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January 18, 2005
Introducing the first guest blog from a true Silicon Valley Watcher--Louise
Many people know full well that Louise Kehoe, my former boss at the
Financial Times, is the true Silicon Valley Watcher. Which is why it is a
huge pleasure to introduce this first guestblog from Louise, a friend and
mentor for many years.
Louise is well known in the valley from her more than two decades of world
class reporting for the Financial Times. When she first started, gaining
access to top execs and captains of industry was difficult because the
newspaper was not only an unfamiliar color but unfamiliar altogether. In
those days, the Financial Times had a circulation of less than 100,000. It
was because of the continued excellence of her reporting that the almost
unknown Financial Times brand was raised to that of a top-tier publication
in the minds of Silicon Valley's gatekeepers.
Louise recruited me to the Financial Times in 1999 and we worked together in
an apartment-turned-office just off highway 101 and Hillsdale. A large
highway exit sign close to the office said "Kehoe Way." I would joke that
Louise has been in the valley so long, they built it around her.
We were in the midst of the heady dotcom days and we were pumping out
enormous amounts of news copy. We were draining cups of tea and creating
huge clouds of nicotine smoke.
And when a really big story would break, maybe ten minutes before our very
latest afternoon deadline, that's when the adrenaline kicked up a notch or
three and we'd work together, (Andrew Heavens was working with us too) and
we'd get a stock price, get a quote from a contact, check the whisper
numbers, get whatever was needed to write that news story. Louise would
usually take the lead and pound out the story board, just seconds to go. And
then London calls and wants another 60 words! And copy editors are calling
and saying it has to be sent now, now! and Louise gets it done and squared
away. No problem, we go and have a cup of tea.
This type of right-on-the-wire-deadline-news-journalism is a rush and
something that I enjoyed. But it provides almost little margin for
error--you have to be spot-on with your angle, research and knowledge.
London deadlines ruled our world. Our first morning deadline was 10am
Pacific for the UK edition. Leisurely awakenings at the office over a
muffin, coffee and e-mail were rare. Waking up was always quick.
Our next big deadline was 9.30pm Pacific, to catch the US edition and most
probably file a story for the 1pm European edition, and also an earlier
version to catch the very last UK edition at 9.30pm.
During earnings season, news stories are written in real-time while
listening to financial conference calls. It is not uncommon to have to
quickly analyze quarterly numbers and knock out a preliminary 150 words
story for the FT.com web site by 9.30pm, then jump into the earnings
conference call and update the story, Then in between there is filing of
news to the FT.com web site, there are analysis pieces on the news to be
done, meetings with tech execs, etc.
I would head off at about 8pm, Louise usually still working. Then 7am the
next day we could come in and do it again, not knowing what news would break
that day or when. Then the dotbomb landed, but more on that at a later
time...
dk181040
January 18, 2005 10:35 AM
