Scored 48% in Class 5, now earns ₹2.5 crore: How a sweet seller's son made it big in AI

Lucknow-born engineer Tejesh Vaish, who once helped his father make samosas and jalebis at the family’s sweet shop, now leads AI engineering at Dubai-based Lumian.ai with an annual package of about ₹2.5 crore. The 26-year-old IIT Kanpur graduate’s story is being widely shared as an example of how steady effort, scholarships and mentorship can reshape a career, according to India Today report.

Vaish grew up in Sadar Bazaar, Lucknow Cantonment, where his father, Ashok Kumar Vaish, runs Gayatri Mishthan Bhandar. Between Classes 5 and 9, he regularly helped prepare and sell sweets, including samosas and jalebis.

“From Class 5 to Class 9, I helped him prepare samosas, jalebis and other sweets. Later, financial support made a real difference to my education,” Vaish recalled.

He was not an early academic standout: he scored 48 per cent in Class 5 at St Paul’s College. But his performance improved sharply, reaching about 94 per cent in Class 10 and 95 per cent in Class 12.

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After Class 12, Vaish took a drop year to prepare for engineering entrance examinations. His routine included roughly six hours of coaching and nearly 12 hours of self-study, often continuing until midnight.

“Mock tests helped the most because they showed me what I had missed and where I needed to improve,” he said.

The effort paid off. He secured Rank 9 in UPSEE 2019, topped Lucknow, and joined IIT Kanpur’s Computer Science programme in 2019 through JEE Advanced. He graduated in 2023 with a 9.14 CPI and received the Academic Excellence Award.

At IIT Kanpur, Vaish received the PD Murti Scholarship and an AlphaGrep Merit Scholar grant, easing the financial pressure on his family. He interned at Securonix and Texas Instruments, worked on research with institute director Professor Manindra Agrawal, and mentored more than 3,000 students.

“IIT Kanpur helped me realise how many paths were open to an undergraduate student,” he said.

Today, as lead engineer at Lumian.ai, he builds production AI agents for Amazon brands. His work includes agent runtime, integrations, memory systems, permissions, approvals and evaluation processes.

“A user request only becomes useful when the system can reach the right tools and information, keep the right context and fail in a way people can understand,” Vaish explained.

Vaish has also founded Homeo AI, a platform that helps homoeopathy practitioners with reference searches, case notes, follow-up information and document preparation. The idea emerged after his mother, Mamta Vaish, was diagnosed with cancer around 2024 and later went into complete remission.

He says the platform is a support tool, with practitioners remaining responsible for clinical decisions.

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Vaish believes an IIT degree is not the only route into artificial intelligence. He encourages students to build fundamentals in Python, SQL, data structures, probability and linear algebra, then gain experience through projects, internships and open-source contributions.

“An early result does not have to define you. Start with the next thing you can improve: one subject, one skill or one project,” he said.