{"id":16458,"date":"2025-06-04T16:21:30","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:21:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1413925"},"modified":"2025-06-04T16:21:30","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T16:21:30","slug":"european-tech-founders-slam-unbelievably-toxic-calls-for-7-day-work-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=16458","title":{"rendered":"European tech founders slam \u2018unbelievably toxic\u2019 calls for 7-day work weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCalling on founders to work insane hours nonstop is just bad advice,\u201d <\/span>Suranga Chandratillake, general 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.    <\/span>  <\/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 applauded 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. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The ???? 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<\/a> 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.  <\/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. <\/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. <\/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 debate earlier this year about whether French founders lacked the \u201cgrindset\u201d to succeed.  <\/span><\/p>\n

However, a <\/span>recent<\/span> survey<\/span><\/a> 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> <\/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 <\/span><\/p>\n

European startup founders are the lifeblood of TNW Conference<\/a> \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 <\/span>ticket checkout<\/a> <\/span>to get 30% off.<\/em><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/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  \u201cCalling on founders to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16458"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}