From carnival queen to computing

Karen got the business bug early organising local carnivals

Karen Richardson was appointed chief executive of E.piphany in July 2003.

Ms Richardson began her career in the software business 20 years ago after graduating from Stanford University.

Before joining E.piphany she held a number of posts including a senior sales job at Netscape Communications and vice president of worldwide sales at Collabra Software.

Since joining the seven-year-old company, Karen has seen its sales and market share increase, resulting in E.piphany's first profit.

What was your first car?

My first car was a Toyota Tercel. It was a hand-me-down from my older brother. It was his first car and I inherited it.

What I really wanted was a red VW Rabbit, which I eventually got - years later.

What was your first job?

My first job was working for myself. I ran carnivals. This was even before I babysat. I would do a carnival once a year, every year, in my neighbourhood.

I would get all the other neighbourhood girls and we would set up games, sell tickets and get mothers to make cupcakes.

This started when I was in fifth grade, so I must have been 11 years old. I think we made about $150 (£90), divided between about four girls, with 50 bucks for myself.

What was your first house?

The first house I got a mortgage for is the house I live in now. It is an old, traditional English-style cottage house. We paid $1.1m for it (£661,455).

Who is your biggest inspiration?

My aunt, Linda Bergsteinsson, who recently passed away.

She was an engineer, and graduated back in the 1950s, when it was rare for women to graduate in engineering.

She worked at Xerox Parc here in California. She was one of the original technology team that invented the computer mouse, as well as a whole bunch of other interesting software programs that she worked on.

She helped put me through college, let me live at her house, helped pay my tuition and was always a great friend.

What's the best bit of business advice you've had?

What goes around comes around.

Being ethical and always sticking to your principles will pay off in the end.

There is no short way or quick remedy to success, just do it the right way even if it takes a little longer.

What can the government do to boost business?

I am a free market economist. I believe the best thing government can do is to get the heck out of the way. I believe in completely open borders and free trade without any restrictions.

What's the big business story grabbing your interest at the moment?

Google going public. I have a big belief that there are life changing technologies. The internet was one of them, Ebay is another.

It is a global market place and Ebay has levelled out the trading of goods and services, which I think is incredible.

Google is interesting because the ability to search the internet is what makes it great. The Internet is a huge library and until Google came along, what it was missing was a great search engine. What is interesting about that is that Google becomes a pivotal launch point for doing other things.

Google is not just about search - it could be a meeting place, a market place. I think it will end up being a lot more.

What's the biggest challenge facing your business at the moment?

The business climate being erratic, with business cycles constantly accelerating and then slowing down. It has been a tough few years.

The toughest thing has been sticking to your vision and not being distracted by short term changes in the economy, such as terrorism threats, Iraqi war, oil prices. There are so many things that can derail you from your strategy and your vision.

That is the most challenging thing in business today; staying focused.

What was the proudest moment of your career?

What I will tell you is that I have had several proud moments in my career.

Those moments have arisen when someone that I have brought in have done something phenomenal. When someone that has been under my wing succeeds, that is the best thing.

Probably the most important thing you can do as an executive is to be a good mentor and a good manager.

It is about recognising good talent, nurturing it, bringing people up through the ranks and letting them run and be successful.

When the people you have hired are promoted, or win sales contests, or become general mangers, it is a great feeling.

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E.piphany is a provider of Customer Relationship Management software. It was founded in 1997.

The Nasdaq listed company provides services to more than 475 consumer-oriented enterprises including Carphone Warehouse, Halifax Bank of Scotland and the Hard Rock Cafe.

The group employs about 500 people in the US and globally, and last year saw its revenues break the $96m barrier.