Kurt Avarell – 2019 20 Under 40 Honoree

Kurt Avarell is the founder and CEO of Canopy, the leading cloud-based software helping tax and accounting professionals streamline their practice and disrupting the $100B+ tax software and services market. Starting his career as a corporate attorney in Manhattan where he often took on pro bono tax cases, Kurt noticed a lack of effective and intuitive software available to help tax professionals accomplish their work quickly. With the goal of developing a cloud-based solution that modernized and humanized the way tax professionals work, he left his career, relocated to his basement in Utah and spent six months teaching himself how to code in order to build what he had developed in his mind. In 2014 Canopy was founded and has grown from just Kurt to over 150 employees, taken in $72 million in funding to date and is the leading tax and accounting software solution.

Favorite books/websites/speakers that you find influential

• The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
• Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl

What websites/magazines do you use to keep up on news of the accounting profession?

• CPA Practice Advisor
• Accounting Today
• Kelly Phillips Erb, @taxgirl
• TechCrunch
• SaaStr

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See all of the “20 Under 40” honorees for 2019.