China’s grueling ‘996’ work culture is being debated by European startups — 7 founders and VCs on why they are resisting

The European startup country was precocious shaken by a LinkedIn debate with immoderate task capitalists applying unit connected founders to clasp a civilization of overwork to vie connected a planetary stage.

The "996" enactment civilization reigns ultimate successful China and has been adopted by assorted tech giants including Jack Ma's Alibaba and Bytedance's TikTok, but the strategy has besides been the taxable of much protest successful caller years. Tech workers successful Europe told CNBC successful 2021 that they're turning down occupation offers, rejecting interviews, oregon adjacent quitting their roles, upon learning of TikTok's 996 enactment culture.

Sebastian Becker, wide spouse astatine Switzerland-based VC institution Redalpine added to the statement connected LinkedIn by addressing the caller German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has called for removal of the ineligible enactment bounds of 8 hours per time successful Germany successful a bid to summation efficiency, portion keeping the 40-hour week.

Becker said Merz' connection doesn't spell acold enough, arsenic "40 hours a week won't chopped it."

"In Silicon Valley, 60-70 hr weeks aren't the objection — they adjacent person a word for it: 996 — 9am to 9pm, six days a week... we tin person the aforesaid magnitude of smart, ambitious people, but if we're consistently being outworked, we won't win," Becker said.

Index Ventures Partner Martin Mignot successful London explained connected LinkedIn that 996 originated successful China and has "quietly go the norm" astatine startups internationally.

Part of the crushed down this astir caller propulsion is that there's a persistent presumption that Europe's tech and startup country is lagging down the U.S. and China, some of which person produced tech giants and are known for aggravated enactment cultures.

However, Suranga Chandratillake, wide spouse astatine Balderton Capital, told CNBC Make It that these views are outdated arsenic Europe has produced deca-corns successful caller years— companies worthy much than $10 cardinal including Klarna, Revolut, Wise, and Checkout.com. The continent has yet to nutrient a trillion-dollar tech steadfast similar Nvidia.

"The European tech marketplace and ecosystem is keeping up contiguous with the U.S. and Asia... backmost successful the 1980s the European tech country was down the tech country connected the West Coast of the US, but that's not the lawsuit now," Chandratillake said successful an interview.

The calls for Europe to follow the 996 enactment civilization sparked a wave of backlash. CNBC spoke with 7 European startup founders and VCs connected wherefore they disagree.

The obsession with China's 996 oregon Silicon Valley's 24/7 enactment civilization emerges from a glorification of hustle civilization successful the startup landscape, founders and VCs said.  

"It's astir a fetishization of overwork alternatively than astute work…it's a myth," Chandratillake said. "California is precise bully astatine telling stories and there's a batch of mythmaking astir the conception of what startups look like…. determination is hard enactment progressive but if you truly walk clip successful that ecosystem, you volition observe that tons of radical enactment truly hard, but determination are besides periods wherever they don't work."

Nina Mohanty, a Silicon Valley autochthonal and laminitis of London-based Bloom Money, said determination are really "lasting effects and unintended consequences" to adopting an assertive overwork culture,

"You lone person to deliberation astir Revolut and the civilization that they person is astir apt the closest that we've seen successful Europe to the 996 culture, and they struggled," Mohanty told CNBC. "Their churn complaint was incredibly precocious wrong their team, and they adjacent struggled to get their banking license, and their civilization was really cited arsenic 1 of those reasons."

For its part, Revolut told CNBC it operates successful a "high-growth, high-performance environment."

"In enactment with this, we've evolved however we enactment our people: done value-based behaviours, structured development, and a civilization that's collaborative, challenging, and built for scale," a spokesperson from Revolut said.

Noa Khamallah, wide spouse astatine Don't Quit Ventures, pointed retired that there's "no request for 996" and that these values are often astatine likelihood with some the European mindset and regulation.

"Europe's astir palmy companies — from Spotify to SAP to ASML — didn't execute dominance done overwork but done sustainable innovation cultures," Khamallah said.

He offered the examples of Silicon Valley's Uber and Meta, some companies that expanded into Europe and faced monolithic regulatory pushback.

"These examples uncover however Silicon Valley's 'move accelerated and interruption things' ethos often breaks against European values astir idiosyncratic rights, privacy, and sustainable concern practices," Khamallah said.

An always-on civilization decreases retention and creates a revolving doorway of talent, Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, told CNBC.

"Overwork contiguous is simply a productivity situation tomorrow," Wernér said. "Personally, I anticipation my competitors are doing 996. It makes poaching large radical a batch easier erstwhile they determine they've had enough."

Dama Sathianathan, a elder spouse astatine Bethnal Green Ventures said it's unhelpful to "prescribe" moving hours, particularly if it means putting workers' wellbeing astatine risk.

"Optimizing labour doesn't ever pb to amended productivity, oregon assistance with differentiating from different companies long-term, if you've made enactment devoid of meaning," Sathianathan explained.

Meanwhile, the youngest procreation astatine enactment are little apt to enactment up with overworking and thin to prioritize work-life balance.

Jas Schembri-Stothart, laminitis of Luna, a wellness and wellness app for teen girls, said 996 volition thrust young endowment distant from European startups.

"People whitethorn tolerate overwork for a while, but yet it leads to churn and adjacent resentment, particularly with Gen Z and younger millennials, there's overmuch little tolerance for toxic hustle cultures," Schembri-Stothart said.

Founders importune that alternatively of expanding moving hours, startups request much backing and resources to presumption themselves arsenic cardinal players successful the planetary startup scene.

"What Europe truly needs isn't much hustle-porn it's much assertive funding," Wernér said. "With the close level of capital, our startups tin prosecute capable endowment to enactment intensely without breaking themselves. If a squad of 10 is burning retired to support up with a 50-person U.S. VC oregon Chinese government-backed startup, the occupation isn't their stamina, it's their headdress table."

In fact, since 2015 Europe's tech startups person missed retired connected astir $375 cardinal successful growth-stage funding, with founders losing retired connected a imaginable $300 cardinal successful European investments, according to Atomico's State of European Tech study published successful 2024. Additionally, 1 successful 2 companies raising backing crook to the U.S. for superior alternatively than Europe.

"What European startups truly request is entree to the close resources — funding, talent, and enactment — to grow, innovate quickly, and standard effectively," Schembri-Stothart said. "The task scenery successful the U.S. is simply a antithetic ballgame altogether, and it's pugnacious to vie with that without a stronger ecosystem here.

Founders acknowledged that the startup beingness requires aggravated hustle and grind, but it's a much nuanced representation than conscionable adopting 996.

Timothy Armoo, co-founder and erstwhile CEO of Fanbytes, an influencer selling steadfast that helium sold for 8 figures successful 2022, told CNBC that he's a "huge supporter" of this caller 996 push, but admitted that timing is key.

"I deliberation determination are seasons but I besides deliberation that if you are a first-time laminitis oregon if your superior extremity is fundamentally wealthiness creation, I'll beryllium precise candid, if this is your season, and you're stepping back, past you're not superior astir it," helium said.

Armoo said determination are nary excuses due to the fact that AI allows entrepreneurs to beryllium maximally businesslike arsenic it tin trim definite time-consuming manual tasks.

Meanwhile, Bloom Money's Mohanty, said that erstwhile she's not sleeping, she's working. "I deliberation aboriginal signifier teams thin to astir unknowingly oregon without really saying it, enactment the 996 life, due to the fact that erstwhile you are aboriginal stage, you conscionable person to hustle harder with less, and particularly if you're the founder, you're ever connected and ever working, and it tin beryllium very, precise hard to crook off."

Schembri-Stothart draws the enactment astatine exploiting her squad to nutrient much work. "It's my prime to enactment astatine the weekend, but I'd ne'er expect that connected my team, it's decidedly not glorified to propulsion your teams to breaking point.

Silicon Valley tech exec Dion McKenzie warned that expectations of a 996 civilization could marque VC backing adjacent much retired of scope for early-stage startups.

"My fearfulness is that arsenic these caller norms and trends go the presumption quo and benchmarks for getting funded, it excludes truthful galore superb founders that worth their intelligence wellness and/or can't perpetrate to a 996 owed to caregiving responsibilities oregon being a parent," Mckenzie said.