25-Year-Old Microsoft Engineer Quits Rs 1.9 Crore Job To Chase AI Startup Dream: "Living Off My Savings"

A 25-year-old former Microsoft engineer has quit his job, paying more than $200,000 (approxomately Rs 1.9 crore) a year to build his own artificial intelligence (AI) startup. Junead Khan left the tech giant after realising that, despite the lucrative salary, he was not learning the AI skills he wanted to develop. Khan, who lives in Seattle, joined Microsoft full-time in 2023 after graduating from college. He worked on the rollout of data centres worldwide during the AI boom. However, changes in the company's priorities and the emergence of new AI coding tools made him reconsider his career. Khan recently shared his experiences and learnings with Business Insider.

"Then Microsoft experienced some service outages, and by early 2025, I saw a greater emphasis on security and service stability. It felt like shipping things got slower. That started to take some of the fun out of the job for me," he said. Although he earned more than $200,000 in 2024, including stocks and bonuses, he wanted to experiment with emerging AI tools and build something of his own.

How the Idea for His AI Startup Emerged

Khan's business idea took shape during his final year at the University of North Carolina, where he studied computer science. Born and raised in the UK, he moved to the US in 2019 for his undergraduate degree.

Managing money across both countries made him realise that existing financial tools did not adequately meet his needs. As AI models improved, he saw an opportunity to develop an affordable financial advisory tool for people who could not access traditional financial advisers or did not want to pay thousands of dollars for their services.

He began building Treasury, an AI-powered money coach, before joining Microsoft. "So after graduating from college and before starting at Microsoft later that summer, I started building Treasury, which I describe as an AI money coach. For roughly the next two years, I worked on the business at night and on the weekends alongside my day job. Eventually, I started thinking seriously about leaving Microsoft," he explained. 

In 2025, Khan applied to several startup accelerators, including Y Combinator, hoping acceptance would give him the confidence to leave Microsoft. When he was rejected, he decided not to wait for external validation.

"So, I started thinking of the money I'd earned at Microsoft as my own seed funding.I also wanted to be strategic about when I left. I waited for some of my stock to vest and until I'd been at Microsoft long enough that I wouldn't have to repay part of my sign-on bonus. Last August, after about two years at Microsoft, I resigned and officially launched my company two months later," he added. 

Building A Business Without Venture Capital

After leaving Microsoft, Khan began documenting his entrepreneurial journey on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and X. Without venture capital funding or a budget for paid advertising, he wanted to use social media to attract potential customers. He shared both successes and setbacks, including failed product launches, offering a glimpse into building a startup independently. His following has since grown to around 30,000 across platforms, compared with fewer than 500 followers on TikTok about a year ago.

Khan also believes that building an audience can help his career, even if his startup does not succeed. He advises aspiring creators to choose platforms and formats that suit their strengths rather than simply following trends. Advances in AI coding tools, including Claude Code and Codex, have also made it easier for him to develop software independently. He believes he might have needed a co-founder to build the product a few years ago.

Treasury has begun attracting paying customers and generated more than $6,000 in revenue. However, the business remains in its early stages, and Khan continues to work alone. He does not draw a salary. 

His immediate priority is to reach more people and grow the business. "Treasury now has paying customers and has generated more than $6,000 in revenue. It's still very early. I don't pay myself a salary. The money the business makes stays in the company, and I've been living off the savings I accumulated before leaving Microsoft," Khan wrote. 

His experience has taught him not to wait for an accelerator, investor or another person to approve his plans. Instead, he believes that pursuing an idea requires taking the initiative without waiting for outside validation.  

"Leaving a well-paying job without paying customers or outside funding was a risk. But one thing I've learned through the process is not to wait for somebody else to give you permission to pursue something. I used to think, 'If I get into this accelerator, then I'll quit.' If this happens, then I'll do the next thing. Sometimes we look for those things as validation. I've learned that sometimes the only permission you need is your own," he concluded.