Why We’re Still At TechCrunch

Sometimes people ask me why we’re still here even though we’re owned by poopy pants Aol, and I’m all like, “Huh what? Oh I’m sorry I’m drunk, who are you again?”

Lolz.

Okay so the real reason that I and the rest of the TC team are here, despite the fact that we’re all so incredibly and obviously employable, is that we get to work with a bunch of geniuses all day every day. Seriously, it is awesome just getting to set a record/be a part of this crazy time while also inadvertently creating jobs and keeping our own.

But the biggest reason we’re all still here is that we all super believe in all the amazing stars on our team. And there is no one who we believe in more than Leena Rao, who is about to have a kid and still just wants to work.

Like she sent this maternity leave email to us earlier and it we’re all like, “Wow Leena, you are so hardcore, we have to publish this …” So here you go Rao (I’d say you should hire her, but if you try to poach her from us I will kill you):

Hey Eric and Alexia-

I had a doctor’s appointment today and right now I am scheduled to have a c-section delivery on the morning (8:00 am CT) of Friday, May 11. I’d like to make my last day Wednesday, May 9 if that is ok with both of you. I think I’ll be so nervous on Thursday that I can’t imagine I’ll get much work done anyway:)

That being said, I could go into labor any time before then…if that happens, I’ll email you immediately and turn on my email responder. The likely scenario in this situation is that I’ll have a few hours to get wrap things up before I have to head into the hospital.

Starting this week, I’ve been mostly passing embargoed news and requests to the other writers. I figured that next week, I’ll focus on spot news and a few feature items that I’m working on. I am doing a One Kings Lane-like long-form company profile piece on Box, and also have another thought piece I’m going to write before next Wed.

I’ll get you an excel spreadsheet of the companies I cover and contacts in the next day or so.

Let me know if there is anything else I can provide. At the moment, I am scheduled to take 12 weeks of maternity leave but I don’t know if I can last that long…I may miss it too much:)

Leena

Goddamn she makes me want to be a harder worker/mom. Too legit, too legit to quit: Leena Rao.