I walked away from a $200K job at Microsoft to bet everything on my startup. Here's why.

@junead.kh

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Treasury

Download Treasury: Budget & Track Money by Treasury Technologies, Inc. on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more apps like…

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Why it worked

The video leverages a high-stakes, relatable narrative about leaving a prestigious career for a passion project, which builds significant personal authority and trust before subtly introducing the product.

Summary

A former Microsoft software engineer explains his decision to quit his high-paying job to focus full-time on his personal finance startup, Treasury. He cites both the desire to pursue his own product and ethical concerns regarding his employer's business practices as the primary motivators for his departure.

Structure

1The hook: quitting a $200k job for a startup
2The struggle of balancing a side project with a full-time role
3The frustration with corporate bureaucracy
4

Original caption

The truth about how and why I quit my “dream job” in big tech… 🍉🍉 #swe #faang #quittingmyjob #microsoft #softwareengineer

More from @junead.kh

Product placement

The creator mentions his app, Treasury, as the project he is building, and shows it on his laptop screen multiple times throughout the video.

On-screen text

I walked away I walked away from a $200K job at Microsoft to bet everything on my startup here's why For two years, I was building my personal finance app Treasury at night and on weekends but trying to split myself between Microsoft and my startup wasn't working as a solo founder with no funding I couldn't compete with teams burning millions if I was only giving a few hours a day I knew Treasury was good and I didn't want to miss the moment I had to bet on myself At first Microsoft was a great place to learn but over time the bureaucracy grew suffocating every decision needed approval after approval I went from innovating to just pushing paperwork through layers of red tape that's when I started planning my exit I decided 2 years in I'd quit to go all in I saved aggressively maxed out every benefit 401k, HSA etc and even used Treasury to help me but even then I still had doubts I was asked to help expand our service into new data centers in Israel that cemented my decision I couldn't keep contributing to a company profiting off genocide and a week later I handed in my notice walking away from a $200K job is scary but staying would have been scarier now I'm going all in on Treasury and I can't wait to share this journey with you

Transcript

I walked away from a $200K job at Microsoft to bet everything on my startup. Here's why. For two years, I was building my personal finance app Treasury at night and on weekends. But trying to split myself between Microsoft and my startup wasn't working. As a solo founder with no funding, I couldn't compete with teams burning millions if I was only giving a few hours a day. I knew Treasury was good and I didn't want to miss the moment. I had to bet on myself. At first, Microsoft was a great place to learn, but over time the bureaucracy grew suffocating. Every decision needed approval after approval. I went from innovating to just pushing paperwork through layers of red tape and it drained me. That's when I started planning my exit. I decided 2 years in I'd quit to go all in. I saved aggressively, maxed out every benefit, 401K, HSA etc, and even used Treasury to help me. But even then I still had doubts. But then, I was asked to help expand our service into new data centers in Israel. That cemented my decision. I couldn't keep contributing to a company profiting off genocide and a week later I handed in my notice. Walking away from a $200K job is scary, but staying would have been scarier. Now I'm going all in on Treasury and I can't wait to share this journey with you.