Did you know that an Indian software engineer created Google Alerts (the notification tool used by millions to find interesting new content from the web)? Naga Kataru’s idea was initially dismissed because it was believed that the alert system would drive the traffic away from the search engine and cost the company money. However, Kataru was confident that he had something worthy and directly approached the Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page. The two loved the idea and Google Alerts was launched in 2003. It eventually became one of the most useful additions to Google’s inventory of services.
Naga Kataru’s journey is remarkable. He was raised in Gampalagudem, a farming village in Andhra Pradesh. He excelled in academics and was on his way to a promising future. After graduating with a college degree in computer science and engineering, he enrolled at the Indian Institute of Technology for one of the country’s top computer science programmes. He was only 25 when Google hired him in the year 2000. The multinational technology company was itself a young start-up at the time with 110 employees.
After working eight years as a software engineer, Kataru felt that his life had become stagnant. He left Google to explore the world theatre and films. He was accepted into directing programme at Second City, a world-famous improv comedy theatre group. Meanwhile, Kataru had bought a 320 acre farm in Modesto, California, as a diversified investment. He planned on selling it after 5 years. However, the farm reminded him of his life in India and he decided to become a full-time farmer. He converted the land into an almond farm and taught himself the art of cultivation.
The farm now generates an annual revenue of $2.5 million. Kataru aims to make farming more tech-savvy— he is, at the moment, pursuing two degrees at Stanford, an MBA and an MS in environment and resources.
“It’s ironic that even though there are farms just 90 miles outside of Silicon Valley, technology hasn’t been used much to improve processes and crop yields,” he said. “As a technologist, I think I can do something about it,” he said to CNN.
