A 22-year-old marketing executive quit his high-paying role at an AI startup, after relentless 12-hour workdays cost him personal freedom and emotional well-being. Daniel Min, who served as Chief Marketing Officer at Cluely in New York, announced his decision in a recent Instagram video, revealing that he walked away from an annual salary of over $300,000 (about Rs 2.7 crore).
Min, who also runs a popular digital content platform with over 70,000 Instagram followers, said stepping down was not an impulsive decision but the result of months of internal conflict. He had joined the company in May 2025, shortly after graduating from the Wharton School with a degree in Marketing and Operations Management. He was 21 at the time.
‘The grind felt suffocating’
In his now-viral Instagram video, Min said the pressure to constantly perform and “grind” began to take a toll within months of joining the firm. What he initially believed was the ideal way to build a career at a young age soon began to feel suffocating.
“I thought working all day, grinding 12 hours a day was what you should be doing when you’re at the age of 21,” Min said. “But I started to quickly miss small freedoms like getting dinner with my friends or surprising my brother for his 12th birthday.”
No life outside work
He said the job, which he once found energising, gradually became monotonous. As the head of marketing, Min felt compelled to give everything to the company — leaving little space for life outside work.
“In the beginning, the work was super fun,” he said. “But over time, slowly, it started to get a little bit more monotonous.”
Breaking down in front of CEO
Min’s dissatisfaction did not go unnoticed. Cluely CEO Roy Lee eventually pulled him aside to check in. That conversation, Min said, marked a breaking point.
“I mustered up the courage to tell Roy that I’d been thinking for a while of leaving,” Min said, adding that he broke down while speaking to him.
According to Min, Lee responded with empathy, encouraging him to prioritise his happiness over the job. Min publicly expressed gratitude toward the CEO, calling him one of the few people who truly had his best interests at heart.
“There’s probably no one else who has looked out for me more than Roy,” Min said. “But it broke me to realise that being at Cluely — this little brotherhood that I spent literally 12 hours a day living with — wasn’t the ladder that I wanted to climb.”
Despite the financial sacrifice, he said the cost of staying felt higher.
Reaction on social media was largely supportive. Followers praised his honesty and applauded the decision to step away from what many described as an unsustainable grind culture. “Good for you buddy, that grind sounds brutal,” one user commented. Another wrote: “Always loved your content, keen for the next chapter.”