If you are one of the ten people who watch "Why Isn't This News?" this is the announcement I referenced last week, when I said a very senior person called me out of the blue and asked about helping us build something special at PandoDaily. You'll recall that I was so stunned and thrilled at the prospect that I hopped on the phone immediately, and we hammered out a deal in a matter of minutes.
It was the ultimate proof of what Paul and I have been talking about with the 24-hour-hire test: The right people for this blog get what we're trying to do and want to be a part of it. And when that happens...well, those are the happiest days as an entrepreneur. Because this site is nothing without the talent and hard work of people like Greg, Trevor, Erin, Nathan, Andrew, and now, Kym and her long-time cameraman and editor, Anthony Nielsen.
This is why we raised $2.5 million, so when people like Kym call me out of the blue, all I have to do is say, "Dear God, yes! When can you start?"
Kym is a very experienced reporter with copious experience in front of the camera and behind the camera producing. (Check her out grilling me about PandoDaily here.) She's an expert at the very thing most online video lacks, including our own previous efforts, the ability to edit together a concise, compelling 3-minute package. (Although Paul insists she isn't getting her professional editing hands on the horribly produced chaos that is WITN.)
Kym was most recently an anchor, reporter and producer at Forbes, where she'd built the West Coast video department from scratch, wrote for Forbes.com and Forbes Magazine. This marked the fourth time she'd built a video department from scratch, and she'll be doing it again with PandoDaily.
Not only is Kym highly skilled in front of and behind the camera, she's an extraordinarily smart reporter, with a great network of sources and a keen ability to break news. She's going to be an amazing complement to our existing team. Kym and Anthony have just put in their notice at Forbes and will be joining the team in two weeks.
Kym and Anthony will bring to light the newsmakers and the culture of entrepreneurship in a way that I haven't seen anyone else do consistently. The story ideas we've talked about have already blown away my wildest expectations.
To clarify, we're not launching a stand-alone video site. Kym and Anthony's work will be integrated into the blog, and they'll function just like part of our editorial team, only they will tell their stories with a camera.
Kym is also a regular on several local and national television shows, and she will continue to represent PandoDaily on various networks as an expert on startup and tech news. (For press inquiries email her at kym at pandodaily dot com.)
As if all of that wasn't enough, Kym is a great coach for people who haven't been on camera before. All of our reporters, including me, will benefit greatly from having Kym on our team.
We weren't really planning on hiring a video staff this soon, but I've been involved with enough online video efforts to know what it takes to make them work. I'm well aware of how rare her skill set is, because I've tried to hire someone like her twice before. I feel about Kym the way we felt about Jon Orlin at TCTV: When you find video people this talented, you grab them immediately and don't let go.
If you don't know Kym's work now, trust me: You're going to grow to love it.Follow her immediately on Twitter.
