Treasury: Former Microsoft Employee Launches Solo AI Financial Coach

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Key Takeaways

1Treasury has paying customers and has generated over $6,000 in revenue

2Junead Khan's audience has reached approximately 30,000 subscribers in one year on social media

3He is developing Treasury on his own using AI coding tools like Claude Code and Codex

💡Why it matters — Junead Khan claims that AI tools make it easier to launch a product solo, allowing him to leave Microsoft and reach his first customers without venture capital.

Junead Khan left Microsoft to develop Treasury, an AI-powered financial coach, without a co-founder or external funding. He claims to have initial clients, over $6,000 in revenue, and about 30,000 subscribers built within a year on social media.

Paying Clients and Over $6,000 in Revenue, Without a Founder Salary

Treasury now has paying clients and has generated over $6,000 in revenue. Junead Khan is currently the only person working on the company. He does not take a salary, keeps the revenue within the company, and lives off savings accumulated before his departure from Microsoft. He set himself a year to evaluate the project and continued because he believes he has built a good product and has an audience that wants to see the company succeed. He considers it a risk to leave a well-paying job without paying clients or external funding.

A Prepared Departure: Acquired Shares and Self-Funding

Before leaving Microsoft, Junead Khan waited until part of his shares were vested and he had reached the necessary tenure to avoid having to return a portion of his signing bonus. He left the company last August after nearly two years and officially founded his business two months later. He decided to use the money earned at Microsoft as initial funding after being rejected by accelerators, including Y Combinator, where acceptance would have prompted him to leave earlier.

The Product: An AI Financial Coach Born from a Cross-Border Need

Born in the UK and arriving in the US in 2019 to study computer science at the University of North Carolina, Junead Khan had to manage his money across two countries and found existing financial tools inadequate for his situation. After graduating and before joining Microsoft, he began building Treasury, which he describes as an AI financial coach. He explains that he had the idea during his final year of studies and developed the project in the evenings and on weekends for about two years. His initial goal was to provide a consulting tool for people without access to a financial advisor or who did not want to spend thousands of dollars a year.

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AI as a Lever for Solo-Founding and Development Pace

Junead Khan believes that AI has transformed software development, making it possible to create an initial product version without a co-founder or venture capital. He cites Claude Code and Codex among the tools that allow him to code faster. If he were to decide to raise funds, he would prefer to do so after validating the idea with an audience, while remaining the sole person working on Treasury for now.

Organic Growth: About 30,000 Subscribers in One Year

After leaving Microsoft, Junead Khan documented the building of his product on TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, and X, focusing on organic growth rather than venture capital or paid advertising. He started with virtually no subscribers, sharing his progress as well as his failures, including unsuccessful launches. He claims to have accumulated about 30,000 subscribers in a year, with a TikTok account growing from fewer than 500 to over 9,000 subscribers. He advises choosing the storytelling format that suits each individual best, whether it be writing or long video. He also believed that the democratization of engineering through AI would make a personal brand and audience even more important for the future of his career.

The Microsoft Context: Perceived Slowdown and Quest for AI Skills

Joining Microsoft full-time in 2023 for his first job after university, Junead Khan worked on deploying data centers around the world. He reports that the company experienced service outages and that by early 2025, the focus shifted to security and stability, which slowed the pace of delivery and made the work less stimulating in his eyes. He saw new AI coding tools emerging and wanted to access them more quickly, while feeling he was not acquiring all the AI skills he was seeking. Well-compensated, with over $200,000 in 2024 including stock and bonuses, he nonetheless nurtured the idea of a startup alongside his job before leaving. He also attributes his decision to the rapid progress of AI models.