Indian-origin techie quits ‘dream job’ at Apple to launch AI startup with father: ‘We’re a complementary fit’

An Indian-origin techie has shared how he left what he once considered his “dream job” at Apple to co-found an artificial intelligence startup with his father. In conversation with Business Insider, Akshat Prakash, 27, the CTO of Camb.ai, an AI startup focused on speech and translation technology, said that the decision to leave Apple came from a long-standing desire to build something of his own.The 27-year-old worked at Apple for 2 years before quitting to start his own business. (LinkedIn/Akshat Prakash)The 27-year-old, born in a small village near New Delhi, moved from India to Ireland at a young age, before moving back to the country. He left for the US in 2016 for his undergraduate degree at Carnegie Mellon University. “10 years later, I split my time between California and the UAE as the CTO of an AI startup I cofounded with my dad,” he told Business Insider.Before landing a job at Apple, Akshat shared that he did multiple internships, including a summer internship at Microsoft. “All my internships were paid, and as an international student from India and a bachelor, it was life-changing money. It made me realize how well tech pays,” he said.Then, almost a year after graduating, he landed his “dream job” as a software engineer on the Siri team at Apple. “I applied online because my profile was a good fit for a research position. I ended up on a specialized team within Siri called the Web Answers Team. I was part of building one of Siri’s first versions of a ChatGPT-like system,” he said.Akshat said that his early experiences shaped his interest in language and communication. Despite being fluent in English, he recalled struggling to understand accents during his initial days in the US. “At that moment, it struck me that even though I spoke English, people from different cultures spoke the same language differently,” he said, adding that this inspired him to work on translation-focused AI solutions.(Also Read: Ex-Google techie receives rejection email for internship she applied to 4 years ago)‘I quit in 2022 to start my own business’The 27-year-old worked at Apple for 2 years before quitting to start his own business. He began exploring ideas and speaking to investors, but said he initially faced challenges being taken seriously due to his age. “I looked young, and the VCs and investors didn’t take me seriously,” he said, adding that this is when he asked his father to step in.“My dad believed in my vision, and it was natural for him to quit his then job and become full-time at Camb.ai. We incorporated as a US Delaware C Corp in late 2022. On January 1, 2023, we officially started Camb.ai as a father-son duo, with him as the official CEO and me as the CTO,” he shared.(Also Read: Ex-Google employee chooses startup life over returning to tech giant: ‘I want to keep building’)Startup lifeAkshat said that in its early days, the startup operated with a small team and limited resources, with both founders choosing not to draw salaries initially in order to support employees. The company later raised a seed round of around $4 million and began expanding its operations, investing in infrastructure and scaling its AI models.The techie said that his startup gained traction after securing projects in media and sports, including dubbing content and working on real-time translation use cases. “In January 2024, we received an offer to dub the Australian Open’s post-match interviews. That opened the world to our brand, and we received inbound business from sports and media enterprises,” he shared.Reflecting on his decision, Akshat said that choosing to leave a stable job was not easy, especially coming from a traditional background. “I could’ve continued to work at Apple, but I would’ve become and remained a cog in the system,” he said.He added that building the company alongside his father has been a unique experience. “It has its pros and cons, but it’s completely worth it because there was no better cofounder for my dad or me,” he said.