While working at Microsoft, where he was offered a high-paying position with a six-figure salary, a significant stock bonus, and the opportunity to closely observe the development of artificial intelligence (AI), 25-year-old Juned Khan decided to leave this attractive life.
According to a Business Insider report, after about two years at Microsoft, Juned made the risky decision to sacrifice all his financial stability to found his own AI startup.
Living in Seattle, Juned earned over $200,000 (equivalent to approximately 1.9 crore rupees) in 2024, including stocks and bonuses. His new AI startup, named 'Treasury', has currently generated total revenue of $6,000 (approximately 5.4 lakh rupees). Juned is currently not receiving any salary from his new venture and is making ends meet with savings accumulated while working at Microsoft.
After graduating with a degree in computer science from the University of North Carolina, Juned started working at Microsoft in 2023. A major part of his duties involved assisting with the setup of data centers worldwide, which allowed him to gain a deep understanding of AI infrastructure.
However, over time, he realized that this job did not allow him to learn the advanced AI skills he desired. Following technical glitches in early 2025, the entire company focused its attention on ensuring service security and stability, which slowed down product development. At the same time, rapidly evolving AI coding tools sparked his desire to create his own product.
'Treasury' originated during Juned's student years when he struggled to manage his finances between the UK and the US. He concluded that an 'AI-powered money coach' could be created to help ordinary people manage their money wisely, avoiding the need to spend thousands of dollars on expensive financial consultants.
He began working on this idea even before joining Microsoft, refining the project in the evenings after work and on weekends for almost two years.
Initially, Juned applied to major startup accelerators like 'Y Combinator' to gain confidence in quitting upon securing funding. But when his applications were unsuccessful, he decided to write his own destiny. He waited until his introductory bonus and stocks from Microsoft expired and resigned in August. Two months later, he officially launched 'Treasury'.
Having navigated this path alone, without co-founders or venture capital, his main assistants were AI coding tools such as Claude Code and Codex. Juned believes that modern AI tools have simplified software development so much that one person can now create a complete product.
Social media has become a platform for publishing his story of success and failure as a solo founder. Today, he has over 30,000 followers across various platforms. Although 'Treasury' has already attracted paying customers, Juned believes the business is in its early stages, and they are focused on strengthening their user base before seeking external funding.