For our next installment of 20 Questions, it’s time to get up close and personal with our small business accounting software developer extraordinaire, Chris Luft. Enjoy! Full name? Christopher Erhard Luft Nickname? KZE (pronounced Kay-zee). When I was younger my friends called me Crazy but I could only use three letters to enter my name into the high score rankings on video games. Thus, KZE. The full version of the nickname comes from some of the antics I would engage in before I had a good sense of general awareness. The risk aversion algorithm is a constant work in progress! Computing Rig? Macbook Pro with a 4-core i7 processor running at 2.6 GHz with 8 GB of RAM used with a 27″ Apple Cinema Display. I also have a custom built tower with a 8-core i7 processor running at 3.9 GHZ with 32 GB of RAM and 768 GB of SSD. This machine is aptly named “The Beast” and has more working memory than my first computer had storage. What do you do at Kashoo? I am a software developer and have been with Kashoo for a little over two years. My time here has been split between working on our server and the Kashoo iPad app. I also seem to be the unofficial recruiter. Longest you’ve ever spent in a car (and where were you traveling to/from)? Nothing exceptional as far as car travel goes but my wife and I spent 10 days of our honeymoon sailing up the west coast of British Columbia in our little 21′ Tanzer sailboat (and by little I mean you can’t even stand up inside of it). It was a magical trip and I can tell you, without a doubt, that there is no greater newlywed bonding exercise than resetting your anchor at 3:00 a.m. on a stormy night. What did you study in school? I started with the intent of pursuing a degree in History of Art and ended up with a BS in Computer Science with a Software Engineering option from the University of Victoria. Dessert you’re a sucker for? A warm chocolate brownie with some raspberry coulis and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. All expenses paid vacation. Where are you going and why? I would love to make a trip to Antarctica. I have been fascinated by the continent ever since I read the harrowing account of Ernest Shakleton and the Trans-Antarctic Expedition. Beverage of choice? A crisp and frosty lager on a hot summer day. What do you miss most about the 90s? Nothing culturally sticks out for me during that period of my life; however, I did have a lot of freedom. So I guess I would have to say I miss the freedom of youth. What you’re listening to right now? Pretty Grizzly 10 which is an electro mix made by my fellow Kashoo’er and software developer, Geoff Spears. The music is not for everybody but my productivity goes way up every time he puts out a new mix. Have a listen! Sport you’ve never tried but would love to? Proximity flying (with all of the proper training of course). If you have never seen this sport… Celebrity you share a birthday with? Blaise Pascal Favorite city ? Vancouver, British Columbia because it is surrounded by pristine forests, clean air and water. We live in a world class city with easy access to immense environmental wealth. It is really something special and I hope the people of British Columbia do not lose sight of how valuable it is. Tech hero? This is a tough one. If I can only pick one I would have to say Bill Gates and not for any technical innovations he might have made in his career but rather for the work he is doing through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He has committed the vast majority of his fortune and gained commitments from other titans of industry, such as Warren Buffet, to do the same. The foundation is working to give everybody the world over an equal opportunity to thrive. They spend their money trying to reduce obstacles relating to poor health, nutrition and education. India just had its first year without a single case of polio as a direct result of their work and they are leading the fight against antibiotic resistant tuberculosis and malaria, among other things. The whole Kashoo team is coming over for dinner. What are you cooking for us? Sockeye Salmon BBQ’ed on a wet cedar plank glazed with a maple syrup and lemon juice reduction. Served with some long grain brown rice and thinly sliced cucumber salad wrung dry with a towel and then mixed with a little bit of sour cream and dill. Accompanied with a bottle of Pinot Gris from one of British Columbia’s fine wineries and followed by some blackberry sorbet for dessert. (Editor’s note: Chris is officially cooking for us as soon as the weather permits.) Favorite book? What Matters Most is How Well You Walk Through the Fire by Charles Bukowski. It is a posthumous collection of work by the somewhat controversial poet with my favourite being a poem called ‘Roll the Dice.’ Pets? I have a Maine Coon named Barbosa who weighs 8 kilograms—which is about 18 pounds for our American friends. He is pretty much the best cat ever except when he is waking me up at 6:00 a.m. to tell me he is hungry by knocking things off of the counter. What do you love most about Kashoo customers? That they are all adventurers. It takes a lot of guts to test yourself against the world and run your own business and I am honoured that the work we do plays a role in supporting them on their expedition into the unknown. You get to play hooky for the day. What’s the plan? Just a day? Chances are if it were only a day I would end up working on one of my personal projects. I love making things. The process of taking an idea and turning it into something that would not exist otherwise is probably the most satisfying way I could spend my time. And that, ladies and gents, is Chris Luft.
