In each episode of our podcast “Life in Seven Songs,” we ask the world’s brightest minds and leaders: What songs tell the story of your life?
This week’s guest is Nirav Tolia, cofounder and CEO of Nextdoor, who went from being the only Indian American kid in his small Texas town to launching the first social network for neighbors.
“The kinds of things that would make me feel like I belong have always been very important to me,” he told The Standard’s Sophie Bearman. “And songs are one of those things.”
Growing up in Odessa in west Texas as the child of Indian immigrants, Tolia struggled with balancing his American and Indian identities. His parents would play John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” on their 8-track player — a song that captured both their American dreams and their search for inclusion.
“Even thinking about ‘Take me home’ — what does ‘home’ mean?” Tolia said. “Does ‘home’ mean a place? Does it mean a person? Does it mean a time of your life?”
Following his parents’ wishes, he headed to Stanford as a premed student. He struggled academically but found his real community in an a cappella group called the Stanford Fleet Street Singers. That, coupled with early exposure to the internet in his dorm room, set him on an unexpected path: joining Stanford peers at Yahoo in its early days.
“My mom thought to herself: My son was going to be a doctor, and now he wants to work at a company called Yahoo,” Tolia recalled. “I think my mom actually believed that I was going to go work for a milk company.”
After Yahoo, Tolia founded Epinions, Fanbase, and, in 2010, Nextdoor. The inspiration for his biggest success came from a striking statistic: Nearly 30% of Americans can’t name a single neighbor. For Tolia, whose neighbors in Odessa trusted him to babysit, this felt like a problem technology could solve.
Today, after a brief hiatus from Nextdoor that included moving his family to Florence, Italy, Tolia is back at the helm of his brainchild. One of his favorite songs, “Beautiful Day” by U2, reflects his optimism about the company’s future, despite current challenges. “The beautiful day is always on the horizon,” he said. “And so wherever we are today, as beautiful as it is, I’m dreaming of a more beautiful day.”
Listen to Tolia’s playlist on Spotify, and find a transcript of the podcast episode here. Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at lifeinsevensongs@sfstandard.com.