
A 10-Year-Old's Journey, from Lemonade Stand to Silicon Valley - e15ctr0n
http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/10/07/a-10-year-olds-journey-from-lemonade-stand-to-silicon-valley/
======
Noelkd
Laura California 6 hours ago

Why do I get the queasy feeling that the dad is exploiting the daughter?

Eric Harr Marin County, Calif. 22 minutes ago

Hi Laura:

Thank you for taking the time to post your comment.

As a parent, if I read this article about someone else's daughter, I would
have the same initial reaction that you did: "Is the dad exploiting the
daughter?"

However, I am Vivienne's dad and I will tell you, from my heart of hearts,
that we are simply doing everything we can to lift up Vivienne and help her
realize her dream of giving anyone the chance to do what she did -- to make a
stand and make a difference.

When I left my well-paying job to support Vivienne, truth be told, it was
scary. I have a family to support. Over the past two years, we have made
tremendous sacrifices to see this dream through, and we are fully, emotionally
invested in it. I believe I made the right choice.

I know you don't know me, and I know these are just words on a computer
screen. I hope we might meet one day, so that you can look into my eyes and
see the sincerity in them. I will tell you that this experience has been the
most rewarding journey of our lives.

Mark Twain once said: "The two most important days in your life are the day
you are born and the day you find out why." The day Vivienne set up that first
lemonade stand was the day I found out why.

Thank you for listening. I wish you all the best, Laura.

Eric Harr

From the comments on nytimes.

------
7Figures2Commas
> Perhaps we shouldn’t be cynical. Instead, maybe we should just marvel at the
> velocity of Silicon Valley in all its absurd glory, and at a 10-year-old who
> has raised millions for two separate businesses and may also help change the
> way we look at charity.

I missed the part where a 10-year old raised millions of dollars. The previous
NYT story[1] by the very same author presented a slightly different narrative
of the company less than a year ago:

> Vivienne’s success was spurred by a heart-rending cause, a cute face and a
> good tagline in the form of “make a stand.” But she would most likely have
> just been another lemonade stand if not for her father, a social media
> expert. Eric Harr was president at the time of Resonate Social, and his
> clients included CBS News and Lexus, among others. He led a media-savvy
> Twitter campaign that attracted national attention for Vivienne’s cause.

> What makes this feel-good story really interesting is what happened next.
> Instead of moving on, or even forming a nonprofit to continue those goals,
> Mr. Harr and his wife, as well as Vivienne, formed a business around this
> cause.

> _Mr. Harr raised $982,000 in financing and incorporated Make a Stand._ He
> quit his job and is now the chief executive. Make a Stand sells fair-trade,
> organic lemonade.

If the author wanted to make a point about "the velocity of Silicon Valley in
all its absurd glory," I think he could have found plenty of better examples.

[1] [http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/in-a-lemonade-
stand-a...](http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/11/12/in-a-lemonade-stand-a-
transformation-of-the-corporation/)

------
ChuckMcM
I am really happy for the success here, and it does reflect the Silicon Valley
narrative that anyone can make it big. But I am never sure if stories like
this help or hurt. The cynic in me sees a PR guy who exploited his own
daughter to create a viral PR campaign, the optimist in me sees it as
validation that shooting for a large goal is never "stupid" and if your chance
of success is equal for what ever goal you aim for then "go big" as they say.

I would be both sad and pretty impressed if the lemonade stand idea was just a
pre-planned launch vehicle for the app.

~~~
themoonbus
I agree with most of what you said, but I don't think the narrative here is
that _anyone_ can make it big... it's that if you have connections in Silicon
Valley, it's fairly easy to raise money.

This shouldn't diminish the creativity and good-heartedness of the 10-year
old, but if her dad were a fast food worker, I don't think we would be reading
about her in the Times.

------
orbifold
I like how instead of sugar they list "Evaporated Cane Juice" as one of their
ingredients, it's one of several hundred legal names for sugar. Given that
sugar is probably one of the leading causes in child obesity, together with
them being a for profit company, I'm not entirely sure why you would not give
money to charity directly.

------
kelvin0
Not to sound jaded, but surely if this had been a non-white 10 year old girl
from a disadvantaged background it would have been something to make me warm
and fuzzy inside. Instead, the cynic in me wonders how the Dad pulled this off
...

