Why Prakshal Jain Left Rs 2.89 Crore Meta Job to Launch Mitosis Labs AI Startup

For most professionals, a ₹2.89 crore (approximately $300,000) annual salary at a company like Meta represents the pinnacle of career success—financial security, global recognition, and the chance to impact billions of lives. So when Prakshal Jain, an Indian-origin software engineer, walked away from this package to build an AI startup, it naturally raised eyebrows. Jain’s decision was not born of dissatisfaction but of a profound conviction: the way humans interact with computers is about to be fundamentally rewritten, and he wanted to be at the forefront of that change.

A Vision Forged in the Terminal- After spending nearly 3.5 years at Meta, where he contributed to launching Facebook and Instagram on Meta Quest and worked on Meta AI applications, Jain noticed a shift in his own behavior. He increasingly bypassed traditional apps and websites, relying instead on AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude Code for everyday tasks. "I caught myself living in my terminal. I stopped going to websites or using apps. I had just ask ChatGPT or Claude Code to find things or do things for me," he explained. This personal observation crystallized into a core philosophy: "The best UX is no UI". Jain began to view screens, dashboards, and forms as relics of an era when humans needed to closely monitor and direct computers. As AI agents grow more capable, he argues, much of that manual interaction will become unnecessary.

An 78% reduction in screen time- Jain did not just speculate—he experimented. He built a personal AI agent and fed it his entire digital footprint. The result was dramatic: his iPhone screen time dropped by a staggering 78% in just three weeks. This experiment reinforced his belief that AI could free people from repetitive digital tasks like filing taxes or filling out forms. It demonstrated that users could reclaim time and cognitive energy by offloading routine work to intelligent, privacy-conscious AI.

The Mission of Mitosis Labs: Privacy-First AI- Jain, alongside co-founder Alex Morris, launched Mitosis Labs after seven months of working in stealth mode. The startup is built on a "privacy-first" ethos, aiming to create AI systems that handle tasks while giving users complete control over personal data. Jain believes many companies have yet to unlock AI's full ROI because they treat it as an interface design challenge rather than rethinking the underlying intelligence layer. Mitosis Labs aims to address this gap through three pillars: A reliable, secure, and fast intelligence layer capable of handling vast data, which Jain claims has already achieved state-of-the-art benchmark results. An interface simple enough for anyone, including users who are less comfortable with complex technology. Building a broader AI community beyond Silicon Valley to make technology accessible to more people globally. These pillars support three products currently under development: Mitosis Cortex, Happy, and UFA & Wikipedia.

A Pattern of Bold Leaps- Jain's decision to leave Meta for Mitosis Labs is part of a larger pattern of calculated risk-taking. In a previous role at Meta, he voluntarily moved from the high-profile Facebook Web team—working on features for 3 billion users—to a more engineering-focused team building native components and design systems. "I felt a wave of doubt that made me question whether I was truly living up to my potential, especially being in the prime of my life in Silicon Valley—the heart of innovation," he reflected. He described that move as a mix of "fear and excitement," driven by a desire to push himself into new territories. This willingness to embrace the unknown and trust his instincts has been a hallmark of his career, which has seen him progress from a small town in India to the epicenter of tech innovation.

Looking Ahead- Now, after seven months of building in stealth, Jain and his team are preparing to showcase their work publicly. "we have been building for seven months." He wrote. Jain is betting that by combining powerful AI with an unwavering focus on privacy and simplicity, he can build tools that redefine our digital lives—a vision he believes is worth far more than any paycheck.

 For many, a $300,000 (approx. Rs 2.89 crore) annual salary at a tech giant like Meta is the pinnacle of a career. It represents financial security, professional prestige, and the opportunity to work on products used by billions. So, when an engineer walks away from that to build a startup, the question is inevitable: why? For Prakshal Jain, the answer was not about dissatisfaction with Meta, but a profound conviction that the future of human-computer interaction was about to change, and he wanted to be at the forefront.

A Vision Forged in the Terminal- Prakshal Jain, an Indian-origin software engineer, spent nearly 3.5 years at Meta, working on high-impact projects like launching Facebook and Instagram on Meta Quest and contributing to Meta's AI applications. Despite this success, his personal interaction with technology was shifting. He found himself increasingly bypassing traditional apps and websites. "I caught myself living in my terminal. I stopped going to websites or using apps. I had just ask ChatGPT or Claude Code to find things or do things for me," Jain explained. This was not a casual observation; it was a revelation that crystallized into a core philosophy: "The best UX is no UI. He began to believe that the screens, dashboards, and forms we use are largely a relic of a time when we needed to monitor and manually direct computers. As AI agents grow more capable, he argues, much of that manual interaction will become unnecessary.

The Three Pillars and Products- Mitosis Labs is structured around three key pillars: a reliable and secure intelligence layer, an interface simple enough for anyone to use, and a mission to foster a global AI community. This foundation supports three distinct products currently under development: Mitosis Cortex, Happy, and UFA & Wikipedia. Jain is betting that by combining powerful AI with a relentless focus on privacy and simplicity, he can build tools that redefine how we interact with the digital world—a vision he believes is worth far more than a lucrative paycheck.