Sundar Pichai: Is humble, grounded, says Wharton batchmate

The start-up ecosystem in India is all excited about Sundar Pichai’s elevation to CEO of Google.

While most of the entrepreneurs said that it’s a clear case of talent being rewarded, Anurag Saran, Chief Product Officer at Quikr who was a batchmate of Pichai at Wharton Business School from 2000-2002 described him as a humble, grounded family man who balances his work and personal life well.

People-oriented “He is a very strong people-oriented person who got along well with everybody. We continue to remain good friends and are in touch, although I returned to India seven years ago. He makes it a point to meet up with our batchmates when he visits India.”

Stating that Pichai was an all-rounder in business school excelling in many areas from consulting, technology to HR, Saran said, “I remember when he took on the Chrome project, he was unfazed about competition from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and just focused on building a great consumer experience. He is the kind of guy who doesn’t let competition bother him and focuses on the task at hand.”

Hardwork pays Bharat Ahirwar, Founder of Mumbai based, errand-running services start-up, GetMyPeon said, “Pichai becoming CEO proves that its not where he comes from that matters but how he realised his ambitions with the power of his imagination and creativity to emerge on top of his game at Google.”

Agrees Satish Mani, co-founder and CEO of Zovi.com, “Pichai becoming CEO proves, all that matters is talent. And for those who believe there are glass ceilings, they must realize now, that there is no such thing as a glass ceiling anymore.”

Not surprising Entrepreneurs like Sparsh Gupta, co-founder of Wingify, say it’s not surprising that Pichai has become the CEO. “Indians are a very smart and dedicated lot, especially in the tech industry. It is in our culture and upbringing to strive to compete and do our best, in order to live a good life. While I was at Oxford doing my Masters, I found Indians and Chinese were much better than the rest.”

Former Infosys CEO, V Balakrishnan, who is Partner and Chairman at Exfinity Venture Partners, said “Google is one of the most innovative companies in the world and Pichai is one of the most well known faces in the global tech industry. His elevation to CEO just proves that India has high quality talent that is recognised globally.

“If, as a country we can’t do anything much, individually as Indians we certainly can, wherever we are located in the world. I think most global corporations will have Indian CEOs at some point in time, especially in the tech industry where Indians already hold very important global roles in many of them. It’s just a matter of time.”

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