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The European founders of startups are in a hurry to embrace the toxic work culture “996” of China on LinkedIn and they repel.
D3SIGN | Moment | Getty images
The European startup scene was recently shaken by a Linkedin debate With some venture capital that applies pressure on the founders to adopt a crop of overwork to compete on a world scene.
The culture of labor “996” reigns supreme in China and has been adopted by various technology giants, especially Alibaba of Jack Ma And Bytedance TitlokBut the system has also been the subject of Many events in recent years. Technology workers in Europe told CNBC in 2021 that they refused job offers, rejecting interviews or even leaving their roles, on learning Tiktok work culture 996.
Sebastian Becker, general partner of the company of VC based in Switzerland, Redalpine, added to the debate on LinkedIn by addressing the new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who called for the abolition of the legal work limit of eight hours a day in Germany in order to increase efficiency, while retaining the 40 -hour week.
Becker said Merz’s proposal is not going far enough, because “40 hours per week do not cut it”.
“In Silicon Valley, weeks from 60 to 70 hours is not the exception – they even have a term for that: 996 – 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week … We can have the same amount of intelligent and ambitious people, but if we are still working, we will not win,” said Becker.
Index Ventures Partner Martin Mignot in London explain On LinkedIn, 996 is from China and has “quietly become the norm” to international startups.
Part of the reason behind this most recent push is that there is a persistent vision that the technological and start -up scene of Europe is lagging behind Behind the United States and China, both of which have produced technology giants and are known for intense work crops.
“What Europe really needs is no more pornography is more aggressive funding.”
Sarah Wernér
Co-founder of Husmus
However, Suranga Chandretillake, general partner of Balderton Capital, told CNBC, making these opinions have been overwhelmed when Europe has produced Deca -Corns in recent years – companies worth more than $ 10 billion, including Klarna, Revolut, Wise and Checkout.com. The continent has not yet produced a Billion technological company of billions of dollars as Nvidia.
“The European market and the European technology ecosystem follow each other today with the United States and Asia … In the 1980s, the European technological scene was at the origin of the technological scene on the west coast of the United States, but this is not the case now,” said Charattillake in an interview.
Calls for Europe to adopt the 996 labor culture have sparked a wave of reaction. CNBC spoke with seven founders of European and VCS startups on the reasons why they do not agree.
“ Fetishization of overwork ”
The obsession with the work culture of China 996 or the Silicon Valley emerges from the glorification of the culture of agitation in the landscape of startups, founders and VCs said.
“This is a fetishization of overwork rather than intelligent work … It is a myth,” said Charattillake. “California is very good at telling stories and there are a lot of myths around the concept of what startups look like…. There is hard work, but if you really spend time in this ecosystem, you will discover that many people work very hard, but there are also periods when they do not work.”
Nina Mohanty, originally from Silicon Valley and founder of London Flowerysaid there are in fact “lasting effects and involuntary consequences” to adopt an aggressive overwork culture,
“You just have to think of Revolut and the culture they have is probably the closest that we have seen in Europe of culture 996, and they fought,” said Mohanty to CNBC. “Their unsubscription rate was incredibly high within their team, and they had trouble obtaining their banking licenseAnd their culture was cited as one of these reasons. “”
For its part, Revolut told CNBC that it operated in a “high growth and high performance environment”.
“In accordance with this, we have evolved how we support our employees: through value-based behaviors, structured development and collaborative culture, stimulating and built for the scale,” said a revolut spokesman.
Noa Khamallah, general partner of Don’t Quitwit Ventures, stressed that there is “no need for 996” and that these values are often in contradiction with European spirit and regulations.
“The most prosperous companies in Europe – from Spotify to SAP in ASML – have not reached domination by overwork but through sustainable innovation cultures,” said Khamallah.
He offered the examples of Silicon Valley Uber And MetaThe two companies that extended to Europe and had to face a massive regulatory decline.
“These examples reveal how the ethics of Silicon Valley Fast and Break Things” often breaks against European values around workers’ rights, privacy and sustainable business practices, “said Khamallah.
‘I hope my competitors are 996’
Generation Z and generation Y have “less tolerance” for toxic agitation cultures, said Jas Schembri-Stothart, founder of Luna.
Runstudio | Moment | Getty images
A culture always decreases the retention and creates a rotating door of talent, told CNBC Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus.
“Overwork today is a productivity crisis tomorrow,” said Wernér. “Personally, I hope that my competitors are 996. It facilitates the poaching of great people when they decide that they have enough.”
Dama Sathianathan, senior partner at Bethnal Green Ventures said that it was useless to “prescribe” work hours, especially if it means endangering workers’ well-being.
“Work optimization does not always lead to better productivity or help in differentiating other companies in the long term, if you have done meaningful work,” said Sarhianathan.
Meanwhile, the youngest generation at work is less likely to bear overwork and tends to Prioritize the balance between professional and private life.
Jas Schembri-Stothart, founder of Luna, a health and well-being application for adolescent girls, said that 996 will keep young talents from European startups.
“People can tolerate overwork for a while, but ultimately it leads to baratting and even resentment, especially with generation Z and younger millennials, there is much less tolerance for toxic agitation crops,” said Schembri-Stothart.
The European startup ecosystem must be stronger
The founders insist that instead of increasing working hours, startups need more funding and resources to position themselves as key players in the global scene of startups.
“What Europe really needs is no more pornography is more aggressive funding,” said Wernér. “With the good level of capital, our startups can hire enough talents to work intensely without breaking. If a team of 10 is burning to follow an American VC of 50 people or a startup supported by the Chinese government, the problem is not their endurance, it is their cap table.”
In fact, since 2015, Europe’s technological startups have missed nearly $ 375 billion in growth stage, the founders losing a potential of $ 300 billion in European investments, according to State of European Atomico technology Report published in 2024. In addition, one in two in two companies raising funding turns to the United States for capital rather than for Europe.
“What European startups really need is to access good resources – funding, talent and support – to grow, innovate quickly and evolve effectively,” said Schembri -Stothart. “The company’s landscape in the United States is a whole new ball game, and it is difficult to compete with it without a stronger ecosystem here.
‘There are seasons’
The founders have recognized that startup life requires intense agitation and a version, but it is a more nuanced image than adopting 996.
Timothy Armoo, co-founder and former CEO of fanbytes, an influencer marketing company that he Sold for eight digits In 2022, told CNBC that he was a “big supporter” of this new push 996, but admitted that timing was essential.
“I think there are seasons, but I also think that if you are the founder for the first time or if your main objective is essentially the creation of wealth, I will be very candid, if it is your season and that you go back, then you are not serious,” he said.
Armoo has said that there are no excuses because AI allows entrepreneurs to be effective as much as possible because it can reduce certain long manual tasks.
Meanwhile, Bloom Money Moisséy said that when she doesn’t sleep, she works. “I think that teams at an early stage tend to almost without knowing it or without saying it, work in life 996, because when you are at the start of the stage, you just have to jostle with less, and especially if you are the founder, you are still on the move and you always work, and it can be very, very difficult to deactivate.”
Schembri-Stothart traces the line of the operation of his team to produce more work. “It’s my choice to work on weekends, but I never expected that in my team, it is certainly glorified to push your teams to Breaking Point.
Lion McKenzie warned that the execution of the Silicon Valley Tech warned that the expectations of a 996 culture could make CR funding even more out of reach for startups at an early stage.
“My fear is that, as these new standards and trends become the status quo and benchmarks to be funded, it excludes so many brilliant founders who appreciate their mental health and / or cannot engage in a 996 due to care responsibilities or to be a parent,” said McKenzie.
