PandoDaily

PandoDaily was started by former TechCrunch writer Sarah Lacy on January 16, 2012.{{cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/01/16/tc-alum-sarah-lacy-launches-new-tech-blog-pandodaily/ |title= TC Alum Sarah Lacy Launches New Tech Blog, PandoDaily |first= Jason |last= Kincaid | work=TechCrunch | date= January 16, 2012}} At the time, Business Insider called it "TechCrunch 2.0".{{cite news | url=http://www.businessinsider.com/techcrunch-20-has-arrived-2012-1 | work=Business Insider | title= TechCrunch 2.0 Has Arrived | first=Matt | last=Lynley |date= January 16, 2012}} It billed itself at launch as "the site of record for Silicon Valley".

The name was inspired by a tree colony in Utah, Pando, whose massive root system covers 106 acres and is continually sprouting new stems or trunks, even after wildfires have destroyed existing trunks. "It’s the perfect metaphor for what I love about Silicon Valley. It’s not just individual hot startups of-the-moment; it’s that unique startup ecosystem that continually shoots up new companies no matter how frothy or scorched everything above ground gets", she wrote.{{cite web|last = Lacy|first = Sarah|title = Why I Started PandoDaily|url=https://pando.com/2012/01/16/why-i-started-pandodaily/|date=2012-01-16|access-date=2012-05-26}}

At launch, PandoDaily had a number of staff writers and guest contributors including Michael Arrington (founder of TechCrunch), Paul Carr, M.G. Siegler, and Farhad Manjoo. Because of a disagreement,{{cite web | url=http://uncrunched.com/2012/04/09/about-pando/ |title= About Pando | first=Michael | last=Arrington | author-link=Michael Arrington | work= Uncrunched |date= April 9, 2012}} Michael Arrington and M.G. Siegler stopped writing for PandoDaily, but they acquired new technology writers including Greg Kumparak (formerly of TechCrunch).

In November 2013, it was announced that PandoDaily had acquired NSFW Corp, a politics-and-humor website founded by technology journalist Paul Carr.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/nov/25/paul-carr-news-site-nsfw-corp-pando-daily|title = Paul Carr's news site NSFW Corp joins with Silicon Valley-backed PandoDaily|date = November 25, 2013|access-date = April 5, 2015|newspaper = The Guardian|last = Rushe|first = Dominic}}{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/11/25/pando-acquires-nsfw-corp/|title = PandoDaily Acquires Paul Carr's NSFW Corp|last = Ha|first = Anthony|date = November 25, 2013|access-date = April 5, 2015|work = TechCrunch}} PandoDaily stated that the goal of the acquisition was to double down on investigative reporting.{{cite news|url=http://pando.com/2013/11/25/pandodaily-acquires-nsfwcorp-to-double-down-on-investigative-reporting/|title = PandoDaily acquires NSFWCORP to double down on investigative reporting|last = Lacy|first = Sarah|author-link = Sarah Lacy|date = November 25, 2013|access-date = April 5, 2015|work = PandoDaily}} Carr then became editorial director of PandoDaily.{{cite web |title = About Paul Carr |url= http://pando.com/author/paulbcarr/ |access-date= February 17, 2015}}

In late June 2015, PandoDaily switched to a subscription model, with most of their articles behind a paywall.{{cite web|url=http://www.thewrap.com/pando-daily-pivots-to-subscription-model/|title = Pando Daily Pivots to Subscription Model|last = Charlton|first = Jordan|date = June 24, 2015|access-date = July 8, 2015|work=The Wrap}} Any subscriber could unlock an article for 48 hours (with a limit of 20 unlocks per month) and the authors and editors generally unlocked recent articles and tweeted them to readers.{{cite news|url = https://pando.com/2015/06/22/welcome-new-pando/|title = Welcome to a new Pando|last1 = Lacy|first1 = Sarah|author-link = Sarah Lacy|last2 = Carr|first2 = Paul|author-link2 = Paul Carr (writer)|work = PandoDaily}} Their main reason for the change was to maintain their editorial independence and integrity without being too dependent on particular advertisers (for revenue) or particular investors.

On October 23, 2019, Lacy announced that Pando had been sold to one of its partners, BuySellAds, and that she had retired from journalism to focus on her new venture Chairman Mom—a community for "working women". Lacy cited a history of sexual harassment as justification, explaining that Silicon Valley was "a place where I've been lied about, where VCs have arm-twisted editors to fire me, where billionaires have threatened those doing business with me to cut all ties. It's a place where I've had people turn on me again and again and again simply for doing my job. It's a place I've been betrayed by people I trusted. It's a place where one-time friends threatened my children because I wrote about things they did."{{Cite web|url=https://pando.com/2019/10/23/we-sold-pando/|title=We sold Pando|date=2019-10-23|website=Pando|language=en-gb|access-date=2019-10-27}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-lacy-is-selling-pando-and-quitting-journalism-2019-10|title=Sarah Lacy, the founder of Pando, is selling the blog, quitting journalism, and ditching Silicon Valley after 20 years because she is tired of being sexually harassed and threatened|last=Zaveri|first=Paayal|website=Business Insider|access-date=2019-10-27}}

PandoDaily's creator Sarah Lacy was quoted by American Public Media's Marketplace concerning the Bay Area Rapid Transit worker strike of July 2013:

People in the tech industry feel like life is a meritocracy. You work really hard, you build something and you create something, which is sort of directly opposite to unions.{{cite web |url= http://www.marketplace.org/topics/tech/bart-strike-reveals-tech-transit-worker-divide |title= BART strike reveals tech, transit worker divide |publisher= Market Place |first= Krissy |last= Clark |date= July 4, 2013 }}

Her comments concerning the work ethic of union workers received criticism.{{cite web |url= http://www.theawl.com/2013/07/stupid-striking-bart-union-doesnt-get-silicon-valley-values |title= Stupid Striking BART Union Doesn't "Get" Silicon Valley Values |first= Kevin |last= Roose | work=The Awl |date= July 8, 2013 }}

On October 22, 2014, an article by Lacy on PandoDaily was published where she sharply criticised the "asshole culture" of Uber and said she intended to delete the mobile app from her phone.{{cite news | url=https://pando.com/2014/10/22/the-horrific-trickle-down-of-asshole-culture-at-a-company-like-uber/ | title=The horrific trickle down of Asshole culture: Why I've just deleted Uber from my phone | work=PandoDaily | last=Lacy | first=Sarah | author-link=Sarah Lacy | date=October 22, 2014}} On November 17, 2014, BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith reported that Uber senior executive Emil Michael "outlined the notion of spending 'a million dollars'" to hire four top opposition researchers and four journalists. He said that team could help Uber fight back against the press by looking into "personal lives, your families". Michael was particularly focused on journalist Sarah Lacy, who accused Uber of “sexism and misogyny".{{cite news | url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/uber-executive-suggests-digging-up-dirt-on-journalists | title=Uber Executive Suggests Digging Up Dirt On Journalists. Senior Vice President Emil Michael floated making critics' personal lives fair game. Michael apologized Monday for the remarks. | last=Smith | first=Ben | work=BuzzFeed | date=November 17, 2014}} Lacy wrote a sharp response critical of Uber's actions.{{cite news | url=http://pando.com/2014/11/17/the-moment-i-learned-just-how-far-uber-will-go-to-silence-journalists-and-attack-women/ | title=The moment I learned just how far Uber will go to silence journalists and attack women|access-date = April 5, 2015| work=PandoDaily | last =Lacy | first=Sarah|author-link = Sarah Lacy | date=November 17, 2014 }} The controversy was picked up by CNBC,{{cite web|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2014/11/19/uber-will-do-anything-to-intimidate-journalists-lacy.html | title = Uber will do anything to intimidate journalists: Lacy | last=DiChristopher | first=Tom | work=CNBC | date=November 19, 2014}} Business Insider,{{cite news | url=http://www.businessinsider.com/sarah-lacy-responds-to-buzzfeed-uber-report-2014-11 | title=Journalist An Uber Exec Reportedly Suggested Publicizing Personal Details About Has Responded | last=Johnston | first=Matt | work=Business Insider | date=November 17, 2014}} and The New York Times Bits blog.{{cite web|url=http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/emil-michael-of-uber-proposes-digging-into-journalists-private-lives/?_r=0|title = Uber Executive's Comments Leave Company Scrambling|last = Isaac|first = Mike|date = November 18, 2014|access-date = April 5, 2015|publisher = New York Times (Bits blog)}} Michael Wolff, the journalist who had arranged for and invited Smith to the private dinner where the controversial remarks were made, wrote a lengthy piece about the controversy, stating that Uber executives had believed that the event was off-the-record, but that he (Wolff) had failed to communicate the information to Smith.{{cite news | url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/wolff/2014/11/19/behind-the-scenes-uber-buzzfeed-fracas/19269737/ | title=Wolff: Behind the scenes at Uber/BuzzFeed fracas| last=Wolff | first=Michael | author-link=Michael Wolff (journalist) | work=USA Today | date=November 19, 2014}}

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• {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/*/https://www.pando.com|title=PandoDaily}}
• {{youtube |user= pandodaily}}

Category:American technology news websites

Category:Companies based in Silicon Valley

Category:Internet properties established in 2012