These successful founders left the relative security of big companies like Google and Amazon to take a risk on a startup of their own.

BY CHRIS MORRIS @MORRISATLARGE

Illustration: Inc.; Photo: Getty Images

There’s security in working for a large tech company: The salary is usually pretty solid and the benefits are top-tier. But that hasn’t stopped many entrepreneurship-minded employees from walking away to found their own companies over the years. (Even some who have been caught in the recent rounds of tech layoffs have set out to found their own startups.)

The degrees of success, of course, vary. But every now and then, one knocks it out of the park, starting a business that becomes another indispensable tech destination or tool. And every now and then, these founders create something that becomes bigger than the place they left.

Here’s a look at seven founders who took a leap of faith and saw tremendous success as a result.

Williams joined Google in 2003, when the company acquired Pyra Labs, a company he had co-founded in 1999. Designed to make project management software, it became known for its note-taking feature, called Blogger (which helped blogs take off). He stayed with Google for a year-and-a-half, but left to once again explore the startup space. In 2006, Williams, Biz Stone, and others founded Obvious Corp.,........

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