Ellen Pao: Acceptable behavior for men wasn't for women

SAN FRANCISCO — Successful venture capitalists are highly competent, aggressive and competitive people.

But those crucial traits were more palatable in men than in women at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byer, Ellen Pao said during testimony Friday during her gender bias lawsuit against the firm.

"The frustration I had was that the behavior that was acceptable for men was not acceptable for women," she said.

Pao testified that one of her female colleagues got grief for speaking up too much, while Pao got grief for being too quiet. "But if I did talk, I was being too competitive or sharp-elbowed. The behavior that we exhibited was not acceptable to us – but it was acceptable for men," she said.

COST

What that mismatch cost her was discussed in court Friday.

Pao has asked for $16 million in her sexual discrimination case against Kleiner Perkins. She says she was not promoted to senior partner and then fired in October 2012 because of gender bias.

The figure is based on potential lost wages and future earnings, as well as being high enough that it would encourage the firm to change its ways.

Carl Saba, an expert in forensic and financial consulting at the San Francisco accounting firm of Hemming Morse, helped come up with the figure. He testified Friday.

His findings were based on the notion that Pao would have been promoted to senior partner. But during cross-examination, Kleiner's lawyers noted that it was unknown whether she would in fact have been promoted.‬

Saba testified that he is paid $450 per hour for his work and had performed more than $83,000 worth of analysis for Pao's legal team in the case by the end of January.

Asking for a small amount wouldn't have meant much to Kleiner, a partnership that had $7 billion under management at the time Pao left, Pao testified. "If it was a large number, say $10 million, it would be something they'd have to talk about, and I hoped that would drive some accountability and change," she said.

When she left Kleiner, Pao's base salary was $33,333 per month, plus a yearly bonus of $160,000, for a total yearly compensation of $560,000 per year.

Pao is the interim CEO of Reddit, a popular news aggregation site. She is paid $175,000, plus a target bonus of $80,000, in addition to stock options, for a total of $258,000 per year.

That's a lot lower than her compensation at Kleiner, but both are a long way from $16 million. The difference is the potential share in the profits of an investment that senior partners at venture capital firms can make if the companies they've helped start do well.

Even if Pao had gotten a payout from only one of the funds at the firm, she could have gotten millions, said Kathleen Lucas, an employment lawyer in San Francisco who's visited the courtroom to keep tabs on the trial. Compensation packages can be worth "hundreds of millions," she said.

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TOUGH QUESTIONS FROM THE DEFENSE

Pao concluded her testimony Friday after five days on the witness stand by taking questions from the jury. The written questions were read aloud from the bench by Judge Harold Kahn.

One of the jurors asked why Pao stayed at Kleiner, a work environment that she has said she didn't trust. "I'm an optimist. I always hoped that John (Doerr, a senior partner) would step in and clean up the culture," Pao said.

Because the firm was very small, "I thought if he could convince some people, then we could really have some change, and it could be a better place," she said.

As to why she filed a lawsuit, Pao said, "It would be a step that would finally help them create a culture that was fair and legal."

The jurors' questions may have been something of a relief to Pao. The cross-examination by Kleiner lawyer Lynne Hermle was grueling.

Hermle pushed Pao again and again on various aspects of her description of events at the firm. The events, Pao said, show a pattern of discrimination and retaliation when she spoke up about the discrimination.

Perhaps Hermle's strongest statement came Thursday, when she asked Pao, "Isn't it your belief that the only negative thing that happened to you while you were at Kleiner that wasn't discrimination or retaliation was getting hit by a taxi in Germany?"

That was in reference to an incident in 2006 when Pao was on a business trip in Germany and was struck by a taxi while crossing a street.

March 12: Ellen Pao critiqued for interactions with female colleagues

March 11: Ellen Pao avoids public airing of family finances

March 10: Ellen Pao testimony leads to visible cringing

March 9:Ellen Pao begins testimony in Silicon Valley sex bias trial

March 6: Mary Meeker quotes cap second week of Ellen Pao trial

March 5: Ellen Pao trial takes a raunchy turn

March 4: Kleiner bigwig takes heat over tape

March 3: John Doerr testifies at trial brought by ex-mentee Pao

March 2: Man Ellen Pao accused of retaliation had bonus docked

Feb 27: Little 'upward mobility' in venture capital

Feb 26: Ellen Pao could have made $2.6M as a senior partner

Feb 25: Pao case presents dueling views of opportunity

Feb 24: Ellen Pao lawyer says KP 'not a level playing field'