Google paid him Rs 3.3 crore. He still left it to build his own business

A nearly Rs 3.3 crore salary would be a dream job for many. For Kevin Naughton Jr, it became a reminder that money alone could not decide his career.Google paid him Rs 3.3 crore. Techie still left it to build his own business (AI-edited image: Instagram/kevinnaughtonjr)Walking away from a job paying nearly Rs 3.3 crore a year would sound unthinkable to most professionals. For Kevin Naughton Jr, the decision was less about money and more about what he wanted to do with his life.The New York-based tech professional left Google, where he was earning nearly $350,000 annually (Rs 3.34 crore), to work for himself.“I just kind of knew from the first day,” Naughton Jr said. “I always knew I wanted to work for myself.”THE WAKE-UP CALLGoogle offered what he called “the best nine-to-five job” he could have had, but it was not the work he wanted to do every day. The turning point came in 2022, when Naughton Jr lost his father. “That was like a really big... wake-up call of you have to do what you want, you have to be happy every day,” he said.The loss made him rethink what he was postponing. A comfortable job, he realised, could still be different from fulfilling work.BUILDING A SAFETY NET Quitting a $350,000 job was not a reckless leap. Naughton Jr said he is “pretty conservative” when it comes to taking risks and had saved enough to give himself several years of financial runway.A conversation with a close friend helped him take the final step. His friend pointed out that if Naughton Jr could support himself for three years without a job, he had enough time to test his business. If it failed, he could return to employment.“If you don't need to work for three years... you would just go back to a job,” his friend told him.THE JOB WAS NEVER THE DESTINATIONNaughton Jr’s story is not an argument against corporate jobs. It is about recognising when a successful career no longer matches what you want.Google gave him financial security, but he had always planned to build something of his own. His father’s death made that plan harder to postpone.His decision offers a lesson: financial preparation can make career change far less risky. For Naughton Jr, the question was not whether he could afford to leave Google. It was whether he could afford to keep waiting.- EndsPublished By: Princy ShuklaPublished On: Aug 20, 2026 10:48 IST