During Sundar Pichai’s two-decade career with Google, he’s worked on many of the company’s major products including Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps, and Chromebook. In 2019, he became CEO of Alphabet, which currently has a market cap of more than $4 trillion, and its subsidiary Google. His current net worth is estimated at about $1.6 billion.
As one of the most powerful leaders in tech, Pichai reflected on how he got to where he is in his career. On a 2025 podcast by Podium VC, he said it took “a lot of luck along the way,” but added “it’s important to listen to your heart and see whether you actually enjoy doing it.”
While Pichai sits at the helm of one of the largest tech companies in the world, his path to the top wasn’t a completely smooth ride. His advice to young people who aspire to be in leadership positions like him someday is to surround themselves with people who outshine them.
“At various points in my life, I worked with people who I felt were better than me,” Pichai said. “Get yourself in a position where you’re working with people who you feel are stretching your abilities. [It’s] what helps you grow. [Put] yourself in uncomfortable situations. I think often you’ll surprise yourself.”
How did Sundar Pichai become CEO of Google?
Pichai was born and raised in Chennai, India, to a father who was an electrical engineer and a mother who worked as a stenographer. They were considered to be a middle-class family; Pichai told Yahoo Finance he was fortunate to have grown up in a household where education was valued.
He said he had minimal access to computers growing up—and even recalled being on a waitlist for five years to get a rotary phone. He said experiencing technology for the first time changed his life.
“It was a vivid moment for me as to how access to technology can make a difference,” Pichai told Yahoo Finance, adding that his limited exposure to computers during childhood is something he’s carried with him throughout his career, serving as inspiration for the rollout of Chromebooks to students in the U.S.
Pichai moved to the U.S. in 1993 to earn his master’s degree in materials science from Stanford University in the heart of Silicon Valley. He briefly worked for a semiconductor materials company after graduating, but then went back to school to earn his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Pichai had a brief stint at McKinsey & Co. after earning his MBA and landing at Google in 2004.
“I think it’s tough to find things you love doing, but I think listening to your heart a bit more than your mind [helps] in terms of figuring out what you want to do,” Pichai said during the podcast.
Reflecting on 20 years at Google in April 2024, Pichai said a lot had changed about the company since he first joined, like the technology, the number of people who use Google products, and his hair.
“What hasn’t changed—the thrill I get from working at this amazing company,” Pichai wrote in an Instagram post. “20 years in, I’m still feeling lucky.”
A version of this story was published on Fortune.com on June 10, 2025.
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