Valleywag: dynasties

Mena Trott's future millions to fund daughter's therapy sessions

Owen Thomas — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:40:00 PDT

In June, Six Apart's Mena Trott told a CBS reporter, on camera, that she thought her baby was ugly. "Babies that age are kind of meh," she said. "I mean, Penelope has always been cute in our eyes, but looking back at pictures we think 'this is cute?' Not throw-up ugly, but definitely not as cute as now." Her comments did not air, but she inexplicably posted them on her blog, where Penelope — who is actually very cute, as the above still shows — will surely read them years from now. Her husband Ben, who cofounded the blog-software maker, made it on TV with an appropriately fatherly statement: "We just actually feel that she is that cute." Ben, who's pretty cute himself, has always been the shyer one in the Trott family. But we're starting to think he might have the makings of a better spokesperson than the loose-lipped Mena. Ben's TV appearance:

Happy anniversary! Jerry Yang finishes first year as CEO, barely

Nicholas Carlson — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Yahoo cofounder Jerry Yang became the company's CEO one year ago today. Highlights include spending the first 100 days pondering the company's "sacred cows," a reorg or two, February layoffs, and of course, failed merger negotiations with Microsoft. On the bright side, Yang and his wife Akiko Yamazaki had a second daughter recently — as good an excuse as any for Yang to "spend more time with his family." (Photo by Yodel Anecdotal)

New daddy Jeff Weiner takes a hit

Owen Thomas — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 11:20:00 PDT

Jeff Weiner, head of Yahoo's network division, recently became a father, and he's taking some time off. Mazel tov, Jeff, and well deserved! Nothing surprising about a new dad spending time with his child. What's got us interested is the way his underlings are buzzing about his paternity leave, which he extended from two weeks to a month — a move which may have prompted the cancellation of a planned press dinner, says AllThingsD's Kara Swisher. It's atypical for the hard-charging, micromanaging Weiner to spend so much time detached from work, says one, who wonders if it's a sign Weiner has a foot out the door. Another Yahoo thinks Weiner is just indulging in the joys of fatherhood. Heard any other whispers about Weiner? Send them in. (Photo by Yodel Anecdotal)

Quick, Ballmer, make your offer while Yang's busy caring for his newborn daughter

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang Yang's wife, Akiko Yamazaki, gave birth to the couple's second daughter this week. BoomTown's Kara Swisher reported the news, citing sources close to the company, and then warned Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer to "give Yang a break and back off, at least for today." For Yamazaki's sake, we hope Ballmer ignores this advice and takes an upped offer to Yahoo shareholders today, while Yang's too busy in the maternity ward to fend it off. Without a job, Jerry will have no excuse to ignore the 4 a.m. wailing.

Anne Wojcicki and Sergey Brin begin baby-making beta test, results expected in 9 months

Nicholas Carlson — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 09:00:00 PDT

Google cofounder Sergey Brin and his wife of nearly a year, Anne Wojcicki are expecting their first child, the New York Post screams. We're confident Wojcicki's easy access to DNA materials at her biotech firm 23andme will assure the creation of a much more attractive child than the one we've imagined here.

Jerry Yang's next big product release

Owen Thomas — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:20:06 PST

Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang may be shooting blanks in his takeover tussle with Steve Ballmer, but he's still a stud in the sack. He and wife Akiko Yamazaki are expecting their second child, a girl. (Photo by Stanford News Service/Steve Gladfelter)

Six Apart founders' heir presumptive

Owen Thomas — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 15:48:48 PDT

Who is Penelope Trott? According to a Twitter sent by Six Apart executive Anil Dash, a close confidante of Ben and Mena Trott, the founders of the blog-software company, she's made him "smile all day." We can only guess that Penelope is the name of the Trotts' long-expected offspring. If so, congratulations. We await the day when Mena and Ben bring their daughter to work and declare, "Some day, all of this will be yours. Well, except for the parts we sold off to our venture capitalists."

Happy birthday to the Trotts

Owen Thomas — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 14:28:54 PDT

It's a big year for Ben and Mena Trott, the husband-and-wife founders of Six Apart. The blog-software company was named after their six-days-apart birthdays; Mena just turned 30 yesterday, while Ben begins his fourth decade on Saturday. (Such a cradle-robber, that Mena.) Six Apart's board of directors just gave Mena the best present a founder could ask for — a new CEO, in the form of the eminently capable and blogging-savvy Chris Alden. Putting Alden, the former CEO of the Red Herring (back when it was an authority on tech, not its current incarnation) in charge should do much to clear up the company's bouts of less-than-transparent behavior. It's hard to top that kind of gift. So if you're in a generous mood, save it for the next generation of Trotts. The Trottlet, as some around the Six Apart office call Ben and Mena's next product release, is expected next month, according to their baby registry.

Silicon Valley's baby boom

Owen Thomas — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:45:23 PDT

I never intended for the blogger-baby story, which began with the birth of Ollie Kottke to A-list bloggers Jason Kottke and Meg Hourihan, to become quite such a saga, but news has a way of happening. Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield are no longer expecting a baby — they have a daughter, Sonnet Beatrice Butterfield, according to fellow Yahoo executive Bradley Horowitz. Here's the rundown on the rest of the couples mentioned in yesterday's baby poll, which — well done, readers — you guessed correctly.

Alaina Browne and Anil Dash The foodblogger and Six Apart executive are not pregnant, though Dash has been looking a little chunky.

Heather Powazek Champ and Derek Powazek: Flickr's community manager and the famous Web designer are not pregnant.

Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield: Flickr's cofounders made no secrecy of Fake's pregnancy, which ended yesterday with the safe delivery of a newborn daughter.

Jennifer Granick and Brad Stone: The lawyer and New York Times reporter are expecting, and are telling people about it.

Maryam and Robert Scoble: Would you really expect Robert Scoble, whose blogger wife, Maryam, is pregnant, not to blog about the fact?

Now we all know: Ben Trott proved so irresistably hot that his wife and fellow Six Apart cofounder, Mena, found herself in a family way. Until recently, she'd been trying to keep the fact private.

To the pregnant couples: Heartfelt congratulations and best wishes. To Fake and Butterfield: Mazel tov! To Browne, Dash, and the Powazeks: Get cracking! Valleywag is going to need readers in 2025.

(Photos by Anil Dash, edyson, granick, jacksonwest, Scott Beale / Laughing Squid, and simoncast)

What to expect when you're an executive who's expecting

Owen Thomas — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:29:20 PDT

Why make such a fuss over who's disclosing their pregnancies? I worked at Wired Ventures, then the publisher of Wired magazine, in 1996 and 1997, in the midst of the agony of its failed IPO attempt. One controversy at the time was the disclosure that cofounder Jane Metcalfe, the magazine's publisher, was pregnant and planned to take maternity leave shortly after the planned IPO. For the record, no one I know believes that Metcalfe's pregnancy had anything to do with Wired's troubles. But for a top executive to take a leave is always a strain on a young, growing company, and is a fact best disclosed, as Wired Ventures did. Hence my surprise that Mena Trott waited until now to talk about her news. Caterina Fake, the cofounder of Flickr and an executive at Yahoo, has, by contrast, written publicly and often about her pregnancy. More on the status of Fake's pregnancy, and the rest of the couples mentioned in our poll, shortly.

The pregnant A-lister comes out

Owen Thomas — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 06:59:05 PDT

Mena Trott, cofounder and president of Six Apart, the blog-software company, is pregnant. There, I said it — and now, so has she. Trott blames her superstitions as a first-time mother for keeping the pregnancy a secret for so long. The lack of disclosure, though, has been uncharacteristic for Trott who, as a spokesperson for her company, has long made blogging about herself an integral part of Six Apart's publicity strategy. Six Apart's new blogging site, Vox, however, makes it easier to keep some posts limited to a small circle of readers — which is part of how Trott kept her pregnancy quiet. For a blogger, work and home life are never far apart.

Let's play hide the baby

Owen Thomas — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:26:02 PDT

Last week, the birth of a son (and future blogger) to Jason Kottke and Meg Hourihan reminded us of another famous Web personality who ~~tried~~had a colleague try, bizarrely, to claim that the mom-to-be's pregnancy was "off the record." (Memo to other would-be secret-keepers: "Off the record" is always a matter of mutual agreement between reporter and source, not something you can declare unilaterally.) We asked for guesses on who it was, and you had lots of good ones. Now it's time to vote, picking out the baby-hiders from among these glamorous A-list bloggers. Pictures of the people you've speculated about, and a poll, after the jump.

The contestants: Alaina Browne and Anil Dash, Heather Powazek Champ and Derek Powazek, Caterina Fake and Stewart Butterfield

Jennifer Granick and Brad Stone, Maryam and Robert Scoble, and Ben and Mena Trott

(Photos by Anil Dash, edyson, granick, jacksonwest, Scott Beale / Laughing Squid, and simoncast)

A bouncing baby blog

Owen Thomas — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 14:54:21 PDT

Jason Kottke, who was blogging long before anyone called it that, and Meg Hourihan, the cofounder of Pyra Labs, maker of Blogger, are the proud parents of Ollie Kottke. Mazel tov to the new mom and dad! We can't wait until Ollie starts IMing us tips about his A-list blogger parents. For those of you as thrilled as I am by news of the next generation of bloggers, here's a question: Which other famous A-list blogger couple is set to have a baby very soon — but who are going around telling people, absurdly, that the mom-to-be's very obvious bump is "off the record"? (Photo by jkottke)