#101 CEO Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian: Competitor-Aware and Customer-Obsessed
Grit29 Aug 2022

#101 CEO Google Cloud, Thomas Kurian: Competitor-Aware and Customer-Obsessed

“When I grew up in Bangalore, I’d never seen a computer,” says Thomas Kurian. The former president of Oracle, now the CEO of Google Cloud, remembers learning how to write while sitting outside his childhood home, and doing homework by candlelight during power blackouts. He credits his “trailblazer” mother, who instilled curiosity and discipline in all her children, with helping them understand the value of education beyond doing well on the next test. Something must have stuck, because Thomas is not the only Kurian in a major leadership position in Silicon Valley; his twin brother, George, is the CEO of NetApp.

In this episode, Thomas and Joubin discuss how he accidentally got into computer programming, giving children the freedom to be curious, how to order a sandwich, leading 60 software acquisitions, knowing your own value-add, innovation through experimentation, investing in the future, and being competitor-aware and customer-obsessed.

In this episode, we cover:

  • Thomas’ childhood in India (03:45)
  • His twin brother George — the CEO of NetApp — and their trailblazing mother (07:40)
  • Nostalgia for simpler times without responsibilities (14:03)
  • Working up the ranks at Oracle, from product manager to president (21:40)
  • The Google Cloud opportunity (30:12)
  • How to succeed inside a huge organization (32:38)
  • The big difference between Oracle and Google Cloud in 2019 (39:35)
  • The “mother of God” opportunity of the cloud (42:35)
  • The advice Thomas gives to other CEOs (48:25)

Links:

Episoder(282)

How Snap Plans to Win the AR Race | Evan Spiegel on Spectacles

How Snap Plans to Win the AR Race | Evan Spiegel on Spectacles

Turning down a $3B offer from Facebook is a bold move for any young CEO.Evan Spiegel shares how Snap’s early dream was to stay independent and give its community an authentic voice, a bet that proved ...

15 Des 20251h 11min

The Pull to Build: Joubin Mirzadegan on Grit and Starting Roadrunner

The Pull to Build: Joubin Mirzadegan on Grit and Starting Roadrunner

What does it take to go from advising founders to becoming one?On this week’s special Reverse Grit episode, we flip the script and put our Grit podcast host Joubin Mirzadegan in the guest seat.Joubin ...

8 Des 20251h 14min

Building Cloudflare for the Next 50 Years | Co-founder Cloudfare Michelle Zatlyn

Building Cloudflare for the Next 50 Years | Co-founder Cloudfare Michelle Zatlyn

Fifteen years in, it can still feel like “we’re just getting started.”Michelle Zatlyn, co-founder of Cloudflare, returns to Grit with Joubin Mirzadegan to share how Cloudflare secures the internet for...

1 Des 202558min

She Sold Her Startup for $500 Million, Here’s Her Next Idea

She Sold Her Startup for $500 Million, Here’s Her Next Idea

Screens have pulled families apart. Brynn Putnam set out to bring them back together with Board, the world’s ‘first face-to-face game console.’On Grit, she tells Joubin Mirzadegan how every venture sh...

24 Nov 20251h 12min

Synthetic Data and the Future of AI | Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez

Synthetic Data and the Future of AI | Cohere CEO Aidan Gomez

How do companies like Salesforce and Dell scale intelligence across every cloud?Aidan Gomez, co-founder and CEO of Cohere, explains how they’re building AI that works across all enterprise systems and...

17 Nov 20251h 11min

From Yext to Roam: Howard Lerman’s Second Act

From Yext to Roam: Howard Lerman’s Second Act

The hardest company to build is the one you start after you’ve already succeeded.After scaling Yext into a platform powering millions of businesses, Howard Lerman chose to start over with Roam, the “O...

10 Nov 20251h 25min

Rebuilding Front for the AI Era | CEO Dan O’Connell

Rebuilding Front for the AI Era | CEO Dan O’Connell

The hardest part of transformation is knowing what to let go of.Dan O’Connell, now leading Front as CEO and formerly on the board at Dialpad, joins Joubin Mirzadegan to explore the delicate balance be...

3 Nov 202559min

ElevenLabs’ Vision for Voice Interfaces | CEO Mati Staniszewski

ElevenLabs’ Vision for Voice Interfaces | CEO Mati Staniszewski

Before AI became a buzzword, a few true believers were already building.Since early 2022, Mati Staniszewski and his team at ElevenLabs have been among them, working to create voices that “actually rep...

27 Okt 20251h 4min

Populært innen Business og økonomi

lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
stopp-verden
dine-penger-pengeradet
e24-podden
rss-borsmorgen-okonominyhetene
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
pengepodden-2
finansredaksjonen
livet-pa-veien-med-jan-erik-larssen
utbytte
tid-er-penger-en-podcast-med-peter-warren
stormkast-med-valebrokk-stordalen
morgenkaffen-med-finansavisen
okonomiamatorene
liberal-halvtime
pengesnakk
rss-politisk-preik
lederpodden
rss-pa-konto
rss-markedspuls-2