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Time of India
05-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
China's 996 workweek is knocking on America's door: Is Silicon Valley falling for the 70-hour grind?
(Representative image) There was a time when Silicon Valley served a dream on a platter, not just of a technology to revolutionise the world, but of lives built on flexibility, creativity, and a certain renegade freedom. Today, in the fluorescent-lit offices of AI startups from Palo Alto to SoMa, the dream is morphed and has become a subject of mockery. 12 hour shifts and six days a week are becoming the new norm of the American job market. The 21st century opened with the narratives of work-life balance, with beanbags, open offices, and kombucha on tap, it appears the next chapter may be authored in the image of a far more punishing model: China's 996 work culture, 9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week. Once vilified and outlawed in the country of origin, 996 is now knocking on America's doors, looking for a new traction in the heart of its tech frontier. The question isn't whether this trend exists. It does. The question is: What does its rise say about the future of ambition in America? Will Silicon Valley keep championing the employees who trade their sleep and sanity for the sake of so-called progress? A peek into the new reality At Rilla, a San Francisco-based AI startup, there's no pretence. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Stylish New Mobility Scooters Available for Seniors (Prices May Surprise You) Mobility Scooter | Search Ads Search Now Undo The job listing doesn't mince words: 'Do not apply unless you're excited about working approximately 70 hours a week.' It's not just a warning, it's a filter. Meals are provided, Saturdays included. The message is etched in black and white: This is the place where work should be your optimum priority, and is for the ones who breathe hustle. And this story does not end with a single company, but is slowly redefining the very fabric of American work culture, where work is no longer a part of life, but a life itself. 996 isn't creeping , it's charging in What was once the whispered domain of overworked founders is now becoming institutionalised. Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently described 60-hour weeks as the 'sweet spot' for his Gemini AI team. Elon Musk offered a more ruthless ultimatum at X: commit to 'extremely hardcore' work hours or take severance and go. Other startups are less subtle. San Francisco-based Fella & Delilah recently introduced a two-tier system, a 25% salary bump and double the equity for those opting into 996. Just under 10% of staff signed on. Meanwhile, recruiters are adjusting to the new expectations. Adrian Kinnersley, a long-time tech headhunter, reports a surge in companies asking for 996 commitments upfront. He's already registered the domain not as a gimmick, but in anticipation of a job market that no longer hides its demands behind euphemisms like "fast-paced" or "growth-minded." Why now? Why again? The answer to why there is a resurgence of extreme work culture, one has to look beyond office walls, to the geopolitical battle being waged in code and silicon. China's DeepSeek AI recently stunned Western researchers with models rivalling, even threatening, the dominance of OpenAI and Google DeepMind. Silicon Valley, long accustomed to leading from the front, suddenly feels the heat at its back. The reflex is primal: work harder. Work longer. Outbuild. Enter the 996 revival. It's no longer just about building great products; it's about defending America's place in a global AI arms race. British venture capitalist Harry Stebbings, never known for understatement, suggested that even 996 might now be passé. 'China's on 007,' he quipped. 'Midnight to midnight, seven days a week.' For Stebbings, working five days a week builds $100 million companies. Seven days? That's the $10 billion game. It's a mindset that both inspires and alarms, depending on where you stand. The fine print: Dreams vs. labour law The glorification of relentless toil does not come without repercussions. Labour law experts forewarn that numerous companies are operating far outside compliance, especially in California, which boasts some of the strictest protections for overtime, rest, and worker safety. But the law, as always, lags behind the culture. And culture is shifting fast. The truth is, there is less appetite, at least in the Valley, to run the ethos. Investors don't reward moderation. Founders don't get applause for leaving early. And in a climate where Gen Z founders equate sleep with mediocrity, the gravitational pull of extreme work is hard to resist. A warning from the East It's worth remembering: China tried this. It scaled the heights of innovation on the backs of millions of overworked engineers, only to be forced into a reckoning. Burnout, protests, suicides, and eventually, government intervention. In 2021, China made 996 illegal. The social cost had become too high. And now, in a twist almost too ironic to script, the United States is embracing the very culture China deemed untenable. The bigger question: What are we building , and at what cost? Work, at its best, is a vehicle for meaning, progress, and transformation. But when the engine is pushed too hard, too often, even the best machines break down. There is a huge fascination and allure to the narrative that genius only emerges through grind. Silicon Valley has long mythologised its titans, the Jobses, the Musks, the Zuckerbergs, as monks of obsession. But it is one thing to admire their intensity. It is another thing to institutionalise it. What happens when a whole generation mistakes exhaustion for excellence? When working through weekends isn't the exception but the expectation? The race for AI dominance is real. But the deeper race, the one that will shape our culture, our health, our future, is how we define the value of a human hour. If America is to lead the world in innovation, it must ask itself: Is it enough to work harder than China, or must we work smarter too? Ready to navigate global policies? Secure your overseas future. Get expert guidance now!
Time of India
04-08-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Don't bother to apply unless excited about working 70 hours a week, says job listings of American startup; how 'China's 996 working culture' may be spilling to Silicon Valley
Credit:CiStock Silicon Valley AI startups are increasingly embracing China's controversial "996" work schedule, demanding employees work 12-hour days, six days a week–totaling 72 hours weekly. The trend marks a dramatic shift from the tech industry's once-celebrated work-life balance culture to an "extremely hardcore" approach that mirrors practices China itself has outlawed. AI startup Rilla explicitly warns job applicants not to apply unless they're "excited" about working approximately 70 hours per week. The company provides all meals at their office, including Saturdays, with nearly all 80 employees adhering to the punishing schedule. "There's a really strong and growing subculture of people, especially in my generation–Gen Z–who grew up listening to stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates," explained Will Gao, Rilla's head of growth. The 996 model–9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week–originated in China's tech sector but sparked massive protests and accusations of "modern slavery" before being declared illegal by Chinese authorities in 2021. Despite these negative associations, American startups are openly adopting both the schedule and its notorious nickname as they race to compete in the global AI landscape. Tech leaders push 'extremely hardcore' work culture by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Use an AI Writing Tool That Actually Understands Your Voice Grammarly Install Now Undo The resurgence of extreme work schedules echoes Elon Musk's infamous ultimatum to X employees, demanding they commit to "extremely hardcore" working conditions or leave with severance. Similarly, Google co-founder Sergey Brin recently recommended 60-hour weeks as the "sweet spot" for productivity among Gemini team members. Some founders are creating two-tiered employment structures around the demanding schedule. San Francisco telehealth company Fella & Delilah offered staff a 25 percent pay increase and doubled equity for those willing to adopt 996 hours, with just under 10 percent of employees accepting the arrangement. According to Wired's investigation, recruitment specialist Adrian Kinnersley has witnessed the trend's rapid growth across multiple startup clients. "It's becoming increasingly common," he noted, with companies requiring candidates to commit to 996 schedules before interviews. Kinnersley has even registered the domain " in anticipation of continued demand. Global AI race drives Silicon Valley's hour-intensive push The extreme work culture surge stems partly from Silicon Valley's desire to compete with China in artificial intelligence development. This urgency intensified after Chinese startup DeepSeek released AI models rivaling top American offerings, shocking leading AI laboratories and highlighting the global competitive landscape. UK venture capitalist Harry Stebbings argues that 996 schedules may not be sufficient, claiming China now operates on "007"–midnight to midnight, seven days weekly with rotational workforces. "If you want to build a $100 million company, you can do it on five days a week. But if you want to build a $10 billion company, you have to work seven days a week," Stebbings contended. The phenomenon extends beyond individual companies, with American workers showing more enthusiasm for extended schedules than their European counterparts. "People in Europe seem shocked when you ask them to work the weekend," Stebbings observed, highlighting cultural differences in work expectations. Legal concerns mount over labor law compliance Employment compliance experts warn that many 996-adopting companies appear "wildly noncompliant" with US labor laws. California, the epicenter of AI development and 996 culture adoption, maintains the nation's most employee-friendly employment regulations, creating potential legal liabilities for non-compliant startups. Despite reservations about worker exploitation and legal risks, industry observers don't expect the trend to diminish. The combination of AI competition pressure, willing Gen-Z workers inspired by tech founder mythology, and the promise of substantial financial rewards continues driving Silicon Valley's embrace of China's controversial work culture–even as China itself moves away from these practices.
Yahoo
01-08-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Some Silicon Valley AI startups are asking employees to adopt China's outlawed ‘996' work model
Some Silicon Valley startups are embracing China's outlawed '996' work culture, expecting employees to work 12-hour days, six days a week, in pursuit of hyper-productivity and global AI dominance. The trend has sparked debate across the U.S. and Europe, with some tech leaders endorsing the pace while others warn it risks mass burnout and startup failure. Silicon Valley's startup hustle culture is starting to look more and more like an outlawed Chinese working schedule. According to a new report from Wired, Bay Area startups are increasingly leaning into models resembling China's 996 working culture, where employees are expected to work from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., six days a week, totaling 72 hours per week. Startups, especially in the AI space, are openly asking new starts to accept the longer working hours. For example, AI start-up Rilla tells prospective employees in current job listings not to even bother applying unless they are excited about 'working ~70 hrs/week in person with some of the most ambitious people in NYC.' The company's head of growth, Will Gao, told Wired there was a growing Gen-Z subculture 'who grew up listening to stories of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, entrepreneurs who dedicated their lives to building life-changing companies.' He said nearly all of Rilla's 80-person workforce works on a 996 schedule. The rise of the controversial work culture appears to have been born out of the current efficiency squeeze in Silicon Valley. Rounds of mass layoffs and the rise of AI have put pressure and turned up the heat on tech employees who managed to keep their jobs. For example, in February, Google co-founder Sergey Brin told employees who work on Gemini that he recommended being in the office at least every weekday and said 60 hours is the 'sweet spot' for productivity. Other tech CEOs, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, have stressed that productivity among workers is king, even if that means working hours or days of overtime. In November 2022, Musk infamously told remaining X, then Twitter, employees to commit to a new and 'extremely hardcore' culture or leave the company with severance pay. Part of the reasoning for the intense work schedules is a desire to compete with China amid a global AI race. Especially after Chinese startup DeepSeek released an AI model on par with some of the top U.S. offerings, rocking leading AI labs. China has actually been trying to clamp down on the 996 culture at home. In 2021, China's top court, the Supreme People's Court, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly declared China's '996' working culture was illegal. At the time, the move was part of the Chinese Communist Party's broader campaign to reduce inequality in Chinese society and limit the power of the nation's largest tech companies. But the practice has already spilled over to other countries. Earlier this summer, the European tech sector also found itself in a heated debate over the working culture. Partly exacerbated by an ongoing debate about Europe's competitiveness in the technology and AI space, some European VCs warned that more work and longer hours may be needed to effectively compete. Harry Stebbings, founder of the 20VC fund, said on LinkedIn in June that Silicon Valley had 'turned up the intensity,' and European founders needed to take notice. '[Seven] days a week is the required velocity to win right now. There is no room for slip up,' Stebbings said in the post. 'You aren't competing against random company in Germany etc but the best in the world.' Some other founders weighed in, criticizing the rise of the 996 working culture and warning that it could quickly lead to burnout culture. Among them was Ivee Miller, a general partner at Balderton Capital. 'Burnout [is] one of the top 3 reasons early-stage ventures fail. It is literally a bad reason to invest,' Miller said on LinkedIn. This story was originally featured on Solve the daily Crossword
Fast Company
29-07-2025
- Business
- Fast Company
Beyond functionality: Building products people love to use
One of the most important realizations I've had in my time leading product and design at Rilla is that 'delight' is the heartbeat of a great product. No longer just a nice-to-have, delight is what separates a product that works from a product that people genuinely enjoy using. This is especially true in the era of AI, where functionality is rarely a differentiator. EVERY APP 'JUST WORKS' In 2025, AI tools have made functionality table stakes; every product more or less works. The bar for performance has been normalized. From AI code assistants like Cursor to design and prototyping tools like Figma Make, teams can build, design, and iterate at a pace that would've been unthinkable a few years ago. Transcription models like Whisper now produce near-perfect transcripts in real time. Chatbots built on GPT-4o or Claude can answer support queries, onboard users, or summarize meetings with almost no setup. Tasks that once took weeks now happen in days or even hours. Speed and capability are no longer bottlenecks. As a result, the differentiator isn't what a product does, but how it makes people feel while doing it. In this new landscape, delight isn't a bonus feature. It's the foundation of product love. This isn't a new idea. The most beloved products have always felt like someone cared deeply about every detail. Jony Ive, reflecting on Apple's design philosophy at the 2025 Stripe Sessions conference, said, 'I believe that when somebody unwrapped that box and took out that cable, and they thought, 'Somebody gave a shit about me,' I think that's a spiritual thing… It did genuinely come from a place of love, and from care.' In the past, that level of care sat on top of core functionality. Today, in a world where building things is becoming easier, it's what makes products stick. 1. Walk In Users' Shoes (Literally) In my experience, delight rarely comes from wireframes or metrics alone. Rather, it comes from feeling what users feel. That means looking past mocks and dashboards and into the messy, emotional, very human experience of actually using the product. This is why I encourage our engineers and designers to join support calls, build a personal customer advisory group to test ideas with, and even shadow users in person to truly understand their experience. You can't capture the sigh after the fourth loading spinner in a survey. You can't measure the hesitation before a confusing click. But by being close to your users, you can hear the catch in someone's voice as they hit a wall, or the quiet 'ohhh' when they finally get something to work. These are the moments that teach you why your product matters (or doesn't). 2. Delight As The Antidote To Bloat At Rilla, we ship fast, experiment often, and use AI where it helps. But in a world buzzing with AI features, it's tempting to pile on every new capability. Chasing delight helps us stay disciplined. It forces us to ask: Is this actually helping someone? If a feature adds complexity without clarity, it's noise. True delight is often rooted in simplicity—the kind that makes it instantly obvious what the goal is, and what happens when you get there. It shows up when every element has a purpose, when the interface feels obvious. When people don't just use the product, they get it. That kind of clarity builds trust. And trust is what makes people come back. 3. Turn Chores Into Moments Of Joy Some parts of a product are expected: forms, checklists, filters. They're not flashy. But they don't have to be painful. Delight lives in the details: a playful micro-interaction, a smart autofill, a helpful nudge that shows someone's thinking ahead for you. These touches turn a routine task into a moment of progress. The shift is subtle but powerful. It turns 'I have to do this' into 'That was smoother than I expected,' which turns into 'I kind of enjoy doing this.' When people feel capable, they feel good. And when a product makes someone feel good about themselves, not just the tool, that emotion is sticky. It's why they tell their teammates. It's why they come back. A NEW FRONTIER FOR CRAFT AND CONNECTION We're at a rare moment. Thanks to AI, the scaffolding is handled: the boilerplate, the routing logic, the endless setup. That means our time can shift from building what's functional to crafting what's meaningful for the people we're serving. The real opportunity in this new era isn't just speed. It's space. Space to care more. To notice more. To build with empathy and intentionality. When we obsess over the tiny moments—when someone smiles, breathes easier, or just feels understood—that's where product magic happens. Let's use this space well. Not just to build faster, but to connect deeper. To move beyond tools that 'work,' and toward experiences that feel personal, joyful, and unforgettable.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The CEO of startup Rilla gives his employees up to $1,500 a month to live closer to the office—But there's a catch
Companies offer all kinds of unusual benefits these days, from wellness retreats to executive gap years. At AI startup Rilla, employees get the chance to take advantage of a vanishingly rare corporate perk: a rent stipend to cover the high cost of living in New York City. But there are some strings attached. To receive the money, up to $1,500, employees have to live within 10 to 15 minutes of the company's Long Island City-based office, and are expected to work around 70 hours a week in person. Sebastian Jimenez, Rilla's CEO and co-founder, says that the rent stipend is an incentive meant to limit commuting time so employees can designate it to their jobs instead. 'One of our core principles is to maximize productive time,' says Jimenez, who started the company in 2019, and lives within a five minute walk to the office. 'If you live 30 minutes away from the office, that's an hour a day that you could be working.' So far, around a dozen out of roughly 80 employees have taken Rilla up on the rent offer. And it's certainly a tempting proposal given the perennially high cost of New York City rent. In the last year alone, the median rent for properties in New York City increased 5.6% to $3,397, according to data from The rent benefit is just one example of Rilla's hardcore work culture. The company uses a '996' calendar; employees are expected to work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days per week. Jimenez says the company also frequently holds off-site events on Sundays. Jimenez rejects the 'work smarter not harder' concept, and says the only way for teams to be successful is to put in the most hours possible. However, he does advocate for a full night's rest. 'We want them to take care of themselves, to work out, to eat healthy. We want them to maximize their time and still sleep eight hours a day,' he says. 'They can do this and still have one or two hours of leisure time in their day outside of work, which is plenty of time to do the important things in life.' In addition to the rent benefit, the company also allows employees to expense at least two meals a day, and covers gym memberships. It also appears to offer generally high compensation for various roles. A product designer role has a salary of $110,000 to $230,000 per year, according to Rilla's website, and a software engineer can make $200,000 – $300,000. People working in sales have an annual salary average of around $350,000, says Jimenez. Rilla might be an extreme example when it comes to intense work hours, but companies are increasingly more comfortable asking workers for more. In a cost-cutting environment, leaders are being tasked with finding ways to get more productivity out of their employees without hiring additional people. In an internal memo to employees in February, Google co-founder told employees that 60 hour work weeks are the 'sweet spot' for productivity. And a recent report from Microsoft found that the average work day is stretching later, with meetings after 8 p.m. rising 16% since last year, and around 29% of workers checking their inboxes after 10 p.m. Rilla does go out of its way to let job candidates know exactly what they're signing up for. Job postings on the company's website tell workers not to apply if they're not excited about 'working 70 hrs per week in person with some of the most ambitious people in NYC.' The company also lays out these expectations on a 'culture deck' that all potential employees are required to read before accepting a position, says Jimenez. He doesn't necessarily recommend other companies follow suit, and he knows that kind of work schedule doesn't work for most people. He says most of the people he hires are startup founders themselves, or D1 athletes fresh out of college; anyone who is 'used to working 13 hours a day' and 'always wants to be busy.' 'This is by no means the way to run every startup,' he says. 'This is just the way it works for us.' This story was originally featured on Sign in to access your portfolio
