Tech journalists head for the doors

Ben Popper of BetaBeat writes about how some top tech journalists have left their jobs recently, just as the IPO market for tech companies has heated up.

Popper writes, “In the last two months Venture Beat’s Jacob Brody split for Mesa to run bunsiness development, CNET’s Caroline McCarthy took a gig with Google‘s Trends and Insights and Mashable’s Vadim Lavrusik left for Facebook.

“Today Silicon Alley Insider’s Dan Frommer joined the exodus, announcing his departure and noting he’s getting out while he’s on top. ‘It has been a wild time. Since I joined, the company has grown from three guys in a loading dock — we had to move our chairs so the FreshDirect order could be delivered — to a staff of 50, with more than 10 million monthly readers and a cool new office.’

“It seems Frommer will be taking the entrepreneurial route. ‘But for me, now is the best time to try building some things of my own, so that’s what I’m going to do. And I’m very excited about it.’

“‘These journalists have built up some of the best networks in the tech business. They look around at all the activity and wonder where the money is,’ a former reporter told Betabeat. ‘The truth is you get paid a lot more to keep your mouth shut than to publish people’s secrets.'”

Read more here.