Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Ellen Pao, who on Friday lost her gender-discrimination suit against one of the most powerful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley, took to Twitter after the verdict was announced to elaborate on the trial.
What’s amazing is how few Twitter followers the woman at the center of what some are calling a watershed moment in tech history has.
Pao put out a short tweet storm to her 5,834 followers on the Twitter account she set up in 2007, two years after joining Kleiner Perkins Cauflield & Byers as a junior partner. She thanked her supporters, family and legal team and reaffirmed her decision to challenge the firm for what she had claimed was bias against her, during her seven-year tenure, for being a woman.
“If we do not share our stories and shine a light on inequities, things will not change,” Pao, 45, said in a series of tweets numbered 1 through 10. “Hopefully my case will inspire the venture capital industry to level the playing field for everyone, including women and minorities.”
A San Francisco jury ultimately rejected all her claims, ending the monthlong trial with a dramatic afternoon session on Friday in which Judge Harold Kahn was forced to call for a recount after a juror changed his mind on the walk back to the courtroom after the 12-member jury had reached its initial verdict.
Pao, interim CEO of social-networking and news site Reddit, left out a No. 8 in her tweet storm. That could have been a simple oversight, or it could be a nod to the juror kerfuffle and vote count. The judge required at least a 9-3 vote on each count, but there was an original 8-4 vote on a key claim, leaving some doubt about an out-and-out victory for Kleiner. The jury arrived at the required 9 votes on that claim after the judge ordered a second round of deliberations.
1. Thank you, world.
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
2. I have been inspired by the thousands of people who have reached out to me over the past three years with support.
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
3. I’ve heard from people in Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Australia, Malaysia, France, Argentina, Norway, Tanzania, Finland, and beyond.
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
4. Because of social media and live reports, the problem of gender discrimination in venture capital has received attention around the globe
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
5. While today’s outcome is a disappointment, I take consolation in knowing that people really listened
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
6. If we do not share our stories and shine a light on inequities, things will not change
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
7. Hopefully my case will inspire the venture capital industry to level the playing field for everyone, including women and minorities
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
9. To support the entrepreneurs of tomorrow, we need to show leadership today.
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
10. And thank you to the team and board @reddit for standing by me.
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 28, 2015
The following tweet, from March 14, is pinned to the top of Pao’s stream:
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King, Jr.
— Ellen Pao (@ekp) March 15, 2015
