If there’s one thing I’ve realized in the past year, it’s this: sometimes, opportunities do come your way, but what really matters is whether you’re prepared to grab them.
Let me take you back to early 2024. I was working at Capital One in Bengaluru. Life was comfortable, I had a stable 9-to-5 job, decent pay, an amazing group of peers, and a genuinely supportive manager. But deep down, something felt off. The work wasn’t bad at all in fact, I was delivering everything expected of me but it wasn’t deeply fulfilling either. Most days, I’d wrap up tasks within three focused hours. It wasn’t because I wasn’t trying I was just efficient. That’s the thing with many MNC jobs: once you find your rhythm, things can get repetitive fast. Unless you're actively chasing more, quality work doesn’t always come your way.
In May 2024, I took a 15-day family vacation to the U.S which was a long overdue trip that happened only because our visas were expiring in December. I didn’t expect much more than a good break. But the trip ended up changing my perspective.
Something about being in the U.S. seeing my uncle who had built a tech business from scratch 40 years ago now living his dream life, catching up with seniors who were running their own startups, and just absorbing the high-energy ecosystem of builders stirred something inside me. I started asking myself: What am I doing back home, stuck in the loop of a comfortable life, barely scratching the surface of my potential? Why am I settling?
As soon as I got back to India, I reached out to seniors from college. I didn’t ask for a salary or title, I just wanted to work under someone, contribute, and learn. Anything to keep growing.
That’s when Aditya Ketkar gave me a chance. His startup focused on building voice AI agents was at a critical early phase, they were just pivoting from EV to VoiceAI. I joined part-time while moonlighting at capitalone, working directly under him, and saw what it really meant to build from zero. I got to witness the chaos and the magic, the ARR climbing, systems breaking, hypotheses failing and working and I soaked in everything. I started hearing real conversations about YC, San Francisco, go-to-market strategies, fundraising, etc etc, all things I had only read about until then, and somewhere in all of that, the spark caught fire.
After four intense months of learning and building, my friend Harsh and I decided to shoot our shot at YC W25 batch with a little hope. We built a small tool essentially a performance evaluation layer for voice AI agents something we wished existed when we were working at the previous startup. It was early, and our MRR was a humble $60 far from impressive. We didn’t get in. But the process taught us a lot. Selling in the U.S. market from India was way harder than we imagined. Still, it felt like a step forward.
By December, I was seriously considering shutting it down and focusing on something else until I got a surprise acquisition offer from a guy based out of Connecticut. It wasn’t life-changing money, but for a first-time founder, it felt validating. It told me that my time, effort, and conviction hadn’t gone to waste.
That same month, I went to Surat to attend a friend’s wedding. One evening, I headed to the sports club and joined a casual game of pickleball with three others who needed a fourth. I played with them for a while, and, being my usual extroverted self, I struck up a conversation with one of them who had a slight American accent. Naturally, I was curious. It turned out he(Pritesh) was the co-founder of a YC-backed consumer AI startup.
We clicked instantly. I told him about my background, my recent startup journey, and how I had reached a point where I was itching to work on something meaningful again. Pritesh mentioned that their startup was in a pivotal phase, looking to grow, and were already hiring. We exchanged contacts and LinkedIn, and two days later, I got a call to meet the team. There was no formal interview. Just a genuine chat about what I’d worked on, what I was hoping to do next, and whether I was willing to go all in. The very next day, he asked me to resign from Capital One. I didn’t think twice. I put in my notice.
To Capital One’s credit, they still promoted me during my notice period a gesture I’m genuinely grateful for. I learned a lot there. The structure, professionalism, and mentorship I received helped build my foundation. But I knew it was time to move on.
When I accepted the new offer, I didn’t even ask about the pay, the working model, or the benefits. All I knew was that I’d be working with a sharp team, YC-backed founders, and super diversified team. That was enough.
It’s now been nearly seven months since I joined, back in December 2024. I was the fifth team member. Today, we’re a team of eight( 2 indians, 2 americans, 2 canadians, mexican and a singaporean). That kind of cultural mix alone has taught me so much every day, there’s something new to absorb.
Consumer AI is a beast. We got lucky early on touched nearly 500,000 DAUs but scaling and sustaining that kind of growth is incredibly hard. We’ve had our ups and downs. We’ve seen highs that made us feel unstoppable, and lows that made us question everything. But through it all, the belief in the team never wavered. That’s what keeps us going.
In may 2025, we got an office space in New York City. I had the opportunity to spend two months there while sorting out my visa situation. Sometimes I think: had I not picked up that pickleball paddle that day, would I still be doing my 9-to-5, half-engaged, waiting for weekends? Maybe not I had already made up my mind to make a move. But I’ll always be grateful for how it all unfolded.
Looking back, I have no regrets. None. Even the corporate phase was important. It gave me structure, exposure to great peers, and the kind of stability that allowed me to take a bet on myself. But I’m thankful I didn’t let that comfort zone trap me for too long.
So, if you’re someone reading this, and you don’t have pressing responsibilities right now, you don’t need to send money home, you’re not tied down by heavy commitments then don’t wait. Comfort can be addictive. That steady salary, that familiar routine, the free snacks, the fancy office, it can all feel nice. But growth? Growth lies outside that bubble.
If you’ve been feeling even slightly restless, don’t ignore it. That discomfort is trying to tell you something. Act on it. Find a small team. Build something. Even if it means a pay cut or starting from scratch the compounding you’ll see in your learning, confidence, and ownership will blow your mind.
Of course, not every big company is bad. I know friends working at MNCs doing meaningful work. But if you’re not one of them, if you’re floating through your days, doing just enough to meet deadlines but never feeling truly in it, it’s time to wake up.
Take the leap. Join a small team. Do the hard things. Say yes even when the outcome isn’t certain.
Because you won’t always get lucky, but when you do, you better be ready to jump.