Kurt Avarell, J.D. – 2018 20 Under 40 Vendor Superstar

Career Highlights:

Kurt began his career as a tax attorney at Milbank, a leading international law firm based in New York City. As a tax attorney, he decided to focus on tax resolution leaving Milbank and starting his own, highly successful firm, but he was continually frustrated with the lack of effective software available to help tax professionals accomplish their work in a simple and elegant way. He set out on a mission to develop a solution to simplify tax resolution accounting and founded Canopy, a cloud-based tax resolution and practice management software company that is replacing antiquated tax practice solutions with modern, simple ones. Since launch, Kurt has raised over $72M in funding, grown the company 300% YoY and has received numerous leadership accolades including the 2018 Glassdoor award as a top CEO for SMBs.

Kurt obtained his law degree from the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University and earned Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in accounting from Brigham Young University.

Favorite books/websites/speakers that you find influential

• The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni
• The Hard Things About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
• The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen

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

• CPA Practice Advisor
• Wall Street Journal
• The Economist

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See more of the 2018 40 Under 40 Honorees, and the 20 Under 40 Vendor Super Stars.