Prateek Tanmay
Walking away from a Rs 2.8-crore job at Google to start his own company and eventually secure a US green card, Nepal-born techie Pratik Karki has a story that reads like a dream. Just a few years ago, he feared he might be forced to leave behind the life he had built in the United States with his wife and return to Nepal.
Karki recently shared his journey on X, announcing: “GOT OUR GREEN CARDS TODAY!”
In the post, he revealed that two years ago, he was rejected from Google’s H-1B visa lottery for the fourth time. The repeated setbacks left him considering a move to Canada or even returning to Nepal.
“I was looking at having to pack everything up. Try Canada, or go back to Nepal, and live thousands of miles away from the person I love. That night I came home and I was freaking out. My wife and I sat at the kitchen table and talked for a couple of hours. She told me we had enough saved to stay afloat, and that this was my dream after all. That was all the conviction I needed,” he wrote.
At 27, Karki walked away from a Google job that paid around Rs 2.8 crore a year. The decision was daunting, given how much he stood to lose.
However, instead of hesitating, he threw himself into entrepreneurship. He began testing ideas, discussing them with friends, mentors and fellow founders in San Francisco. During that process, he realised that what he truly wanted was not to work for companies, but to build one himself.
GOT OUR GREEN CARDS TODAY! Here’s the full story, no BS, and a special thank you to my dad.
My dad did his postdocs at Harvard and Berkeley when I was a toddler. Then his marriage ended, and he had to take care of my brother and me on his own.
Going back to Nepal was the only… pic.twitter.com/DK7a16enlH
— Pratik Karki (@ai_evals) May 27, 2026
“Somewhere in that haze, I figured out what I actually wanted to build. The definitive human data layer for frontier labs and enterprise AI teams. What had been an intuition from failed AI pilots at Google turned into a real product opportunity,” he wrote.
The first taste of success
Things moved quickly after that realisation. At a founders’ event in San Francisco, he met his future co-founder, Mannat. Soon after came their first data pilot and their first venture capital investment.
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“All of a sudden, we had a real company on our hands,” Karki said.
Around the same time, he hired a lawyer and applied for an O-1 visa, which was approved. His green card process followed soon after.
Karki also spoke about the growth of his company, Anthromind, which has since taken off and given him the opportunity to work with several notable companies.
Reflecting on the milestone, he wrote: “Today my wife and I are both holding our green cards. I keep looking down at mine and feeling exuberant. Two immigrants, one company, one kitchen table conversation that changed everything.”
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Karki began his post by thanking his father, whom he credits for inspiring his dream of moving to the United States and building a life there.
“My dad did his postdocs at Harvard and Berkeley when I was a toddler. Then his marriage ended, and he had to take care of my brother and me on his own. Going back to Nepal was the only way. He walked away from everything he had built in America for us. We moved to my grandparents’ house in a small room in the attic,” Karki wrote.
He added that his father’s journey motivated him to return to the US and continue the life his father had once envisioned there but had been unable to pursue.
Karki ended his post by dedicating the achievement to his father, writing: “Baba, this one is for you, thanks to all your sacrifices and lessons.”
