New Delhi: While professionals around the world dream of getting a job in a company like Google, 41-year-old Yusuf Imran, living in San Francisco Bay Area of America, decided to leave his job earning around $ 1 million (about Rs 8.5 crore) annually and start his own Artificial Intelligence (AI) startup. He says that despite the huge salary, he started feeling that he was being left behind from the rapidly emerging opportunities in the AI sector. This thinking inspired him to leave his secure job and choose the path of entrepreneurship.
What was his role in Google?
Yusuf Imran joined Google in 2020. Before this he had worked in the sales sector for about 15 years. His responsibility at Google was to help customers adopt the company’s AI and machine learning products. During this time, he worked with large enterprise clients and played a key role in selling AI based solutions.
How did the annual income reach close to 1 million dollars?
Imran’s base salary was around $1.70 lakh, but his real earning came from performance-based commission. He told that his total taxable income in the year 2025 was approximately 9.86 lakh dollars. He attributed his success to his deep understanding of his customers’ businesses, strong knowledge of AI technologies, and years of sales experience. According to him, coming from a migrant family, he learned hard work and better performance since childhood.
Why did you leave such a big job?
According to Imran, the rapidly growing success of OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies made him think. He felt that the job definitely paid well, but a stake in another company or his own startup could prove to be more valuable in the future. Apart from this, the layoffs in Google in recent years also made him realize that even in big companies, jobs are not completely secure.
How to prepare for new business?
Before leaving the job, Imran prepared a complete financial plan. He set aside around $2 lakh to run his startup, while $1.5 lakh was saved for a home loan and personal expenses. In April 2026, he resigned from Google and started an AI product lab named Mangosteen Studio, which is developing AI based tools for sales professionals. His aim at present is to grow his business without taking external investment.
Is it necessary to be a software engineer?
Imran says that he never worked as a software engineer, but in the last two decades he understood the problems of the sales industry closely. With AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini he continuously experimented and created small projects during nights and weekends. He believes that with deep understanding and experience in any field, new business can be started with the help of AI.
What advice did you give to others?
Imran says that for those who are feeling stagnant in their career, AI has brought a big opportunity. He believes that if a person has good experience in his field and the ability to find solutions to problems, then he can build his business through AI. According to him, leaving Google was not an easy decision, but he believed that taking risks at the right time was the best way forward.
