MoranElkarifNews: VC behind ‘996’ work culture debate says 5-day weeks won’t build billion-dollar startups

Venture capitalist Harry Stebbings faced a wave of backlash in June after urging European startup founders to increase their work hours — but he now admits there’s some room for nuance when applying his mantra.

Stebbings, founder of 20VC, a firm managing $650 million in funds, advised founders on LinkedIn last month that “7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now,” to compete with startups in Silicon Valley and China.

The post went viral, to Stebbings’ surprise, and sparked a debate on whether China’s brutal “996” work culture — which means working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week — is needed in Europe.

The conversation is rooted in a persistent stereotype that Europe’s tech and startup scene is lagging behind the U.S. and China, which have produced trillion-dollar tech giants and are known for implementing long working hours.

The U.S. is home to the biggest tech firms in the world, such as Meta, Google, Amazon, and Apple. China meanwhile houses giants like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent.

Seven founders and VCs shared why they’re resisting the 996 push with CNBC Make It at the time.

“What Europe really needs isn’t more hustle-porn, it’s more aggressive funding,” Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, said back then.

Speaking to CNBC Make It about the fallout, Stebbings said that he wasn’t prepared for the criticism he received, and that his original post didn’t apply to the vast majority of people who responded.

“I think it’s everything that’s wrong with Europe, that backlash,” Stebbings said. “We are fighting against companies being built in Silicon Valley, and speed and the ability to move fast, really determines success, in AI especially.”

He added: “When you go to the Valley now, and when you go to China now, they are working seven days a week in the fastest-growing companies. It’s that simple. So, if you want to be a $10 billion company in Europe, competing against them, you can’t do it on a nine-to-five, Monday to Friday.”

As companies build more important products, Stebbings said the bar is higher than it used to be.

“We should be working harder than ever because we’re working to solve more important problems than ever,” he said.

But European startups are struggling to access funding at the growth stage. Atomico’s State of European Tech report of 2024 showed that, since 2015, Europe’s tech startups have missed out on nearly $375 billion in growth-stage funding, with founders losing out on a potential $300 billion in European investments.

Husmus’ Wernér said that the right level of capital is needed for European startups to work intensely without breaking themselves. “If a team of 10 is burning out to keep up with a 50-person U.S. VC or Chinese government-backed startup, the problem isn’t their stamina, it’s their cap table.”

However, Stebbings pinned this down to poor marketing and said Europeans aren’t great fundraisers compared to their American counterparts. “I don’t think it’s a lack of access to cash at all, and in terms of the work ethic there, if you think that you can build a $10 billion business and work five days a week, then I’m sorry to say, you’re deluding yourself.”

Some founders have even been “badly” advised to include exit slides in their pitches, he added. “That makes me feel sick, like I’m planning my divorce when I get married.”

In stark contrast, Americans are much better at telling exciting stories when they promote their businesses. “I think, often in the U.K., we downsize in ambitions.”

Ultimately, Stebbings admitted that he jokes with the “marketing facade” of 996, but that it’s a more nuanced picture than working all the time.

“I think that’s [996] very ignorant to do,” he said. “if you don’t allow people breaks in there and a gym workout, it’s just moronic.”

Stebbings said that 100% dedication is essential in the first five years — but that doesn’t mean abandoning health, wellness, and family.

“There is nuance. I’m not saying miss dinner with friends or family or just sit at your desk all day, and I’m some horrible person, absolutely not. It’s really important to turn off and have a couple of hours away from your computer and just be with friends.”

Stebbings himself tries to spend as much time as possible with his sickly mother, who has multiple sclerosis (MS), including walking a marathon with her every Sunday. He jumps straight back to work after.

But it’s unrealistic to expect employees to adopt the same attitude, he acknowledged.

“One of the hardest things about running a company is you will never find someone who cares about it as much as you do, the founder… I think it’s unreasonable to ever expect that they will work as hard as you.”

Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, previously told CNBC Make It in June that the focus on hustle culture in the tech industry is about “a fetishization of overwork rather than smart work…it’s a myth.”

He said: “California is very good at telling stories, and there’s a lot of mythmaking around the concept of what startups look like.”

Stebbings now agrees with this view and said hustle culture is “over-glamorized” in the States.

“If you go into a WeWork in San Francisco at 7 p.m., they’re not all working like we see on social media… they overly pronounce it when it’s not really true, but for the 0.01% in the Valley, it’s so true, and they are there and working harder than ever.”