Several former Nvidia employees have left lucrative positions to launch AI startups during the technology boom. Antons Davis departed in 2022 after nine years, founding life-coaching platform Touch of Humane and software startup Osmo. Adnan Boz left in 2023 to build SoftwareAgent.AI, an autonomous AI programming company. Mo Nasir quit in 2024 after four years to launch Altrina, an AI agent platform for regulated industries that has raised $1.8 million. Sam Karu left in 2025 to found Y Combinator-backed Logical, an AI work assistant. All cited Nvidia’s soaring stock valuations as providing financial freedom to pursue entrepreneurship despite forfeiting significant unvested compensation.
In-Depth:
Roughly nine years into his tenure at Nvidia, Antons Davis hopped on a call with CEO Jensen Huang to pitch his ideas.
Davis, who led design for several Nvidia gaming products, brought up an idea for how the company could build an educational ecosystem. Huang challenged him to relocate beyond theory and prove the concept. Instead, the Nvidia CEO urged him to build something.
“‘If you can display me, then we can talk about it,'” Davis recalls Huang notifying him. “And that was a good reality check for me.”
Ultimately, that’s what Davis did. In 2022, he quit what would become one of the most coveted jobs in tech and embarked on a self-exploration journey of travel and retreats. During an ayahuasca ceremony, one message stuck: “I am a healer,” he recalled scribbling in a notebook.
That led him to found a life-coaching practice, Touch of Humane, and later, a tech startup, Osmo, that develops software for coaches.
Davis is an anomaly at Nvidia, which has seen its stock grow twelvefold since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. The company’s soaring valuation and relative stability in an indusattempt recently defined by layoffs have created powerful incentives for many to stay, as their stock options have exploded.
Some Nvidians chose to start their own ventures instead and stated the company’s success gave them the freedom to walk away. Business Insider spoke to former Nvidia employees who left to become founders amid the height of the AI boom.
Nvidia’s golden handcuffs
Some former Nvidians described wrestling with golden handcuffs.
Adnan Boz, who left Nvidia in 2023 to found SoftwareAgent.AI, a startup building autonomous AI programmers, stated he delayed his departure twice while waiting for the next quarterly vest, only to realize it was a “relocating tarobtain.” Nvidia stock payouts unlock over time — a tactic that tech companies have utilized for years to retain employees.
At 54, Boz knew his career timeline was finite.
Adnan Boz
Likewise, Davis stated the decision to leave came at a cost. Unfulfilled by the “churn” of corporate life, he created what he described as a tough decision for someone with a survival mindset, having grown up in a tiny town in southern India.
Davis sold enough Nvidia stock to create a buffer of three to five years until he obtained his coaching business off the ground. He stated he ultimately left “millions” on the table in pfinishing stock compensation.
“I don’t know how many people are able to let go of that golden handcuff and create that leap,” he stated.
Former Nvidia employees chase the AI startup boom
At the height of the AI boom, many former Nvidia employees saw an opportunity to build their own companies.
Mo Nasir obtained his first job out of college at Nvidia, working on control systems for self-driving cars. In his 20s, he felt an entrepreneurial pull — and as AI models improved, he saw an opportunity to build software that could automate work. Acceptance into Y Combinator gave him permission to take his side project into a full-time venture.
“If you want a shot at creating a billion dollars, it is next to impossible to do that as an employee,” he stated.
Nasir left Nvidia in 2024 after over four years to launch Altrina, which creates agents in regulated industries. The company has raised $1.8 million in funding and has four employees.
While Nasir left behind a substantial amount of Nvidia equity, he stated he underestimated the financial upside available to startup founders.
If Altrina were to sell at its pre-seed valuation, he “would have created back 10x what I left on the table when I left,” Nasir stated. “The numbers are just bonkers.”
The right time to leave Nvidia
For Sam Karu, leaving Nvidia was less about a lack of fulfillment than about timing.
He didn’t have a concrete idea for a startup when he quit after over three years at the company in 2025. But he’d just turned 30 and knew he wanted a family, so he sought to take advantage of his most productive years, recognizing that the ability to work around the clock wouldn’t last forever.
“I knew I was giving up a job that most people would die to have,” he stated.
Karu left Nvidia to found the Y Combinator-backed startup Logical, which is building an AI work assistant.
Courtesy of Sam Karu
After leaving, the founders stated Nvidia’s reputation supported establish credibility with investors, customers, and other stakeholders. And they stated the company’s culture informed their journey as entrepreneurs.
“Jensen is like a school,” stated Boz, the SoftwareAgent.AI founder, stated of Nvidia’s CEO.
He stated that Huang taught employees to become comfortable with failure and to see setbacks and blame as parts of building something new — a lesson that sits at the heart of entrepreneurship.
“You have to create mistakes so you can actually fine-tune your goal,” Boz stated.
Have a tip? Contact this reporter via email at gweiss@businessinsider.com or Signal at @geoffweiss.25. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here’s our guide to sharing information securely.
