quit
In January 2024, I arrived at a friend’s farmhouse in Costa Rica. It was the start of a six-week stay that kicked off what I intended to be a year packed with international travel. Stops back home in Canada, and a trip to Argentina had already been penciled in.At the…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jason White, a 46-year-old startup founder in the San Jose area. Business Insider has verified his former employment with documentation. His words have been edited for length and clarity.I’ve spent half of my 20 years in the tech industry working at…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with William Tunstall-Pedoe, 56, a founder and CEO. Amazon’s acquisition of his startup and his role at Unlikely AI have been verified by Business Insider. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.I helped create Alexa, a product that everyone has…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Shiyao Tang, a 34-year-old business owner based in New York City and Paris. It’s been edited for length and clarity.I was on a very strong upward trajectory in my manager role at DoorDash when I quit in 2025. I was making…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cassindy Chao, 57, a matchmaker based in the Bay Area. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.Finance is a young person’s arena. Long hours and stamina are treated as essential markers of a coveted hire. As I got older,…
This as-told-to-essay is based on a conversation with Alex Delaney, 41, who is based in Chicago. It has been edited for length and clarity.After my husband died suddenly at the age of 39, both my body and mind remained in a state of shock for years to come.It happened in…
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Cassi Zheng, 31, the founder of Aurawell, an aromatherapy brand. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.As a brand director at a sports-drink startup in Shanghai, I spoke to more than 30 people a day — from members of…
By the time Pablo Slough and Karen Gilchrist walked away from their corporate jobs in mid-2024, their plan to quit had been simmering for a year.Over two decades of working in demanding roles managing teams around the world had taken a toll.”I worked straight out of college, and then it…
