He Earns More Than Zuckerberg & Pichai!? | Google to SoftBank | Nikesh Arora X Karishma Mehta

Video Description

“I was rejected 400+ times. Today I earn more than Mark Zuckerberg” What looks like a typical bollywood movie script is in fact the real life story of a middle-class boy from Ghaziabad who became one of the highest-paid CEO’s in the world. Meet Nikesh Arora who proves that where you start doesn't define where you'll go. In this deeply insightful episode, we sit down with Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks to talk about everything that isn’t in the headlines. From his modest beginnings in Ghaziabad to working at Google where he became the highest-paid executive, to being handpicked by Masayoshi Son at SoftBank, and now leading a multi-billion-dollar cybersecurity company, this is the story of quiet grit behind big headlines. But beyond the money and milestones, Nikesh speaks candidly about failure, ambition, leaving when it’s hard, and how success often means walking away from what doesn’t serve you anymore. In this episode, we talk about: . Growing up in an army household in India . Getting rejected 400 times – and still not giving up . His decade at Google and why he left . Being handpicked by Masayoshi Son for SoftBank . Working with billionaires & leading billion-dollar decisions . How he scaled Palo Alto Networks to what it is today . His daily routine, thoughts on AI, and the future of tech . Advice for young professionals (and his younger self) This is more than a CEO story. It’s about betting on yourself when no one else will. #businesspodcast #humansofbombay #entrepreneur Time Stamps 00:00 - Precap 02:13 - Introduction 02:34 - Childhood 04:13 - Driving force in life 05:03 - His journey from IIT to US 06:40 - Financial Hardships 07:30 - The 10 Year Gap with 400+ rejections 08:47 - What happened after the 400+ rejections? 09:56 - How does he continue being positive despite failure? 11:32 - About Dotcom Bubble 12:37 - First encounter with ChatGPT & Views on AI 14:00 - How big will AI become for companies? 15:53 - Nikesh’s decade at Google 18:01 - Most important lesson at Google 19:04 - Why did he leave Google after a decade? 19:40 - His experience working with Masayoshi Son 20:55 - How do you know when it is the right time to leave? 23:19 - Is working with a rich person intimidating? 24:52 - Important lesson on loss 25:52 - Why did he not want to invest in wework & Arm 27:25 - Why did he leave SoftBank? 28:34 - How did he come to Palo Alto? 29:20 - How did he enable Palo Alto’s massive growth? 32:14 - Subjective qualities that enabled Palo Alto’s massive growth 35:00 - What motivates him now? 35:27 - How many hours a day does he work? 36:06 - His connection with India 36:59 - Founders he is intrigued by 37:54 - What’s his outlook on AI in India? 40:08 - Will companies who don’t use AI survive? 41:24 - Advice to founders, especially in India 42:16 - Advice to people 43:55 - Advice to younger self 45:18 - End Links: Humans of Bombay Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officialhumansofbombay/ Uncovered by Humans of Bombay: https://youtube.com/@humansofbombayuncovered?si=7CZUw8qYeb16Ef6H LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/humans-of-bombay/mycompany/ Nikesh Arora Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/nikesharora/?hl=en LinkedIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikesh-arora-02894670 Karishma Mehta Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karimehta05/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karishma-mehta-b22151174/ About Humans of Bombay – Humans of Bombay is a movement that started 11 years ago. We believe that every person has a story to tell and we want to help them tell these stories. In these years we’ve published stories across genres – stories of love, hope, faith, and courage. And through our storytelling, we’ve built an engaged community of over 6M! Our idea is simple – to strike a chord with our community and catalog the beat of humanity, one story at a time.