Tanu Puri was living the dream — while still in her early 30s, she was working at Google in the United States and earning around $300,000 a year, an impressive figure even by tech standards. Last year, she gave it all up and moved to Dubai with her husband and young son.
Puri’s decision may seem puzzling to many — a Google US job, after all, is widely regarded as one of the most coveted roles in the global tech industry. For Puri, however, the move to Dubai was a calculated risk for greater returns.
The 34-year-old spoke to HT.com over a phone call from Dubai, explaining why she gave up the ‘American dream’, quit Google, and moved continents.
From India to the US
Born in India, Tanu Puri completed her undergraduate studies from Jaypee Institute of Information Technology in Noida, before moving to the US to pursue a master’s degree in business analytics.
After graduating in 2016, she spent the next decade working in Chicago. In 2021, Puri joined Google as Measurement Lead, before being promoted to Principal Analytical Lead months later. In this position, she was earning roughly $300,000 a year ( ₹2.7 crore approximately).
Quitting Google
After spending more than four years working for Google in Chicago, Puri gave up her successful corporate career. With her husband and young child, she moved from the US to Dubai, where her parents have been based for several years.
Proximity to her family and access to more house help was part of the reason she quit Google and moved to Dubai in September 2025. Another reason was her desire to do more in life. Puri felt that despite her high salary, she could not build true wealth with a corporate career alone, and an H-1B visa prevented her from doing anything else.
“I was at Google at a good level, doing meaningful work and earning well. I genuinely loved that phase of my life,” she said. “But then I also realized if I wanted to multiply what I was making. I needed to tap into other ventures”.
“The US teaches you to think bigger,” Puri explained. “And at some point, I started thinking about how to multiply what I was making — not just grow it incrementally.”
“So if I was making $100K, maybe I can go to $200K, but you cannot make a million overnight with your corporate job,” she explained.
“I wanted to do things where I could multiply my wealth. And I don’t think you can truly build wealth with a corporate job,” said Puri, who quit her Google job in November 2025.
On the H-1B visa
Puri explained that H-1B visa restrictions became the “dealbreaker” for her.
“As someone on an H-1B visa, your income is tied to your employer, and you are not allowed to pursue active income through other sources,” she explained. You cannot have other sources of income. And I think that was, that was kind of a deal breaker for me.”
“The UAE gave me the ability to explore that. I wanted the freedom to experiment — whether that’s content creation, building a brand, or other opportunities that can create asymmetrical returns,” she told HT.com.
The American Dream
Every year, millions of Indians try for a job in the United States. To have made it in the land of opportunities, and then to give it up, may seem like a strange thing to do. But Puri is clear that she is not giving up on the ‘American Dream’ — only that her definition of it is different.
“A question I often get is: why leave the ‘American Dream” after achieving it?’ said Puri.
“I think there’s a misunderstanding around what the American dream actually means. Many people equate it with earning in dollars or living in the US. But at its core, the American dream has always been about possibility, the idea that regardless of where you start, you have the opportunity to build a better life through hard work, freedom, and access to opportunity,” said Puri.
“For me, the American Dream represents hope and possibility — the idea that no matter where you come from, you have the opportunity to build a comfortable life and create something for yourself.
“I feel like in that context, that I did not leave my American dream and I am still perusing it just in another country,” she explained.
Why Dubai?
What attracted Tanu Puri to Dubai was not just the infrastructure but also the city’s entrepreneurial spirit.
“Having been in Dubai for the past year, one thing I’ve observed quite closely is the entrepreneurial mindset here. Many people I meet—regardless of whether they have corporate jobs—are running some form of side business or venture,” she said.
“In many cases, the overall earnings may not look significantly higher on paper compared to the US, especially when you look at base salaries. But the combination of tax-free income and additional entrepreneurial income streams shifts the equation meaningfully,” the former Google employee explained.
“In a corporate structure, returns are typically linear. What I’m now aiming for is what I call asymmetrical returns—where the upside is high compared to the input. That’s the lens through which I’m exploring my next steps,” she said.
Corporate career vs entrepreneurship
While her husband has a job in Dubai, Puri is currently on a career break and enjoying spending time with her son. At the same time, she is dabbling with content creation. In the future, she hopes to launch her own business — “something to do with sustainable fashion, but not necessarily clothes,” she told HT.com.
But that does not mean she has given up on corporate entirely. Puri is well aware of the stability and security that comes with a steady paycheck every month.
“I don’t regret giving up my Google job. Do I get scared sometimes? Yes,” she confessed. “But there is no regret.”
While she applies for jobs on and off, that has hit pause due to the current situation. “Right now, I think my struggle is not about finding a job. My struggle is more about finding the right level, finding the right number that I feel is doing justice to my skill set,” said Puri.
She is grateful to the US for providing her with a safety net through high incomes. It has allowed her to enjoy a career break with sufficient savings and emergency fund.
“What the US gave us was a very strong foundation. It created enough financial and professional stability that even taking a break now doesn’t feel destabilising,” said Puri.