Kleiner Attacks Pao on the Stand as Resentful and Greedy

Ellen Pao leaves San Francisco Superior Court with her attorney Therese Lawless. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The one-time venture capitalist at the heart of Silicon Valley’s most-watched court case once created what a defense attorney called a “resentment chart” detailing her grievances toward her co-workers.

Ellen Pao is suing Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for gender discrimination. To fight her claim, the famed firm is trying to show that Pao created her own problems. Kleiner’s defense lawyer, Lynne Hermle, introduced the chart—an email that Pao had sent to herself—to show that Pao was a difficult colleague. The chart included such categories as “Resentment,” “What Part of My Life it Affected,” “My Feelings,” and “My Part,” and named colleagues Pao had worked with at the firm, where she worked from 2005 to 2012.

Of famed VC John Doerr, Pao’s mentor and ex-boss, she wrote that she resented him “tolerating incompetence.” She begrudged Wen Hsieh, another colleague, for “being weak, wasting my time.” Of Ajit Nazre, a co-worker with whom she once had an affair and whom she accuses of professionally retaliating against her after their breakup, she wrote: “Telling me he loves me—and only one or three other people.”

Pao said she used the chart to work through her feelings.

I was told that I should pack up my things and not come back. Ellen Pao

Throughout her morning cross-exam today, Hermle kept hammering away at the defense’s effort to show that Pao did not succeed at her job not because of a culture of gender bias, but because Pao herself was not qualified. Over three days of cross-examination in this San Francisco courtroom, Hermle has sought to portray Pao as an argumentative, resentful employee whose version of events is riddled with inconsistencies. Hermle also sought to call Pao’s motives for suing into question by portraying her as money-hungry.

Pao’s suit alleges that Kleiner Perkins did not promote her while letting other male junior partners advance within the company. She also claims the firm retaliated against her after she told managers about her issues. The trial, now in its third week, has riveted the tech industry, where women are scant. In venture capital, the gender imbalance is even worse, especially in VC firms’ upper ranks.

Severance Benefits

Contrary to claims of Kleiner’s mistreatment, Hermle called attention to Pao’s generous severance package after she left the company in October 2012. According to a document introduced in court, Kleiner pledged to pay Pao her regular salary of $33,333 per month for a six-month period ending in March 2013. The terms of separation proposed that Pao remain an employee in name, though she would not have office space at Kleiner.

Despite the pretense of continued employment at Kleiner, Pao admitted on the stand that she had started with online community Reddit, where she is now interim CEO, during the six-month period of her severance. Pao previously testified that as a consultant to Reddit, she made $650 an hour.

On the witness stand, Pao argued against the insinuation that she was double-dealing, saying she considered herself fired. “I was told that I should pack up my things and not come back,” she said. “I considered not having an office being told to leave termination.”

Pao testified that she contacted the CEOs of the portfolio companies she worked with at Kleiner Perkins to let them know she had been fired. Hermle argued that Pao was engaging in her own form of revenge, violating the understanding that the transition period was in place so as not to jar the companies.

“It was the right thing to do in my mind,” Pao said on the witness stand.

“It was the right thing for you,” Hermle fired back.

“It was the right thing for the companies,” Pao said.

Pao’s Financial Situation

Also today, Judge Harold Kahn denied Hermle’s surprise motion yesterday asking him to reverse his pretrial ruling that the jury should not consider Pao’s current financial situation when deciding the $16 million suit. The defense was likely seeking leeway to bring up the monetary problems of Pao’s husband, Alphonse “Buddy” Fletcher Jr., whose hedge fund filed for bankruptcy in 2012, right around the time Pao filed her lawsuit against KPCB. Fletcher has also been accused of fraud in connection with the fund.

In his ruling on the motion, posted Thursday morning, Kahn said considering Pao’s financial situation “would greatly intrude on the privacy of both Ms. Pao and Mr. Fletcher.” He also said it would “create an unseemly sideshow.”

In the afternoon, after Pao left the stand, former Kleiner Perkins chief operating officer Eric Keller testified that Pao told him she wanted to be compensated upon leaving the frim at least as well as Nazre had when he left—a sum of “eight figures,” or at least $10 million.

Pao testified earlier that she believed an eight-figure sum would be a “meaningful” amount to Kleiner—a number that would “actually hit their radar.”

“I wanted my payment to be enough so [Kleiner Perkins] saw it would be painful not to fix problems,” she said.