Smoking Sarah Lacy

Amid all the kerfuffle over her BusinessWeek cover story, and subsequent book deal, there's one salient fact about Sarah Lacy that most commentators are way too politically correct to mention: she is the hottest reporter in the Valley. No, make that the hottest reporter in the tech world — ever.

Recap: Lacy co-wrote the magazine story which catapulted Kevin Rose of Digg to wider fame. The coverline, over a photo of the linkdump founder with his thumbs up, proclaimed: How This Kid Made $60 Million In 18 Months. Cue Silicon Valley derision, which didn't stop Lacy quickly tapping a New York publisher for a rumored six figures.

And, in all these stories, even Valleywag glossed over the fact that Lacy is smoking, so smoking that she'd even be considered smoking in one of those cities where models and actresses congregate. She's also flirtatious, especially after a drink or two.

Not saying that's the reason for her success. Lacy's married, to a civilian, happily. The fact that she and Jeremy Stoppelman of Yelp are both attractive, and know each other, does not mean that they're having an affair, or that she sleeps with other tech execs. And she got the book deal without ever meeting her agent, or publisher, in person, though they might have snuck a look at her photo, I guess.

But, in maintaining access to young entrepreneurs such as Max Levchin and Joshua Schachter, the likely subjects of her book, Lacy's looks don't hurt. Oh, I guess this counts as one of those bubble indicators. You know it's a bubble when ... the tech business books are written by hotties.

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