I have known both of them through my work with EVXLabs (I co-designed, and developed their website) for some time. Brent I have known pretty well – being a foreigner (South African), like me (Australian), it was easy to bond over things such as language, cultural, and food differences (he is the only other person I know in the company besides me that will touch black licorice). Phil, however, I have only spoken to a handful of times – so I looked forward to getting to know more about the man over some lunch.

And he is quite an interesting character. At what must be nearly 300 feet tall, he is quite imposing, yet when you speak with him you quickly find out that he is friendly and open and has a lot of interesting stories and thoughts to share. I learned about some of his previous ventures, some of his outlook on life and  about some of the adventures of his younger days. I was thrilled to find out that he had vacationed in Australia in the past and enjoyed discussing his experience with him.

I also got to know Brent better as well, learning more about him as a person (yes, he actually appears to be a real, nice, guy and not some corporate drone whose only purpose in life (when he is not snagging some of my licorice), is to hand me work requests with no supporting information and tight deadlines. He seems just like me, just a guy with a nice family, interesting background and outlook on life.

It was quite an enjoyable lunch. And the German food at Kuby’s didn’t hurt, either (I can recommend the Chicken Schnitzel Ceasar) .