verify Network, which was a ticket verification app.

0:15:09 - (Jake Gallen): I had a really close relationship with the Rayation guys here who throw really awesome events, and so. And a lot of people were getting scammed. This is when EDC first came here, and I was a big raver kid for a long time, so we were really trying to just. So still a raver kid'still? A raver kid. Yeah, it transforms over timeead.

0:15:26 - (Tawni Nguyen): A grave, baby.

0:15:27 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah. What? Once you get older, uh, it changes, right? You just have a little bit more money and, um, you have a little bit more experience then. And, and maybe you don't party as hard. I went to EDC this year. I call last two days before us, right there, you're literally, uh, sundown to sun up last. But those two experiences, although they did eventually fail after a few years, it taught me the most important thing in life, and that's experience.

0:15:52 - (Jake Gallen): And that can be entrepreneurial experience, or it could be, you know, the experience of entertainment. Right. Or the experience of, you know, another companion or whatever that case is. And I ended up getting sober for a few years while I was working at the nightclub because I was really going down really dark path. Um, and, and during this time, I really got into podcasting, listening to Joe Rogan and some of these others.

0:16:18 - (Jake Gallen): And I noticed very quickly that the traditional, the media world was changing. And I noticed that most of the emerging power players in the world all had a podcast. And to me, it was like, very eye opening to see Joe Rogan's rise to fame, Tim Ferriss and some of these other ones. And I was like, hey, I want to do that. But something I always believed in in Vegas was that there, even though Vegas has a very subpar, very, very subpar, uh, educational ranking, my entire life, it's been somewhere between 48, 49 or 50. I don't think I've ever seen it above that in terms of the state rankings, I did notice that there were a lot of hustlers, right? People who were working censor 16, multiple jobs. There was also some. Some entrepreneurs who were out there as well, trying to pursue things. Maybe it wasn't the right industry to get into, but there were people who want it, who did aspire for something outside of, like, the standard kind of educational route, like at when I went to unlv.

0:17:27 - (Jake Gallen): Most people who get a degree at UNLV don't use it practically or professionally. And that's myself. I'm a kinesiology major U, which is health science. And I never used that professionally. I just used it practically. And that was the large majority of people, um, at unlv. And so when I left Omni nightclub that last day in March of 2020 when Covid happened, I knew very quickly that this was going to be something quite extended.

0:17:56 - (Jake Gallen): For how long? I didn't know. I thought it was going toa be like four or five months. Turned out it was almost a year before they called us back. And I started the podcast within three weeks of the pandemic happening. I just saw it as the right opportunity. It was this feeling of, hey, you're gonna do this now or you're gonna do it never. And because it felt like the right opportunity, as you mentioned. Why? Cause everyone is kind of sulking and confused.

0:18:20 - (Jake Gallen): If you capitalize, if you can recognize opportunity and act on it in a. In a quick fashion, then you'll generally find success or some sort of momentum. And so I had on, I mentioned a little bit before though, had on, uh, two nurses were my first two guests who were covered who were in Covid. One of the guests had one of the first COVID patients. So we really got to learn then. And then I had on a bunch of my entrepreneur friends from different industries, from like solar to U.

0:18:53 - (Jake Gallen): From solar to restaurants to a sex worker and the sex workers right movement. And just started inviting all the closer friends from all the different past, like, things that I've done. And within, I would say by episode 30, it spiraled so quickly to become one of the top shows in the city. I actually got like a bunch of awards. That's my website, jakegallon.com. and by episode 30, I had billionaires reaching out to me to come interview inside of my little, little house apartment.

0:19:27 - (Jake Gallen): I had literally media studios. There was like the review journal and these different type of publications and just individuals literally from episode zero to, I think close to 200 when it was just Vegas based. I never had to reach out to anybody ever got. And it made me realize that there was something here in Vegas, which I think this is what you guys are trying to pursue as well out here, which is that there is this cohort of entrepreneurs.

0:19:57 - (Jake Gallen): It's small, but it does exist. And so if you could actually tap into it and get into this circle of maybe a thousand to. When I started in 2020 was maybe about a thousand people. Maybe it's now about 5,000 since the pandemic, then you could really find the special. What's really special about the city?

0:20:17 - (Tawni Nguyen): No, I love. No, I love that whole story because, like, how things start and how things, like, transpire is really inspiring for, like, others that go through their dark path. Right. But I think, you know, when Dave and I, we look at this community, it's always been known as a transient hub where people come in, they stay for a year, get some jobs on the Strip, make a ton of money, and then they leave.

0:20:40 - (Tawni Nguyen): So when I talk to locals that's been here for a while, that seems to be like one of their pain points of like, oh, you never know when these entrepreneurs or businesses are going to stay around, if they're just going to come in, take the resources that's met, and that's for the community, that's for entrepreneurs that's been here. How do you differentiate that? What's your pain point when it comes to meeting other entrepreneurs that you have that maybe gut feeling that's like, I don't know if you're going to be here around for a long time or what is really their sustainable plan for adding value to Vegas versus just coming in here, tapping the resources and then leaving.

0:21:14 - (Jake Gallen): I think the best way to identify somebody if they're going to be a Las Vegas native or if they'll be transient is how they view the city. If they hang out primarily on the Strip, and they're just going to the clubs and eating the nice restaurants, then they're probably somebody who's gonna be temporary. If there's somebody who explores outside of the Strip and they go to the arts district or downtown or any of the local casinos or even some of the local entertainment areas, then this means that they're looking for something much more than just the typical Strip experience.

0:21:47 - (Jake Gallen): And it's that those type of people are growing. You can generally identify them from. If their content. Typ. What's their content about or the conversations that they have, if they're trying to understand the city past, kind of the superficiality of it. Right. That's Something that, that's one of the cruxes of Hollywood as well is that people call it fake. Right. Cause it's very superficial. And Vegas does have a component to that.

0:22:17 - (Jake Gallen): But the more that you explore outside of the Strip, the more you realize the authenticity of the people who live out here and there. One final thing to wrap kind of the start up is a lot of those who are not from Vegas. I hear this very often that they come here and once they explore outside the strip and they hang out with the locals, they always say how great the city is. And it's because the city is based off of hospitality.

0:22:51 - (Jake Gallen): So there really isn't a racist bone in most people's body. Right. It's not sexist, it's not. Right. It's very non discriminatory. Everyone is very treated the same because it is built off of taking care of others. Right. And doing favors for others. And that's what I think is some of the most welcoming aspects of it. And outside of, you know, some business things like no state taxes and things like that, I do think a lot of people stay here not because of the Strip, but because of the people.

0:23:22 - (Dave Burlin): Y know, that's why I stay here. Right.

0:23:25 - (Jake Gallen): I mean, you stay here c because of me. And you need to release that episode.

0:23:27 - (Dave Burlin): I know. Well, no, you bring up a really good point because especially being based on hospitality. Right. There's. And you mentioned nond disccriminatory. I've seen that. You know, I've only been here, I'm celebrating six years and I've been able to do a lot of wonderful things in the city. And what my passion is is working with veteran entrepreneur organizations. Now as state coordinator for a global entrepreneurship week like we were able to get a proclamation signed by the governor's office to really take that to a whole nother level this year.

0:24:01 - (Dave Burlin): It's all taken time, but it hasn't taken nearly as much time as it might in other places where it's like, you know, everyone's like, you have to be here your whole life or it's a good old boys network. There is a certain level of that, but I believe that it's at least what I've experienced is Vegas doesn't care where you came from or even what you've done. You can come here and do do what you are designed to do, but as long as you do what you say you're going to do and you don't piss people off, I mean there's ways that people can do it one way and not Piss people off. And then there's ways that they can definitely go against the grain in a way that can come across as disrespectful.

0:24:45 - (Dave Burlin): And I've seen it happen with so many people and a lot of those people, you know, aren't even around anymore. And that goes with big businesses on the strip where they did stuff the wrong way. What was the name of that club at a Palms that one time? See, everybody forgot.

0:24:59 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah, it's Chos Chaos Y. I thought you were talking about the one that was before that. Yeah, well, you like Moon, I think called.

0:25:06 - (Dave Burlin): But yeah, there's a lot of stuff that does get done the wrong way and then there's a lot of stuff that trickles out, but there's also people that come in and do it the right way. So'I've been able to meet a lot of incredible people that are from here, a lot of people that are transient. And it's always interesting to see where, where some people decide to stick it out, where some people, you know, get spooked and just bounce.

0:25:30 - (Dave Burlin): So it is really fascinating to see that, that happen.

0:25:33 - (Jake Gallen): I mean, just look at the political side of things. Vegas has never had a Vegas born mare. There is somebody named Cedric Greer who's running this year, who's looking to be the first Vegas native or Vegas born mayor. So a lot of the political people that operate the politics of it have been transient themselves.

0:25:52 - (Dave Burlin): Right.

0:25:52 - (Jake Gallen): So you're saying it's a trickle down effect from there. I mean it was started by the mob and et cetera.

0:25:58 - (Dave Burlin): And we're not supposed to be here if you think about it.

0:26:01 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah. And I think it was in the 90s the city was. The city's makeup was like 60 or 65% locals. And now it's almost 50, 50 and is s shifting towards the other way of having, um, being actually more transient. And I think, I think the reason why it felt most transient is I noted before is most of those people who are from here, um, they just like to go, you know, make a decent amount of money. Right. Not having to go get a college degree, go pour some drinks. Right. Or go work on the Strip and get a corporate job and kind of just, you know, have fun in your life and not really aspiring for most. And I think that was kind of what was holding the city back for a long time was that the lack of kind of entrepreneurs and just the was it was overweight hustlers, people working two, three jobs and underweight entrepreneurs.

0:26:54 - (Jake Gallen): And now it's starting to shift the Other way. I think the content creator world has definitely exploded out here, from YouTube to Twitter, right. To Instagram. I don't know about TikTok. It'll hang out on that as much, but it is really enlightening and very exciting. And, you know, there are some fundamental changes that I believe. I have some. A little bit of some strong stances on some things that I think Vegas needs to change, but it's heading in the right direction.

0:27:22 - (Dave Burlin): With that being said, I mean, if you could wave a magic wand, what would you say is the most important thing that you would like to see or that you believe just needs to happen in Vegas in the next three to five years to change that path?

0:27:39 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah. So Vegas, again, this is tapping onto the experience side of the world. And this is from a locals perspective. Right. U there because Vegas is specialized in an industry. I think a lot of the. I think a lot of other things need to be specialized and catered towards hospitality, entertainment, experience, and tech as well. And so two. Two things I think that can mainly change here is one, I have a very firm belief that women are the most important people in the city. I realized this very quickly at Omnia that women control everything on the strip. The strip would not work if women disappeared, but if all the men disappeared, I think it would run fine.

0:28:27 - (Jake Gallen): Right. And the reason why is that they're the salespeople of the city, and so they must need to be protected. The servers were the ones who controlled the busrs tips, which I always thought to be kind of interesting. It was complete opposite of most of the cities, and the servers got to control how much the busters made. I didn't think it was fair. I was like, why is she controlling how much money I make? I do more work than she does, but she's the salesperson. Right. And so it's kind of flipped on the other side.

0:28:59 - (Jake Gallen): I'm actually a big proponent of expanding the industry of sex work. U to degree at Jazz Scheer on my show, very early episode I think is like number six or seven. And she's leading the sex workers alliance of Nevada. And I do believe that we have. They call it full service workers. That's legalized in a lot of counties. I do believe that should be legalized here in Vegas and this should be turned into an industry.

0:29:27 - (Jake Gallen): I do think that will also help the university as well. Right. So if you legalize sex work or you expand what sex work means and you can create a district around that, then you also create industry around the education and the science around it and it does create more jobs overall. It's. If it's legal across all of the other counties, why shouldn't it be legal here? To add to the experience. You already have the adult entertainment industry out here from the U adult films kind of side of things. And you have you know, some of the only fan girls that are out here as well.

0:30:01 - (Jake Gallen): So I do think that that needs to be expanded. It's, to me it's such an easy layup. And from the, the educational side of things, I was actually the president of the Industry Leaders Council uh, in the College of Liberal Arts after I grad, after I graduated they uh, the dean of the college reached out to me to spearhead this committee. And the whole point of it was something that's an issue with not just Vegas education but this is all colleges and it's this idea that if you get a college degree in a non hard science, so things like liberal arts, even hospitalities in this, you know, film, entertainment, et cetera, there is no clear path to employment really the path to employment is your network.

0:30:54 - (Jake Gallen): Whereas if you get a degree right in things like, like health science or things like biology or engineering, these are the hard sciences where you actually have to have the qualifications. Whereas on the strip most corporate managers, some of them didn't even graduate high school. Right. They're just, they're just part of the machine that operates itself. And so I think that our education system out here U should have a more of a, a public and private partnership with the leading industries out here that it specializes in.

0:31:27 - (Jake Gallen): Um, so that you can create a path of employment without having, without having um, the youth. Going to the university might not like this, but. Right. Going to the university, getting, getting in cripp crippling debt and then going and getting you know, a 50,000 year job when now you'renna be in debt your whole life. You should just fast track that experience from high school straight to the casinos or straight to whatever entertainment industry that you wantna be in or networking. Actually proposed to the university that I thought they should create a college of networking on campus because that's something that the city really specializes in and that would attract more uh, more people to the city.

0:32:12 - (Jake Gallen): Um, and can also create a, a like a lane to um, whatever industry that you kind of want. So those I think are kind of the two main ones. I've had a lot of conversations about it and, and I think over the next 10, 20 years we'll see more changes as this is getting a little more political. But as populisms on the and on the rise and you see a lot of less career politicians, um, in the space. Um, we can actually really, um, allow Vegas to flourish and, and the experiences and the industries that it specializes in and not force, uh, not force some industries that the city obviously does not want or does not u excel in.

0:32:54 - (Tawni Nguyen): No, I completely agree with that. I love your fresh perspective on the sex worker industry too, because that's such a taboo topic that it's either people are, it's very polarizing.

0:33:05 - (Jake Gallen): Right.

0:33:06 - (Tawni Nguyen): But that's where change is really made. And I know you have a lot of content out there and you have a lot of your stories just publicly and being transparent with everyone about your whole entire journey. Is there anything that you're most excited about outside of your podcast on where your personal transformation is going as a native of Las Vegas and what is something that you're like really most proud of that people may have not known you just by looking at your podcast and your content?

0:33:30 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah, I'm actually most proud of u the crypto side of things of where it's going. When I, when I first got into crypto in 2017, I u saw it, it was very, very clear to me that crypto and Vegas were very aligned. And I've been trying everything in my path to try to bring mainstream crypt crypto adoption to Las Vegas. This eventually led me to creating my last business called Native Research, which was a consultation crypto consultation group that helped politicians, c suite executives, educators, et cetera on crypto knowledge. And I used to host a bunch of meetups.

0:34:07 - (Jake Gallen): Ultimately I pivoted my show from Vegas based to crypto is I was talking with a lot of the casino operators and things with like MGM and, and Circa and some of the strip clubs and things like that on how they can utilize crypto in their business model. They said that they saw it more as a marketing expense than a profitable business endeavor. And this was back in 2022. So my thought was, oh, I'll have to come back to this at some point in time.

0:34:36 - (Jake Gallen): Recently there was a conference called the Bitcoin conference, Bitcoin Nashville conference in 2024. This is where u President Trump spoke with RFK and a bunch of people'largest crypto conference in uh, ever in the history industry's history. It's coming here next year. And now I'm working with them or assisting them in bringing the right leaders to the conference from the Vegas city. So I'm tapping into all of my network so that we can actually bring Vegas to, um, the future of finance, a future of experience, a future of technology.

0:35:13 - (Jake Gallen): And so for me, it's a very full circle moment. Cause it's something I've been trying to do for eight years. And with my company, Emblem Vault, that also operates in this space. And it's had a lot of success working with Bitcoin itself. Um, you know, I might have the opportunity to speak on stage, not only just for Vegas, but also from my professional, um, experience as well. So I'm very. That's what I'm very, very excited about. And eventually, you know, once that concludes, then hopefully whenever my, you know, that entrepreneurial journey ends in crypto, I do wanna bring it back to, to my Vegas experience back somehow to really transform the city, because there's no other city like it in the world. And final stat here before I wrap this up is, you know, there's only two cities in the entire world that were created in the 20th century. So in the 1900s that have over over a million people in the world or have a million people.

0:36:10 - (Jake Gallen): Those two cities are Dubai and Las Vegas. And.

0:36:13 - (Tawni Nguyen): No way.

0:36:14 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah, if you look at it, it's a pretty wild stat to think about. And it just shows you how far ahead Vegas truly is from the rest of the world. Dubai is starting to catch up a little bit, but Vegas is now on the kind of the grand stage of the world. And I'm excited that you guys can pursue that opportunity so that you can. I have the opportunity to identify the different people in the city that make it great.

0:36:38 - (Dave Burlin): It's funny that. Thank you for that. Because when I was helping an organization at one point, I was kind of designing a global sales initiative for, we'll just say, an influencer who, I won't even name his name, but it was a global. It was a global initiative. And like, the way I looked at designing the sales structure was two small, lean teams. Six people in Vegas and six people in Dubai. One for the Eastern hemisphere, one for the Western Hemisphere. Because those are the two cities where.

0:37:10 - (Dave Burlin): I'm not saying it couldn't happen in something like a New York City, but then there was just something different about that, that the world recognizes those cities differently. And it's easier to get caught up in the clutter of a big city like New York City, but still have the same power of a New York City in a much smaller market where things are, you know, ridiculously more affordable. Even though you said the prices are going up, it still just seemed like that thing. So it's interesting that those are the two cities that I had seen just as a natural opportunity.

0:37:44 - (Dave Burlin): And you pulled the stats on that. So.

0:37:45 - (Jake Gallen): And both. And both of those cities are based around entertainment as well. So there s. There's something about the industry that entertainment is on the rise, which is crazy because, you know, it's been in Hollywood for such a long time. And that's. I guess that's just a. You know, it's just a strength of the western world is. Is entertaining people. But entertainment is evolving now from just entertainment of film. Right. To entertainment of experience. And that's really where Vegas is headed towards.

0:38:17 - (Tawni Nguyen): All right. Just as a, you know, someone that has not lived here their whole life, I really just have this burning desire to ask the question. It's like, okay, so favorite show, favorite experience, and favorite restaurant. And taco. I was like, we're gonna go for taco.

0:38:30 - (Jake Gallen): Oh. So it hard. It's hard to name just one movie. I have three favorite movies. I try to basket them all. Can I do that?

0:38:38 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah.

0:38:38 - (Jake Gallen): Is that okay?

0:38:39 - (Tawni Nguyen): Sure.

0:38:39 - (Dave Burlin): You can do whatever you want.

0:38:40 - (Jake Gallen): Can what? Forrest Gump, Ace Ventura, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Are those are my. My three favorite movies. Yeah. A little bit of the oldies side. And then what was it? Favorite food. Tacos.

0:38:53 - (Tawni Nguyen): My favorite restaurants to eat here.

0:38:55 - (Dave Burlin): And favorite show that you got to see. Yeah.

0:38:57 - (Tawni Nguyen): Anything in entertainment that you experienced that, like, really took your breath away.

0:39:02 - (Dave Burlin): So besides edc, right?

0:39:04 - (Jake Gallen): That's. That's. I say Vegas is my. EDC is my favorite holiday of the year. I've gone now. My first one was in 2012, and I've been 10 times, so I think I'only missed two years out of it.

0:39:14 - (Tawni Nguyen): That'the last time I went. Wow.

0:39:15 - (Jake Gallen): Best. It's the best. Favorite restaurant. I live in the arts district, so I'm gonna be biased and say Esther's Kitchen, because I do hang out there a lot. It's really the best restaurant down there by far. And favorite show in Las Vegas U. So I'm not a trad. Traditional showgoer. Like, in the terms of like going and seeing the Blue mound group or Beatles. Those ones are cool. I've definitely been a club guy and a day club guy pretty much my entire life.

0:39:43 - (Jake Gallen): Uh, but outside of that, I would say, oh, man, football games are really fun. Right. I'm being basic here. Football games are fun, but if you want the best kind of experience, I'd say goldenight games are probably the best overall experience. If you want the energy, the show that they put on in the beginning and the End and now that they've won a Stan Le Cup. But it's the Golden Knights, right? They came during a time during the mass shooting that happened at Mandalay Bay and it really rallied all of us together and it was just a sign of like, hey, we're not going toa stand down and. Right. They ended up going to Stanley cup that year and now that they finally went through and won it, it's.

0:40:29 - (Jake Gallen): It's truly feels like the Golden Knights are. Is Vegas. It's not an extension team. I think this is where the Raiders struggle a little bit. It is literally born in the sand of the desert, you know, and the neon of the lights. And that's why it gets to be golden. And it truly as the best experience, I think, of any show or venue.

0:40:51 - (Tawni Nguyen): That just brought me back to the quote you said the other day, right, about the desert.

0:40:55 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, the. Yeah, yeah. We were talking about books and it's. The desert will teach you everything that you need to know about yourself out of the Alchemist. And yeah, it's just. It's been fascinating to. Again, we're not supposed to be here, right? And when you look at all of these magical things that we have here, I remember I saw this. This cartoon in the Sunday paper, right? Aging myself here, 40, 40, 43 years old.

0:41:24 - (Dave Burlin): And it was the BC, I think, or something like that was one of those little cartoons. And there was this guy and he was just like, imagine. And you know, he. All he said was imagine. And it was the silhouette and you could see Vegas. But the other guy's looking and there's nothinguse. It's the desert and it's like, we'not. We're not supposed to be here, right? I make that joke all the time whenever I'm like ordering drinks or something like that. Like, what can I get for you to drink? Water.

0:41:51 - (Dave Burlin): It's like a fucking desert out there. Because it is like we're in the middle of a desert. But if you look what's been born here and what's been built here, it is. It's absolutely fascinating. And I want to throw in this funny fact because I figured you were gonna say edc.

0:42:06 - (Jake Gallen): It's the best. Dude, edc. EDC is the best weekend of the year. I don't care what anyone says.

0:42:11 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah, it's my favorite place in the world. I actually hadn't been since I've lived here until this year. But, bro, I went. My first one was in 2000 and before it was even in LA. Before it was even in LA. I have the VHS cassette of it, like on my. On my O. Yeah. 2000, 2001 and 2002. And then I came back here for 2015, 2016, and then again for 2024.

0:42:37 - (Jake Gallen): So it's getting a little expensive now, but it's still. It's the, it's, it's the best. It's. As you get older, it's a little bit tough, but it is getting a lot busier. It's a lot more expensive. When I was in college, it was 60 bucks to take an Uber helicopter to it. Now I think it's like almost $1,000 a person.

0:42:55 - (Dave Burlin): Yeah. Yeah. And if anyone asks, it's $1,200. Just pay me and I'll get you on the helicopter.

0:43:00 - (Jake Gallen): The DAV Coptter.

0:43:01 - (Dave Burlin): Right? The Dave Coptter. So besides edc, besides anytime that Dead Mouse is playing, you know, at 3:00am somewhere, where can people. Where can he does?

0:43:14 - (Jake Gallen): I said, you know where I'm at?

0:43:15 - (Dave Burlin): Oh yeah, that's where I ran into you the last time I think I saw you in public. I was like, I just walked by. I was like, bro, it's like 3:00 in the morning at Dead Moouthe.

0:43:22 - (Jake Gallen): I'm always there.

0:43:24 - (Dave Burlin): But so besides Dead Mouse and edc, where can people find you and where can people connect?

0:43:30 - (Jake Gallen): Yeah, so if you're strolling around the arts district, I am usually at First Friday. That's probably one of my other favorite events is, is, um, the longest running event in the city. But you can find me. I'm always on Twitter. If you're a Twitter person, I'm a dieard guy. Jake Allealln on Twitter. Or you can find me on YouTube. It's the same thing at Jake Allealln and my podcast, Jake's guestl List. But really just go to jake allen.jakealln.com and you can find all of my information there. If you're interested in Vegas entrepreneurship, the tech space, crypto, whatever, feel free. Just shoot me a dm. I always try to respond within a few days. So, yeah, feel free. I love the city and it's awesome to connect with fellow entrepreneurs and you guys.

0:44:14 - (Jake Gallen): Appreciate you guys for having me and yeah, I wish you the best on this journey. It's tough. It sounds like it's a little bit easier now that there's a few more content creators, but I think you guys are on the right path.

0:44:27 - (Dave Burlin): Thanks so much, man, and thank you for saying yes to this. And with that, we will have to bring you back on the show for Part two.

0:44:34 - (Tawni Nguyen): No more blue balls this time you promise?

0:44:37 - (Jake Gallen): Release it.

0:44:42 - (Tawni Nguyen): Well guys, hope you guys enjoyed today. Please reach out to Dave and I on Pursue Vegas. You can reach out to Jake directly. He's usually in his room by the arts district.

0:44:53 - (Jake Gallen): Always. Always at home. Sometimes's fun. It's funny when you work from home because you realize that you haven't left your room for two or three days outside of just going to the gym or maybe just going to get some fooduse you're lazy to cook but you're like man I need to go socialize.

0:45:08 - (Tawni Nguyen): At times I need a little human interaction. I'm getting weird.

0:45:11 - (Jake Gallen): And that's when you then go overdo it. You go down to the bar and you haven't drank in like two weeks.

0:45:18 - (Tawni Nguyen): And then you find DAV at three.

0:45:19 - (Jake Gallen): In the morning I find DAV find David Dead Mouse.

0:45:21 - (Dave Burlin): Ye I said this one time I said you know what's better than walking out of Dead Mouse and Cascade at 3 o'clock in the morning from Zook and it's just like barely raining.

0:45:31 - (Jake Gallen): What is it?

0:45:31 - (Tawni Nguyen): Nothing that antiic here.

0:45:37 - (Jake Gallen): I'm actually going to see Dead Mouse in Denver at red rocks for 20 year anniversary. Maybe I'll see you there.

0:45:45 - (Dave Burlin): Could be. Could be.

0:45:51 - (Tawni Nguyen): This one definitely put the.

0:45:53 - (Dave Burlin): Out put the outro on it and to work out.

People on this episode

Head Shot

Tawni Nguyen

Co-host