Journey of Pichai from Chennai to Silicon Valley

Story 1 : Sundar Pichai was born in a lower-middle-class family on July 12,

1972. His father Raghunath was an electrical engineer. At an early stage of life,
his introduction to technology began when his father first purchased a telephone,
in which he had a remarkable skill of memorising and remembering numbers as
he could keep in mind all the numbers that he dialled. He graduated from IIT
Kharagpur and was then awarded a scholarship to study at Stanford University.
This scholarship covers everything from the cost of living to food, drink, and
shelter. Sundar's only expense was his plane ticket to the United States. His
father used to earn around 2000 PM back then, and the price of the ticket was
equal to his father's annual salary. His father requested a year's salary in
advance and arranged for one ticket from him. Previously, even purchasing a
single ticket was difficult for him, but now he can purchase multiple planes.

From this story i can relate the quote which sundar pichai has said
“Opportunity doesn't happen you create them”

How did Sundar Pichai get associated with Google?

Somewhere in 2004, Mr Sundar Pichai arrived at Google for an interview after
finishing his studies. When interviewers asked him questions about Gmail, he
was initially baffled. After a while, however, when he was asked to use Gmail,
the interviewers were impressed. He was immediately hired in the Google
toolbar and search department. This incident teaches us that even if our first
impression is bad, we can still change the game.

In 2013, he was offered the position of CEO by Microsoft, but when he informed
his boss that he was leaving, Google offered him a much higher salary and made
him CEO, and today he is not only the CEO of Google, but also the parent
company of Google, Alphabet, and has a net worth of $600 million.

Story 2 : Story behind Google Map

Sundar Pichai and his wife were invited to a
Thanksgiving dinner at 8 p.m. by a
common friend. Sundar asked his wife to
reach directly, and he would join them
straight from the office. Sundar left the
office early as well, but he got lost on the
way. It was nearly ten o'clock when he
arrived. He was very frustrated with this
incident and he thought just like him there
would be alot people who lose their way
every day. So, what can be done to ensure
that no one ever loses their way? So it
would be fantastic if technology could assist them in finding their way.
The next morning, Sundar called up his entire team and shared the idea of
creating a map in front of everyone. When they heard this idea, the staff raised
their hands. The team did not believe in his idea, but Sundar held meetings with
them for nearly two days and persuaded them to design a product that would
show people the way.
Sundar Pichai and his team worked tirelessly to create Google Maps, which they
launched in the United States in 2005. The following year, in 2006, it was
released in the United Kingdom, and in 2008, it was released in India.

He Says “ If you don't fail sometimes you are not being ambitious
enough”

I completely agree that it is possible to fail 100 times, but it is important to try
and learn from each mistake. From this story, I can conclude that the idea of
GMAP that the team thought was impossible now has over 1 billion users +.
(Data as per Jan 2021). As a leader, it is Important that you do not solve
problems for your own benefit, but rather for the benefit of the consumers.

Story 3 : Chrome Browser

The Google Search engine was already popular, but it

relied on third-party web browsing platforms. In
2008, he attempted to search for a file using their
search engine, but it took 1 - 2 minutes to return
results, as it did with the other 17 search engines. So
he decided to launch their own web browser, Chrome,
in 2008, which would provide us with millions of
results in seconds. The founders were initially
resistant to the idea of Google developing their own
web browser. Pichai, on the other hand, persuaded
them to launch Google Chrome, despite the risk. He
undertook the entire project and executed the way he planned. He involves
himself in the process of hiring, mentoring, and retaining a great team.

Sundar Pichai has stated that whenever you think, you should always think in
the long term, and when they planned to launch the browser, they had a vision
that it will be for infinity. Today, when we speak about water, we think of Bisleri,
when we speak about Life insurance, we think of LIC , and when we think of a
search engine, we think of Google.
They had around 17 competitors in 2008, but they no longer exist in the market.

“Don't Try to beat the competitor, Create your own game & when you
invent your new game, Competition will end”
How did Google become so popular?
Google has never disclosed this because it is their unique selling point. However,
if we look at the data centre, we can see that they have 21 data centres in the
United States and 22 worldwide.

Some of the learnings

● Whenever Sundar Pichai has faced a problem in his life, he has created a
product to solve it. I totally believe that problems are seeds of innovation
and this the reason that at present
● He has always welcomed all ideas, suggestions, and corrections to his
mistakes from all levels of employees. While watching one of his
interviews, he mentioned that he had awarded one of his employees for
correcting him on the beer emoji. So, you may be wondering why the
employee was awarded. So the answer is that Sundar Pichai is a CEO and
no one will dare to correct him, so as an entrepreneur, he must prove that
he is approachable and that he welcomes all ideas/correction/Suggestions.
● What I have learnt from Sundar pichai story is that Nothing is impossible
in life. His journey from being born into a simple family to becoming a
successful person would have been impossible if he had lacked in hard
work, dedication, and a positive attitude towards life.