Puttareddy AruguntaFrom a remote village in India to the global stage of AI.
I’m Puttareddy (Puttaiah) — engineer, architect, CTO and entrepreneur. This is a story about hard work, gratitude and giving back.
Hard work, opportunity, gratitude.
I was born and raised in a small, remote village in India where a global career wasn’t even a possibility. Success meant learning to write your name and returning to the farm.
Over the past 20 years I’ve worked with small businesses, mid-sized organisations and global enterprises — across engineering, architecture, technology leadership, entrepreneurship and CTO roles; across cloud, enterprise transformation, automation and now artificial intelligence.
Today I lead technology initiatives, build AI-driven solutions and work with incredible teams to turn innovation into real business outcomes.
Many hats, one thread: build and give back.
I’ll keep my résumé short — my LinkedIn profile already tells that story. What matters more is what the work taught me.
Building the foundations
Hands-on engineering and solution architecture across technologies and cloud platforms.
Leading teams & strategy
Technology leadership and CTO roles — enterprise transformation, delivery and decision-making under uncertainty.
Starting up, failing forward
A couple of companies that didn’t succeed — and lessons no certification could teach.
AI innovation
Building AI-driven solutions and agents that help businesses turn ideas into outcomes.
Giving back
Guiding students, engineers, professionals and founders through career decisions and setbacks.
AI meets agriculture 🌾
Combining technology with the wisdom from watching my father work in the fields.
A gold medal, no job, and one stranger.
🌾 A small village, big struggles
At five I started helping my father in the fields. Two bulls, a bullock cart and endless physical labour were part of daily life. My father was my first hero, my first mentor and my greatest inspiration. He never wanted his children to live the same struggle.
📚 My father’s one rule
“You can study as far as you want. But the day you fail a class, you come back to the fields and work with the bulls.” Having already felt the hard work of farming, I knew what going back meant. I decided I wouldn’t fail — not even once. I became the topper of my class in 10th grade, finished higher secondary and my bachelor’s with high grades, and earned a Gold Medal in my master’s degree.
💼 2006 — and one person who changed my life
Despite the gold medal, the job market was hard and I struggled to even get an interview call. Then Sreehari Peddamalli — someone I had never met — helped me with a referral. He owed me nothing. That simple act opened doors that shaped my entire 20-year career, and became my personal commitment: to give back 100 times more than the help I received.
🌱 What’s next? Maybe back to farming!
The very thing I worked so hard to avoid as a child might be what I willingly return to. This time with a different perspective — technology, AI and automation, plus the wisdom from watching my father. Perhaps the next chapter is bringing AI innovation back to agriculture.
Let’s connect, learn and give back.
Early in your career? Facing a big founder decision? Looking for mentorship — or have ideas about farming and AI? Reach out. We might end up talking for hours.
Start a conversation →