Son rents billboard in SF to finally get VC dad’s attention
Michael Harker, 17, is a current student at The Harker School and loves spending time with his mother and 3 siblings. He has, however, only seen his father, John Harker, a total of 15 times throughout his lifetime.
“My father is just so busy,” Michael explains, “Between the meetings, Twitter DMs, and cuddle puddles, there’s hardly time for family. I don’t blame him.” Michael’s high school graduation ceremony is in a month, but his father has yet to RSVP or respond to his texts.
John Harker’s corner office on 2nd and Folsom boasts a rather stunning view of the entrance to the 101 South, but the grandest structure in this scene belongs to a billboard, whose ad space was once occupied by Brighterion, Brex, and other tech companies just about to raise their next round of funding. This billboard now belongs to Michael Harker.
“My father takes most of his investing guidance from these billboards. They show him which deals are worth looking into,” Michael reveals. It’s no shock, then, that Michael chose this medium to get his father’s attention.
“It’s important to be vague when putting up a billboard,” Michael says. “So I just made it say ‘People. Performance Management. CRMs.’ so he can finally be interested in what I have to say.”
Sources close to Michael say John Harker finally texted him back, saying, “How are you? Son, age 17, plays lacrosse, likes hip hop music? Can you put some time on my calendar? cc Clara thx”
co-authored with Athena Kan
