Q&A with entrepreneur Nooruddin "Rudy" Karsan, who gave it all away

Entrepreneur hit it big, then he gave it all away

By Jane M. Von Bergen • Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA – First, Nooruddin "Rudy" Karsan, 58, sold Kenexa, the human resources software company he co-founded, to IBM in 2012 for $1.3 billion, taking home far more than the $50 million originally reported.

Then, he sold his Ferrari, and several cars — and he didn't stop there.

"One of the things I did, post-sale, in the last 18 months is I took all material things out of my life," he said.

"I had a Ferrari," Karsan said. "I got rid of that. We moved from a 9,000-square-foot home to a 2,000-square-foot condo right here in the city. I own no second homes anymore. I literally have seven pairs of pants."

Q: Wow, I'm impressed. I find it hard to toss my holiday cards. Why did you do it?

Q: How do you express it?

A: I don't want you to make it sound like I'm a do-gooder. If I've got an hour to spare, I'll walk (down) the lines in (a local utility office). I'll just spend cash and pay utility bills. I tell the security guard I'm paying his utility bill and I tell the teller the same thing. I never give my name. That's one example. I love this country so much.

Q: After you sold Kenexa, you stayed on with IBM for a bit. Next came Karlani, your investment company.

A: I'm a rookie investor, OK? Being a rookie, you make rookie mistakes. I decided to do this probably six months or so before I left IBM. When you've had a big exit, you think you're God's gift to the business world. You are infallible. The first investment I made was a (software) company in the Middle East. It was a bust. Within 18 months, it dropped seven digits.

Q: Seven, as in closer to $1 million or closer to $9?

Q: Was that all your money, or was it Karlani's?

A: It was all my money. How can you screw up that badly? Because you believe you are infallible. You've got a huge ego. You've got the world telling you how smart you are. You've got people like you writing about it. You start believing all this (stuff) about yourself. So when I started realizing those mistakes, I said, "OK, I've got to set the parameters of how I am going to do this so that I stop making these stupid mistakes."

Q: I was surprised you sold Kenexa, although maybe I shouldn't have been.

A: It was extremely difficult. I actually physically cried myself to sleep a few nights after having made the decision, then going through the closing. It was a sense of loneliness, emptiness, lack of purpose. I went through absolute misery … and I've come out on the other side.

Q: You interview executives and entrepreneurs. What do you ask them?

Q: But what does it tell you?