Written by Liz Gannes
Posted Friday, April 6, 2007 at 12:30 AM PT

 

Vator Under Fire for Columnist Involvement

Update: Bambi Francisco has resigned from MarketWatch following criticism of her involvement in Vator.tv (see background in our coverage below). She explained she will now dedicate herself full-time to Vator in her goodbye column at MarketWatch, posted Friday afternoon. “The understanding had always been that if it got to a point at which I could not proceed without conflicts of interest, then I would leave MarketWatch to focus on Vator.tv,” she wrote.

Bambi Francisco, a tech columnist for MarketWatch, is catching flak for her involvement with Vator.tv, a site which enables startups to upload videos pitching their business ideas. CNET questioned the ethics of Francisco and her employer in a piece Thursday, and the Wall Street Journal (which, like MarketWatch, is owned by Dow Jones) followed up with a more detailed assessment of companies and people Francisco covered who have ties to Vator.

Francisco, for instance, wrote about PreFound and Friendster after they posted videos on Vator. She’s also covered Powerset, LinkedIn, and Facebook, all companies that primary Vator investor Peter Thiel had also funded.

I had interviewed Francisco about Vator a while back and got a somewhat different impression of the circumstances of the founding of Vator and Francisco’s arrangement with her employer than portrayed in these articles.

First off, it was my impression that Francisco founded Vator, not accepted a stake in it last September, as CNET’s Greg Sandoval wrote.

“It is something that I basically started last year as an experiment,” she told me, saying the site had only become open to the public on January 1 of this year. “I got the green light from my boss to see whether this was something that would be useful for me.”

Sandoval also wrote,

“Francisco is not allowed to write about any of the companies that make pitches through Vator, [MarketWatch Editor In Chief David] Callaway said, and she is not allowed to be Thiel’s ‘marketing department,’ a shorthand way of saying she’s supposed to steer clear of writing in favor of Thiel’s interests.”

And according to a letter provided to the WSJ,

“Mr. Callaway said he approved the investment on the condition that Ms. Francisco ‘not write about that company, its investors, or the companies using Vator.tv.’”

Francisco’s explanation to NewTeeVee was a bit more nuanced. “I don’t really want to get too involved in where I am with MarketWatch and this, but it’s very much something that is out in the open with MarketWatch,” she said in an interview, a while ago. “The deal with MarketWatch is I can only write about these companies on my blog or column when they’re big enough.” Thus, Vator’s purpose is “If I can’t write about you then maybe you can tell other people about yourself.”

As for monetary investment in the company, I wasn’t clear on how much Francisco had personally provided. She did say explicitly “Peter Thiel is very involved as an investor.” Throughout the interview she referred to Vator as a small, inexpensive project. We are reaching out to Francisco for comment and will add any replies to the story Friday.

 

Sphere
Topic: Startups
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Comments & Trackbacks

  1. [...] with a more detailed assessment of companies and people Francisco covered who have ties to Vator. Continue Reading Share/E-mail | Sphere | Print | Topic: Asides | Tags: Bambi Francisco, [...]

    GigaOM » The Vator.TV Fracas on April 6th, 2007 at 12:28 pm - Permalink

  2. The money honey is flying all over the world on corporate jets doing whatever, and they are giving Bambi a hard time over this?

    RandomThoughts on April 6th, 2007 at 12:41 pm - Permalink

  3. Great publicity for vator!

    Bob on April 6th, 2007 at 1:03 pm - Permalink

  4. [...] Bambi Francisco, a tech columnist for MarketWatch, is catching flak for her involvement with Vator.tv, a site which enables startups to upload videos pitching their business ideas. CNET questioned the ethics of Francisco and her employer in a piece Thursday, and the Wall Street Journal (which, like MarketWatch, is owned by Dow Jones) followed up with a more detailed assessment of companies and people Francisco covered who have ties to Vator. Continue Reading [...]

    Google launches 800GOOG411 » TechAddress on April 6th, 2007 at 1:24 pm - Permalink

  5. Eh, she’s cute, so I’m ok with it. She just announced her resignation from Marketwatch. Check their webpage for details.

    You guys made her quit! Now I’ve got to watch all the uglies on the marketwatch videos. How disappointing…

    Dan on April 6th, 2007 at 4:22 pm - Permalink

  6. It’s about time. I have been a frequent reader of MarketWatch and a fan of Bambi for some time. I’ve alwasy wondered when will she start her own gig? She has the connection, fame, and what it takes to get it going.

    You can’t fault her for working for herself. Most people at the bottom of their heart want to start their own gig if they can pull it off. Good for her.

    Jimmy on April 6th, 2007 at 4:57 pm - Permalink

  7. [...] no more. Bambi is leaving MarketWatch today. Although her leaving has some “Bambigate” connotation to it, it is time for her to take advantage of her connections, talents, and [...]

    Founders Cafe » Blog Archive » Go Bambi on April 6th, 2007 at 5:22 pm - Permalink

  8. [...] on Vator.tv. But the WSJ noticed a number of articles where that separation didn’t hold, and plenty of bloggers picked up on the story and discussions. Bambi officially resigned from MarketWatch to [...]

    vDemo Blog » Blog Archive » Vator Tv gets popular with controversy on April 7th, 2007 at 3:39 am - Permalink

  9. Bambi covered innovative companies and I was a fan of her. What she did with Vator.tv and Marketwatch was not ethical. It was a good move for her to separate herself from Marketwatch so both can individually maintain their image.

    TJ Modi on April 7th, 2007 at 9:29 am - Permalink

  10. [...] to Create YouTube for Biz? As others have noted, sounds like Bambi Francisco’s Vator.tv. [...]

    NewTeeVee » Tuesday Morning Vid-Biz Headlines on May 29th, 2007 at 6:01 am - Permalink

  11. [...] to Create YouTube for Biz? As others have noted, sounds like Bambi Francisco’s Vator.tv. [...]

    - Blog Archive » Tuesday Morning Vid-Biz Headlines on May 29th, 2007 at 7:42 am - Permalink

  12. [...] Vator.tv to relaunch site for video pitches at 6 p.m. PST tonight following Bambi Francisco leaving MarketWatch to pursue it full-time. [...]

    NewTeeVee » Wednesday Morning Vid-Biz Headlines on June 6th, 2007 at 10:36 am - Permalink

  13. [...] dispute on whether Francisco invested - or just started up the company herself. Liz Gannes over at NewTeeVee suggests that Francisco admitted to starting up the [...]

    Bambi Francisco Leaves MarketWatch for Vator.TV on June 22nd, 2007 at 5:12 am - Permalink

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