We recently had the chance to connect with Sam Layle and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sam, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Are you walking a path—or wandering?
I am most certainly walking a path at this point in my journey. For the better part of my life I was wandering along the journey, and now I realize that because I wasn’t doing something I was passionate about. I was working for other people and just getting by doing the minimum effort to stay in a position.
Once I quit the corporate life and started a business for myself, I found that missing passion and kind of realized what potential many teachers, professors, and others saw in me. I’d never really cared enough to be the best at something, and now I want to be the best at building my business and producing events and games that people love to play.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Sam and have been trying my hand at building a thriving events and marketing company for three years. The company is currently called Shut Up and Drink Events, and we work with local businesses to put on events and build them awesome crowds for game nights or special events.
I started as just a trivia company in 2020, during the pandemic. I worked at a brewery that had to drop their trivia company due to costs. We were stuck at limited capacity like the rest of the state, and country, and still wanted to have something fun to offer folks who were able to come in. I offered to host trivia for us, and decided to use the name of a brief online trivia gameshow a friend and I had developed back in 2014.
We had a lot of fun playing trivia through COVID, and I eventually picked up and lost some clients, but I was learning a lot about creating fun bar games that were both familiar and different to the other bar game companies around Denver. By the time 2022 was ending, I realized I wanted to take another shot at creating my own business, and I had enough clients lined up that I could survive on my own. So, I took the plunge and quit my main job at the end of 2022 and started 2023 completely on my own.
I brought on a business partner in 2025, and with their help we’ve more than doubled our client list and added several new games/events to our product list. Now we’e focusing in on growing even more in 2026.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I feel like this question is actually reversed for me. I was who I was because I listened to what the World told me I had to be. Teachers, guidance counselors, and other people I looked up to all encouraged me from a young age to do well in high school, go to college, get an internship, work through school, and then go right out into the world and get a job once I completed college.
I followed their plan and path because I was told that’s what “successful” people do, and I witnessed plenty of people using the formula to gain that success. I was happy for all of them, but for me personally, it felt forced and fake. My opinion of success and following what I believed didn’t fit into a neat little plan that lead to success.
So I was a product of the world’s success structure, with the conflict of a free-thinker. Once I broke free of following the “plan,” I began to feel like my full authentic self.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
You are truly smart enough, empathetic enough, and creative enough to follow you dreams. Just ask for more help because very few people can get things done on their own. Be more curious and don’t worry if it looks like you don’t actually know what’s going on. People appreciate it when you show an interest in something and have very little knowledge on it.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes. I don’t put up a front or character. I believe my super power is authenticity and I only realized that recently. I was a late bloomer in a lot of ways, and here I am in my 40’s really figuring out who I really am.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. What do you think people will most misunderstand about your legacy?
I think people might misunderstand my legacy if they think that having a legacy is important to me. Don’t get me wrong, I hope people will remember me when I’m gone, but I’m more interested in the personal touches of life and connections I made versus being remembered as “something.” Legacies are modern folklore, and I’m not interested in folklore. I’d rather live on through fun stories shared around camp fires by the people I cared about most.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.shutupanddrinkevents.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shut.up.and.drink/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samlayle/
