{"id":673653,"date":"2025-06-05T20:55:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:55:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/tech-leaders-slam-unbelievably-toxic-calls-for-7-day-work-weeks\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T20:55:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T17:55:13","slug":"tech-leaders-slam-unbelievably-toxic-calls-for-7-day-work-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/tech-leaders-slam-unbelievably-toxic-calls-for-7-day-work-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Tech leaders slam \u2018unbelievably toxic\u2019 calls for 7-day work weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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European tech leaders are pushing back against high-profile VCs urging founders to work seven days a week \u2014 slamming the grindset mentality as everything from \u201ctoxic\u201d to \u201cchildish.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCalling on founders to work insane hours nonstop is just bad advice,\u201d <\/span>Suranga Chandratillake, general<\/a> partner at Balderton Capital and <\/span>former CEO<\/span><\/a> of video search engine Blinkx, told TNW.<\/span> \u201cEven sprinters don\u2019t sprint all the time \u2014 rest and reflection is just as important as putting in the work.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His comments follow a LinkedIn post on Saturday by Harry Stebbings, podcast host and 28-year-old founder of London-based venture firm 20VC. \u201c<\/span>What European founders need to realise [is that] 7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now,\u201d he wrote, implying that they need to match the infamous grind culture of Silicon Valley.\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Martin Mignot, a partner at New York-based Index Ventures, rallied behind Stebbings. In a LinkedIn post of his own, <\/span>he app<\/a>lauded the 9am-9pm, six days a week (<\/span>illegal<\/span><\/a>) work culture adopted by some tech firms in China. <\/span>\u201c<\/span>Forget 9 to 5, 996 is the new startup standard,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The \ud83d\udc9c of EU tech<\/p>\n

The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol’ founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It’s free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While some echoed their views, many European tech founders and investors weren\u2019t happy with the rhetoric. <\/span>Amelia Miller, co-founder of return-to-work platform Ivee, called Stebbings\u2019 post \u201cunbelievably toxic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnly bad founders work 7 days non-stop,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s poor time management and a fast track to burnout.\u201d Miller also said she thinks that working such long hours unfairly discriminates against parents and those with responsibilities outside the office.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chandratillake also warned against taking advice from VCs without experience of starting and running a company. <\/span>\u201cIf you\u2019re a CEO, don\u2019t listen to a jumped-up finance bro in a hoodie who has never done your job telling you how to do it!\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The lively debate comes amid a broader conversation in European tech over whether workplace culture is holding the region back compared to the US or China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a podcast<\/span> interview<\/span><\/a> in March,<\/span> Revolut boss Nik Storonsky criticised European startup entrepreneurs, saying they weren\u2019t working hard enough and valued work-life balance too highly. Those comments followed another lively social media<\/a> debate earlier this year about whether French founders lacked the \u201cgrindset\u201d to succeed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, a <\/span>recent<\/span> survey<\/span> of 128 European founders by early-stage VC firm Antler found that three-quarters of them work more than 60 hours weekly. Almost 20% of them exceeded 80 hours, <\/span>challenging the notion that European founders don\u2019t hustle.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Chandratillake said he believes that scrutinising work hours overlooks some of the real challenges founders face in Europe, such as access to late-stage financing. That said, the investor thinks there is a time and a place for the grind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes founders have to work extremely hard and long hours, but that\u2019s not sustainable all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cBuilding a successful company is a marathon, it takes endurance.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

European startup founders are the lifeblood of\u00a0TNW Conference<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and we want you there too. The tech festival takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025<\/em> at the\u00a0<\/span>ticket checkout<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>to get 30% off.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European tech leaders are pushing back against high-profile VCs urging founders to work seven days a week \u2014 slamming the grindset mentality as everything from \u201ctoxic\u201d to \u201cchildish.\u201d\u00a0 \u201cCalling on founders to work insane hours nonstop is just bad advice,\u201d Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital and former CEO of video search engine Blinkx,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":673654,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/img-cdn.tnwcdn.com\/image\/tnw-blurple?filter_last=1&fit=1280%2C640&url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn0.tnwcdn.com%2Fwp-content%2Fblogs.dir%2F1%2Ffiles%2F2025%2F04%2FUntitled-design-6.jpg&signature=f7e6a40ccdf554754e314e4a2df20e80","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-673653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}