What happens when the Kashoo team continues to grow and grow and grow? We get more “20 Questions” features here on the Kashoo blog! (Yes, we also get new engineering talent, new finance brains, customer support specialists and more, but it’s all about this blog, right?!?!) So let’s get right to it and meet Kashoo’s CFO, the one and only Wendy Rose… Full Name? Wendy Lee Rose Nickname? In university it was “Joe.” Let me explain. During university I had three jobs to make ends meet. One of them was to work for a study the Commerce Department at UBC was doing on Group Decision Support Systems. They paid me to be their “average Joe user.” I told all my friends what a sweet gig it was to get paid to do this because it wasn’t really work! Once I told them more about my role though, the nickname stuck. Some of them still call me “Joe” to this day. What’s your title and role at Kashoo? I’m the CFO. Any CFO knows that that title is about as crystal clear as they come. Where do you live? Naramata, British Columbia What’s your tech setup? For work I use a Surface Pro2 tablet. For play, an iPad. What was your first computer? In 1990, I bought a NeXT slab and printer at the University Bookstore and to this day I can still hear the female english voice: “your printer is out of paper.” The Network was really the future then. When you’re not Kashoo’ing, you’re doing what? I’m working for the sparkling wine house I co-own with my husband. What’s the farthest you’ve ever been from home? Instanbul, Turkey Have any pets? Do grapes count? What was your first job? I was a counter server at a Muffin Break. Who is your tech hero and why? In business, it’s Carly Fiorina, former CEO of HP. She was one of the first female CEO’s of a Fortune company. I remember the day I realized I would not make a good CEO. It was a crushing blow but I vicariously lived that experience through Fiorina’s very public CEO tenure at HP and decided that being the CFO was exactly where I wanted to be. In technology, it’s Jony Ive. The clean aesthetic of a functional product really appeals to me. What was the last restaurant you went to and what did you have? It was the Flying Pig in Gastown for crispy brussel sprouts and a glass of Van Westen Pinot Blanc. Describe your love for finance via haiku… What I do for you Steering a new tech future Makes it all worthwhile You get one last glass of wine for all eternity. What is it? A magnum of 1990 Alain Vesselle Brut from Bouzy, France. After that you can take anything. And yes, I said magnum. What do you love most about Kashoo customers? The fact that most of them are “the little guy” trying to make everything work, juggling a thousand balls—yet they are still so hands on that they do their own finances. What does entrepreneurship mean to you? Do anything for the success of the venture with the most creative use of the resources at hand. So basically MacGyver. Entrepreneurship means MacGyver. Someone is footing the bill for a two week vacation. Where are you going and what are you doing? I’m going back to France to spend two weeks drinking my way from one end of the Loire Valley to the other. Of course, the Menier family will let me stay in their quaint country home while I’m there: Chateau de Chenonceau. What’s the one news source you read every day? The New York Times. What’s your favorite all time quote and why? I don’t quote people that often but there are two things I’ve been saying my entire working career: 1. “It’s not ‘no,’ it’s ‘no for now.’” 2. “Everything is a function of time and money.” Do you have a favorite sports team? Spain to the win 2014 World Cup (Yup, I just blasphemed all of Brazil). Why do you do what you do? Early on in my career I helped raise venture financing for a company that had less than 20 employees and had been in business for just over a year. The moment they got the check, holding it in their hands… that look of validation that their idea was a good one and that they could continue to bringing it to market was palpable. It’s intoxicating to see that kind of passion about the future. And that, Kashoo friends, is our own Wendy Rose.
