How Elon Musk’s PayPal took away Sandeep Choudhary’s office, and Google saved his home
Jaipur: It sounds like the plot of a gripping Netflix series, but it is all real. In 2007, Indian climate crusader and innovator Sandeep Choudhary saw his dreams collapse overnight when a crucial international payment was unexpectedly withheld by PayPal, the company co-founded by Elon Musk.
Sandeep’s small but ambitious startup, operating from Jaipur, was left paralysed. PayPal held back his funds, loans went up, paying office rent became impossible, and eventually, he had to shut down the office.
By 2008, he had moved into a modest rented house in Jaipur, where things only got worse. At one point, his father gave him an ultimatum, saying, “If you cannot run this house, let us return to the village. Learn tailoring and stop dreaming.”
These words could have broken anyone, but they only made Sandeep stronger. And then came a miracle in the form of a small cheque from Google AdSense.
“It was not a huge amount, but it arrived exactly when I needed it most. PayPal knocked me down, Google lifted me back up,” Sandeep recalls.
Today, Sandeep heads a startup valued at several million dollars. He is also the India President of Save Earth Mission, an organisation dedicated to the planet. His team recently made global headlines by rewriting a Guinness World Record by planting over 5 lakh trees in just one hour.
Sandeep is now recognised on global platforms like Forbes, Reuters, TEDx, Business Insider, and The Globe & Mail as a thought leader in climate action.
With his newest initiative, “The Biggest Case Study on Earth”, he is using podcasts, publications, and global digital platforms to inspire the next generation to dream bigger, build bolder, and believe in themselves.
“Elon Musk dreams of reaching Mars, while I dream of fixing Earth. Google gave me a second life. Now I want to give Earth a second chance,” says Sandeep.
