10 Things you didn’t know about Sundar Pichai – Google’s new CEO

Google’s has a new structure and a new CEO.

Sundar Pichai, the 43 year old Indian born techie is Google’s new CEO. He has been with Google since 2004 spear heading almost all of Google’s search and mobile initiatives.

Here are 10 things you did not know about Sundar Pichai

1) Sundar joined Google in 2004, the same day that Google launched Gmail in beta, he thought it was an April fools day prank.

2) Sundar’s family (father, mother and brother) used to live in a two-room apartment in Chennai, India, where he and his younger brother used to sleep in the living room.

3) Hailing from a middle class family, Pichai’s family did not own a car or a TV during his childhood. He relied on crowded buses and his dad’s blue scooter to commute.

4) His family could not afford a phone connection till he was 12 , he now heads the worlds largest mobile operating system – Android

5) His father worked as an electrical engineer for GEC, a British conglomerate. His mother worked as a stenographer.

6) It was Sundar’s idea of launching a new browser. The idea at Google was not taken seriously, since the management thought that there was no need for another browser. Google Chrome today is the worlds leading browsers, leaving Microsoft’s IE and Firefox way behind in terms of market share.

7) Former school mates and neighbours remember him as quite and shy student who loved science and was always curious to know how things worked.

8) His father introduced him to technology by sharing stories and challenges at work. That got him hooked to technology in his initial years in school.

9) His father applied for a loan to pay for his air tickets and other expenses, when the loan got rejected his father withdrew the money $1000 from the family savings. The amount was more than his annual salary.

“My dad and mom did what a lot of parents did at the time….They sacrificed a lot of their life and used a lot of their disposable income to make sure their children were educated,” – Sundar Pichai

10) In 2013, he was in the running for Steve Ballmer’s replacement at Microsoft, which later went to Indian born Satya Nadella.

In 2014, to retain Sundar from being poached by Microsoft and Twitter, Google offered him shares worth 50 million.

Sundar’s success is a great tribute to his parents and his upbringing. Google owes it to them.

Congrats Sundar Pichai, you’ve come a long way.