By Sydney Lake
Publication Date: 2026-09-24 14:28:00
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…
