"I'm quitting my 'dream job' with a 400-million-won salary"... Why a 22-year-old Korean American left an AI startup

[Financial News] A story has emerged of a 22-year-old Korean American who quit his job at an artificial intelligence (AI) startup in New York City, where he was earning an annual salary of $300,000 (about 440 million won), in pursuit of "small everyday freedoms."

According to reports in Indian media such as The Indian Express, on the 10th (local time) Daniel Min announced via Instagram that he had decided to step down from his role as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at AI startup Cluely. Min, who studied marketing and operations management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), joined Cluely as CMO in May last year at the age of 21.
In the video, Min explained that his decision was not impulsive but the result of long deliberation, confessing that the constant pressure to deliver results and the need to keep up with a punishing work pace began to take a toll on him just a few months after he joined the company.
Min said, "At 21, I thought it was only natural to devote myself to work all day, 12 hours a day. But I soon found myself missing small everyday freedoms, like having dinner with friends or surprising my 12-year-old younger brother on his birthday." He added, "At first, I really enjoyed the work," but "as time went by, it started to feel increasingly monotonous."
Sensing this change in Min, Cluely’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Roy Lee (Korean name Lee Jeong-in) was the first to suggest they talk. Min recalled, "It took a lot of courage to tell CEO Lee that I had been thinking about quitting," adding, "As I said it out loud, I became overwhelmed with emotion and started to cry."
He went on, "There is probably no one who has looked after me as much as Roy has," but added, "It hurt to realize that staying at Cluely, this tight-knit, brotherly community where we spent 12 hours a day together, was not the ladder I wanted to climb."

Min’s story drew significant attention online. Netizens who watched his video reacted by saying, "This choice takes a lot of courage," "I’m excited to see where he goes from here," and "Sometimes you have to walk away from big rewards."
Meanwhile, Cluely is a startup co-founded last April by Korean Roy Lee, who was expelled from Columbia University after using AI to game a job interview with logistics giant Amazon, and Neel Shanmugam. The company operates an AI service that provides instant answers and information in situations such as exams, interviews, and sales, and is generating more than $3 million (about 4.5 billion won) in annual revenue.

gaa1003@fnnews.com Ahn Gaeul Reporter