Rejected 400 times, now leading a $130B tech company: Nikesh Arora turned rejection into a billion-dollar blueprint

“I sent out over 400 applications—and got 400 rejections. I kept every single letter. They’re still my fuel.”

That’s Nikesh Arora — now the CEO of Palo Alto Networks, a $130 billion cybersecurity behemoth — recalling the rough, grinding start of a career that has since touched the upper echelons of global tech leadership.

In a rare, revealing conversation with Humans of Bombay founder Karishma Mehta, Arora offered a window into his life: from growing up in modest surroundings in Ghaziabad to navigating the elite circles of Google, SoftBank, and now Palo Alto.

Born in motion, forged in discipline

The son of an Indian Air Force officer, Arora’s childhood was marked by constant change and unwavering discipline. “We moved every few years—that teaches you adaptability,” he said, adding that his father’s values of fairness and integrity became the compass guiding his life.

Arora’s early academic path took him to Banaras Hindu University, where he studied engineering. But fate had other plans. On the day of his IIM CAT exam, he ditched it for a movie. Instead, he aimed westward—with just $100 in hand and a shortlist of US colleges that waived application fees.

Northeastern University in Massachusetts not only accepted him but offered him a scholarship and a teaching position in computer science. “So I had to learn it that summer,” he chuckled.

Survival mode to breakthrough

Arora hustled hard — teaching by night, borrowing from his father’s pension, and stretching every dollar. His real struggle began after graduation. “I was scraping by. Those 400 rejections weren’t just job denials — they were doors slammed shut on hope.”

The breakthrough came in 1992 when Fidelity Investments gave him his first major opportunity. Climbing fast, he became VP at Fidelity Technologies, earned a CFA, and even began teaching the CFA course—a step that led to his next big leap.

From Google rocket ship to SoftBank storms

In 2004, Arora joined Google when it was still in its infancy. “It was like riding a rocket ship,” he said. Over the next decade, he played a pivotal role in growing the company’s revenue from $2 billion to over $60 billion.

He left Google after 10 years, driven by the itch to try something new. That led him to SoftBank and its visionary founder Masayoshi Son. “Masa’s risk appetite grows with age—that’s rare,” Arora observed. But their timelines didn’t align. When Son deferred his retirement, Arora chose to exit. “I wasn’t ready to wait another 10 years.”

His gut instincts paid off. He had misgivings about SoftBank’s investment in WeWork, calling it “a tech-enabled real estate play” with no real premium. He passed on ARM at first but owned up to missing that opportunity.

Rewriting the Palo Alto playbook

After a short sabbatical—and a failed experiment with golf—Arora returned to the trenches. In 2018, he took over as CEO of Palo Alto Networks, then valued at around $18 billion. Under his leadership, the company has grown over five-fold, breaking into the $130 billion club.

He credits the success to timing, clarity of vision, and staying relentlessly ahead of the curve. “Cybersecurity will only get bigger. The more tech we adopt, the wider our attack surface.”

From pushing into AI and cloud early to a buy-or-build strategy, Arora doubled down on innovation. “If we can’t build it, we’ll partner or acquire it.”

The AI wave and India’s opportunity

One of the most striking parts of the conversation was Arora’s deep dive into artificial intelligence. He described his first encounter with ChatGPT as eye-opening and warned of the fierce global race underway. “There’s a mad rush to build massive compute clusters—even nuclear-powered ones,” he said.

But for India, the opportunity lies in localization. “AI trained on U.S. roads would freeze in India’s chaos,” he quipped. “Local data, local context—that’s where India can win.”

His message to young Indian technologists? “You don’t have to be first. You just have to be smart.”

Still grounded, still grateful

Despite the billions and boardrooms, Arora hasn’t forgotten his roots—or his rejections. “Growing up in India, you believe in destiny. It helps you process failure. Everything happens for a reason.”

From setbacks to strategy, Nikesh Arora’s story isn’t just about success—it’s about staying sharp, staying grounded, and never forgetting the climb.