Parag Agrawal’s journey from securing an All India Rank (AIR) 77 in the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) to leading Twitter and later launching a fast-growing artificial intelligence startup highlights how resilience and adaptability can shape a successful career.
Agrawal earned admission to the Computer Science and Engineering programme at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay after excelling in JEE. Following his B.Tech, he moved to the United States to pursue a PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University. During his doctoral studies, he gained valuable industry experience through research internships at Microsoft, Yahoo and AT&T Labs, specialising in large-scale computing systems.
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In 2011, Agrawal joined Twitter as a software engineer when the company was still in its early stages. Over the next decade, he rose through the ranks, becoming Chief Technology Officer in 2017. His technical expertise and leadership eventually led to his appointment as Twitter’s Chief Executive Officer in November 2021, making him one of the youngest CEOs of a major global technology company.
His tenure, however, was short-lived. Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, Agrawal was among the top executives who exited the company. While the move attracted worldwide attention, it also marked the beginning of a new phase in his career.
Rather than seeking another executive role, Agrawal ventured into entrepreneurship. In 2023, he founded Parallel Web Systems, an AI startup focused on developing infrastructure for artificial intelligence applications and large-scale computing. Within two years, the company reportedly achieved a valuation of around $2 billion, reflecting strong investor confidence in its technology.
