A 25-year-old former Microsoft engineer has walked away from a lucrative tech career to build his own artificial intelligence startup, deciding to treat his Microsoft earnings as seed funding after failing to secure backing from startup accelerators.
Junead Khan earned more than $200,000 (£151,300) in total compensation in 2024, including stock grants and bonuses. But after becoming frustrated with the slower pace of product development at Microsoft and wanting to develop his AI skills, he decided to pursue his own business, Treasury, full-time.
He resigned in August 2025 and officially launched the company two months later, according to his account in Business Insider.
Why He Quit His $200K Microsoft Role
Khan joined Microsoft full-time in 2023 after graduating from university. His initial work involved the rollout of data centres around the world during the artificial intelligence boom.
After Microsoft experienced service outages, Khan said he noticed a greater emphasis on security and service stability by early 2025. He said the shift affected his experience of the job, making it harder to move products forward at the pace he wanted.
Reflecting on the change in priorities, he told 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.'
Despite the strong compensation package, Khan wanted more opportunities to experiment with emerging AI coding tools and learn skills he felt he was missing.
'I was making very good money at Microsoft: I earned more than $200,000 in 2024, including stock and bonuses. But I didn't feel like I was learning all the AI skills I wanted to learn,' he explained.
Building Treasury on the Side
Born and raised in the UK, Khan moved to the US in 2019 to study computer science at the University of North Carolina. During his final year, he began exploring the idea of an AI-powered financial tool after struggling to manage money across two countries.
He believed existing financial tools did not adequately meet his needs and saw an opportunity to make personalised financial guidance more accessible to people who could not afford traditional financial advisers or did not want to pay thousands of dollars a year for their services.
The idea became Treasury, an AI-powered personal finance platform that Khan describes as an 'AI money coach'.
He began developing the product after graduating, before starting his full-time role at Microsoft. For roughly two years, he worked on the startup during evenings and weekends while maintaining his corporate job.
As he explained to Business Insider: '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.'
His Microsoft Earnings Became Seed Funding
Khan initially hoped that acceptance into a startup accelerator, such as Y Combinator, would allow him to leave Microsoft and focus on Treasury full-time. However, his applications were unsuccessful.
Rather than waiting for an investor or accelerator to back the idea, he decided to treat the money he had earned at Microsoft as his own seed funding.
He also planned his resignation carefully, waiting for some of his company stock to vest and ensuring he had worked at Microsoft long enough to avoid repaying part of his sign-on bonus.
Explaining the decision, Khan said: 'So, I started thinking of the money I'd earned at Microsoft as my own seed funding.'
He added: '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.'
His account does not establish whether he sold any of his vested Microsoft shares to finance Treasury or how much of his earnings, if any, he transferred directly into the business.
Building an AI Startup Solo
Khan decided against raising venture capital or spending money on paid advertising at the outset. Instead, he began documenting the highs and lows of building Treasury on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.
Khan said his following grew to around 30,000 across social platforms over the past year. His TikTok following alone grew from fewer than 500 followers about a year earlier to more than 9,000.
Khan believes that building a public profile can also provide a professional safety net if the startup does not succeed.
AI coding assistants have played a significant role in his decision to remain a solo founder. He credits tools including Claude Code and Codex with allowing him to develop software much faster than would previously have been possible without a technical co-founder.
He told Business Insider that building a basic version of a software product independently now felt achievable. He also said he would prefer to validate his business idea and build an audience before considering outside investment, rather than giving up equity before testing the opportunity himself.
$6,000 in Revenue, But No Salary
Treasury has attracted paying customers and generated more than $6,000 (£4,539) in revenue. However, the company remains in its early stages, and Khan continues to work on it alone.
He is not drawing a salary from the business and is covering his personal living costs with savings accumulated before leaving Microsoft.
'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,' he told Business Insider.
The revenue figure is not a measure of profit, and the available account does not specify the company's costs or how much money Khan has left in personal savings.
For now, his priority is to attract more users and grow Treasury. He has continued working on the business because he believes the product has potential and that his growing audience wants to see it succeed.
His Advice to Aspiring Founders
Khan's experience has changed how he views the role of outside approval in pursuing a business idea. Although leaving a well-paid job without customers or external funding was a risk, he believes founders do not always need an accelerator or investor to validate their plans.
'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."'
He concluded: 'Sometimes we look for those things as validation. I've learned that sometimes the only permission you need is your own.'
