Last month, we introduced small business accounting guru and newly minted Kashoo’er, Kasey Bayne, with a rapid fire round of 20 questions. Since that post turned out to be pretty popular, we thought we’d make it a regular series. Next up, Kashoo CTO Chuck Clark. Enjoy… Full name? Charles Nowell Clark, Jr. Nickname? Chuck or “‘pedia” Fifteen Minutes of Fame? For my 8th grade science project I decided I wanted to make holograms. I thought acquiring a laser was the coolest thing. However, the project received more notoriety in my neighborhood than at school because I hauled just shy of two tons of sand into my parents basement to build the vibration-free table required for the project. So let’s just say check back with me on this one in a few years… Current computing rig? A 15” Retina MacBook Pro and a 30” Cinema Display. Having been spoiled by Retina I find myself using the external monitor less and less. Beverage of choice? Do I have to pick just one? Any beer on tap at my local spot, The Alibi Room. At home I’ve really been enjoying making Dark & Stormy’s with Belizean One Barrel rum. During daylight hours, it’s an Americano from Vancouver’s hippest coffee bar, Revolver. You get one superpower. Which is it? You’ve listened to that This American Life episode, right? Being a private pilot and having almost attended the United States Air Force Academy where my life would’ve revolve around flying, I’d pick the power of flight without a second thought. Outdoor activity? I moved from to Vancouver from Chicago to have epic cycling, kayaking and snowboarding in my backyard. XC skate skiing is the most recent addition to the lineup. An expenses-paid vacation. Where are you going? Mt. Kilimanjaro. Best job you ever had (besides Kashoo CTO, of course)? Running the computer lab at the University of Illinois Materials Research Laboratory Center for Computation. It was one of those quintessential dark, windowless, academic computer labs with PhDs working on theses. I learned a ton about networking and got access to computers I’d only been able to read about previously. Historical footnote: They gave me Marc Andreesen’s old desk when I started because he’d just left to go to NCSA to work on a little software program called Mosaic. Thoughts on iPad Mini? We picked one up this weekend. Great form factor for reading and playing Letterpress. My wife loves it which means I’ll finally get the iPad2 back. Tech hero? Elon Musk. PayPal, SpaceX, Tesla. He doesn’t think small and the guy doesn’t show any signs of stopping. Athletic moment of glory? You’re not looking for high school mathlete feats, right? If not, completing a northbound through ride of the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route fits the bill. First Apple device ever purchased? An Apple ][+ loaded with 64KB of RAM, no lower case letters and a 110 baud modem. All-Time favorite meal? Arun’s in Chicago serves the most incredible Thai food and if you told me I could only eat at five restaurants ever again it would top the list. Thanksgiving turkey with all the fixings would also be in the running. Since moving to Vancouver I now get to celebrate Canadian and US Thanksgiving. Twice the tryptophan! Favorite band/artist? Blind Pilot and The Decemberists. And I can’t forget about local Vancouver talent, Dan Mangan. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, IE, Other? Until Mountain Lion came out I was a diehard Safari guy. But until the performance issues get sorted out, I’m liking Chrome Canary. Favorite Kashoo customer engagement moment? I love any time I get to speak with a customer about our product and get feedback. That’s so critical to our ability to release product improvements that customers actually want and need. I’m particularly excited and proud of how the team incorporated these conversations into the new Kashoo iPad app release. It looks great, is easier to use and sets us up well for adding some great new functionality in the upcoming months. Go-to late night food? Pretzels. A good Pennsylvania Dutch pretzel is nowhere to be found in Cascadia. I’d trade a year’s worth of great accounting software to anyone who could hook me up. Until then, popcorn serves as a reasonable proxy and my search continues. Favorite part of having a new baby? She’s not even three months old yet so everyday is something new which is so exciting. But that little smile of recognition when I pick her up can’t be beat. Least favorite part of having a new baby? To say I’m not a planner is an understatement. Thus there are many “Are there fresh diapers?” moments. And that, ladies and gents, is Kashoo CTO Chuck Clark.
