Too Cool for School

Making enemies of the wrong parents has been hazardous to Juul’s health

-  Lauren Etter

A therton, Calif., once a quiet whistle-stop along the Southern Pacific Railroad, is situated 30 miles south of San Francisco and minutes from downtown Palo Alto. Fewer than 10,000 people live there, many of them behind tall hedges and forbidding gates. It’s the wealthiest city in America, with an average annual income above $525,000, and its residents have included some of the world’s most famous technology executives, including Eric Schmidt from Google and Sheryl Sandberg from Facebook. NBA star Stephen Curry bought a $31 million estate there. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen had one worth $35 million.

In comparison, Kevin Burns’s stately home in an Atherton neighborhood called King Estates seemed modest. Toward the end of the summer in 2017, Burns was sitting in the kitchen with his son and some of his son’s friends. They were students at Palo Alto High School—Paly, as it’s known by locals.

About a year earlier, Burns had left Chobani, the yogurt company, where he’d pulled off an operational miracle. After being brought in from the private equity firm TPG Capital, he’d righted the ship of a promising company that had been almost ruined by a crisis that saw sour, bubbling, oozing cups of moldy yogurt wind up in grocery store coolers, sickening dozens and leading to a nationwide recall. The feat solidified his reputation as a turnaround guru. Now he was considering a new job, as the chief executive officer of Juul Labs.