A former Google executive Yousuf Imran has walked away from an annual pay package of nearly $1 million, around Rs 9.3 crore, to start his own company in the fast-growing artificial intelligence space.
Yousuf Imran, 41, previously worked as an account executive at Google. He said the decision to leave was shaped by three things: the speed of the AI boom, the uncertainty created by layoffs at Google and his belief that his years of sales experience gave him a real problem to solve.
Imran joined Google in 2020 after spending about 15 years in sales. At the company, he helped customers adopt Google’s artificial intelligence and machine learning products. His base salary was around $170,000, roughly Rs 1.6 crore, but commissions formed the larger part of his income. His annual W-2 earnings reached about $986,000, close to Rs 9.3 crore.
Despite the financial comfort, Imran said he began feeling that the biggest opportunity in technology was unfolding outside the safety of a corporate job. He described feeling “FOMO” around the AI boom, especially as companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic drew attention for stock packages that he believed could become life-changing.
For him, the bigger question was no longer just income. It was ownership.
Imran said the idea of building something of his own and owning equity in it started to feel more meaningful than staying in a high-paying role. The recent layoffs at Google also changed how he viewed job security.
Watching talented colleagues lose their roles made him feel that even strong performers could not fully depend on large companies for stability.
That pushed him closer to a decision he had already been weighing: leaving Google and betting on himself.
In April, Imran founded Mangosteen Studio, an AI product lab focused on building AI-powered sales tools for account executives. The move was not made in a rush. Before quitting, he saved $200,000 to support the business for two years and another $150,000 to cover his mortgage and personal living expenses during the same period.
Imran has said he wants to bootstrap the company for as long as possible instead of raising outside funding early. His aim is to keep ownership and focus on building products rather than immediately answering to investors.
His story also stands out because he does not come from a traditional software engineering background. Imran said his interest in AI grew beyond his day job, and he spent evenings and weekends using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini to build apps and side projects.
He credits much of his professional drive to what he called his “immigrant hustle.” His family moved from Bangladesh to New York when he was five, and he said that experience shaped his attitude toward work from an early age.
Imran believes AI is opening doors for professionals who understand real business problems, even if they are not engineers. In his case, the advantage was nearly two decades of sales experience and a clear understanding of the daily challenges account executives face.
Leaving Google meant giving up financial security, resources and access to advanced technology. But Imran said his confidence came from knowing the market he wanted to serve.
For him, the risk was not only leaving a Rs 9.3 crore job. It was missing the chance to build during one of the biggest shifts in technology.
