Meet Yousuf Imran and others who walked away from Google and nearly $1 million a year

For many years, Google was widely regarded as one of the most desirable employers in the technology industry. The company became known for offering generous salaries, strong employee benefits and the chance to work on products used by billions of people worldwide.

Although Google continues to attract job seekers, the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) has created fresh opportunities outside major technology firms. While some leading AI researchers have changed employers, several other Google employees have also chosen to leave, either to establish their own businesses, join other companies or follow different career paths.

'I felt some FOMO at Google during the AI boom'

One of them is Yousuf Imran, a 41-year-old former Google account executive from the San Francisco Bay Area. After spending around six years at the company, he resigned in April to launch an AI startup focused on sales tools.

Imran, speaking with Business Insider, said he earned nearly 1 million US dollars last year while working at Google, but admitted he still experienced “some 'FOMO' around the AI boom.”

He believes many Google employees feel similarly, saying, “I think most people at Google would tell you the same if they were being candid.”

According to Imran, Google offers excellent salaries, but AI companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic provide equity packages that can be significantly more valuable. He said stock awards at these firms have the potential to become “life-changing money.”

That difference influenced his decision to build his own company. He said that if equity represents the greatest opportunity during the AI boom, it made sense to ask whether “the equity should be in your own company.”

Job security was another concern. Imran said recent rounds of layoffs at Google affected highly capable employees rather than only poor performers. In his view, AI is allowing businesses to reorganise teams and reduce management layers, meaning “tenure and talent don't protect you the way they used to.”

Former engineer says staying at Google felt like the greater risk

Aashna Doshi, a 23-year-old software engineer based in New York City, also left Google in May to concentrate on building her own AI startup.

Reflecting on her time at the company, Doshi said she enjoyed the experience and valued the opportunity to learn from talented colleagues with varied backgrounds.

However, she felt that working in a large technology company meant being only one small part of a much bigger organisation. She wanted greater freedom to make decisions quickly and see the direct impact of her work.

She also believed the current generation of AI tools provides an exceptional opportunity for entrepreneurs. Confident in her business idea, she did not want to miss what she saw as the right moment to act.

Doshi acknowledged that leaving a well-paid role involved financial uncertainty. However, speaking with Insider, she said, “if you feel a strong enough pull toward something, you have to be willing to walk away from good in pursuit of something that could be great.” She added that “Financial security is comfortable, but it can also be a trap.”

Looking back, she said the greater risk was not leaving but remaining at Google and “always wondering what could have been.”

Big Tech no longer seemed the safest option

Taylor M. LaSane, who spent more than 10 years at Google, left her role as a transformation manager in October last year to focus full-time on her career coaching business.

Explaining her decision to Insider, she said, “Big Tech layoffs are happening everywhere, so it wasn't like staying there was necessarily any more stable than leaving.”