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submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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.

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[-] [email protected] 19 points 3 days ago

Yeah, you gotta work like that, if you're the one starting the business. Talking to a client who owned several businesses one night over drinks. He said you have to work your ass off for a year and-a-half to two years, then it pretty much runs itself.

One might note that he wasn't talking about his employees working like that.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

Yeah, like, I would be willing to work those hours if I had a significant stake in the company and I had a voice in how the company was run.

As a salaried employee, I'm not doing that.

this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2025
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