The woman who has accused one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital firms of sex discrimination will take the stand on Thursday in a case that is shining a harsh light on the treatment of women in the tech community.
Ellen Pao is suing for $16m she says she lost when she was passed over for promotion at legendary tech investment firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Pao claims she was not promoted because of her gender.
Pao, who was fired from her $560,000 a year job in 2012, is now interim chief executive of social news site Reddit. Kleiner Perkins disputes her claims, argues she lacked the interpersonal skills to succeed in the company and that she is adequately compensated at Reddit.
The trial, being heard at the superior court in San Francisco, has all of Silicon Valley gripped. Kleiner Perkins is among the most prestigious venture capital companies in technology and counts Amazon, Google and Uber among its investments.
In earlier testimony Alan Exelrod, Pao’s attorney, argued that Kleiner Perkins systematically discriminated against women. In opening statements he said the company had existed for about 40 years when Pao was let go and had only promoted one woman from junior partner to senior partner in that time.
Exelrod contrasted Pao’s evaluations with those of male colleagues. She was described as having “poor interpersonal skills” and “her own agenda” while male colleagues, who were promoted, were evaluated as “quite tough”, “arrogant” and “blunt and overbearing”.
The case is not about sexual harassment. However, Pao has said she was given a book of erotic poetry and nude sketches by a senior partner at the firm. She also claims another male employee interfered with her work after she ended an affair with him.
Pao’s testimony follows that of John Doerr, billionaire senior partner at Kleiner Perkins, who testified that he had tried to save Pao’s career at the firm after criticism from colleagues. Pao worked as Doerr’s chief of staff when she joined the company.
In a performance review filed with the court, Doerr said Pao had been dismissive of peers who did not meet her expectations and needed to improve her interpersonal skills. He otherwise praised her performance in her first year as his chief of staff.
In court Doerr said he had provided Pao with two coaches to improve her presentation skills but the training failed to pay off. “Ellen is very talented,” he told the court. “I felt that she ought to have another shot.”
Presiding judge Harold Kahn has allowed jurors to ask questions at the trial and this week one asked Doerr why there were few women in venture capital.
Doerr said VC companies tended to recruit tech founders and that there were too few female tech entrepreneurs to pick from. “This industry, technology, would be better served, and [venture] firms would make better decisions, if they hired more women,” he said.
According to Doerr, 20% of partners at Kleiner Perkins are women, a far higher percentage than its peers according to a recent study released by Babson College in Massachusetts. According to that study, released last year, the total number of women partners in venture capital firms has declined significantly since 1999, dropping to 6% from 10%.
