20VC founder Harry Stebings said the billion-dollar company was not built on a five-day work week.
20VC
Venture capitalist Harry Stebings faced a rebound in June after urging European startup founders to increase their hours, but he now admits there is some room for nuance to apply his mantra.
Stebings, founder of 20VC, is a company that manages $650 million in funding. Advice for the founders of LinkedIn Last month, competing with startups in Silicon Valley and China, “7 days a week is the speed to win now.”
The post spread, sparking debate on China’s brutal “996” work culture, meaning whether to work six days a week in Europe is required to work from 9am to 9am.
Dialogue stems from the ongoing stereotypes of European technology and entrepreneurship scenarios Lag Behind the trillion-dollar tech giants that have produced in the United States and China, and are known for implementing long hours.
The United States is home to the world’s largest tech companies, such as Meta, Google, Amazon, and Apple. At the same time, China has giants such as Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.
“If you want to be a $10 billion company in Europe, competing with them (Silicon Valley and China), you can’t have nine to five Monday to Friday.”
Harry Spence
Founder of 20VC
Seven founders and venture capitalists Share why they used CNBC to resist 996 push at the time.
“What Europe really needs is not more noise, it’s more aggressive funding,” Husmus co-founder Sarah Wernér said at the time.
Speaking to CNBC, Stebbings said he was not prepared for the criticism he received and his original position was not applicable to the vast majority of people who responded.
“I think it’s all the mistake in Europe, and it’s rebounding,” Stebbings said. “We are building companies in Silicon Valley, speed and ability to move quickly, really determine success, especially in AI.”
He added: “When you go to the valley now, when you go to China now, they work seven days a week in the fastest growing companies. It’s simple. So if you want to be a $10 billion company in Europe and compete with them, you won’t be able to compete between 9 and 5 companies from Monday to Friday.”
“We should work harder than ever”
As the company makes more important products, Stebbings says the bar is taller than before.
“We should work harder than ever because we are working on solving more important issues,” he said.
But European startups are working to get funding in the growth phase. Atomico’s European technology status The 2024 report shows that European tech startups have missed nearly $375 billion in growth phase funds since 2015, and founders may have lost $300 billion in European investments.
“There are nuances. I’m not saying that I missed dinner with friends or family, or sitting at your table all day.”
Harry Spence
Founder of 20VC
Husmus’ Wernér said European startups need to do their strong work without undermining themselves. “If a team of 10 people is working to keep pace with 50 people U.S. venture capital or Chinese government-backed startups, the problem is not their endurance, but their hat table.”
However, Stebings fixed it on poor marketing and said that Europeans are not a great fundraising event compared to their American counterparts. “I don’t think there is any cash barrier at all, and in terms of work ethics there, if you think you can build a $10 billion business and work five days a week, I’m sorry to say you’re cheating on yourself.”
He added that some founders were even “bad” advised to include the exit slide on their court. “It makes me sick, like I plan to get a divorce when I get married.”
Americans, by contrast, tell exciting stories better when promoting their business. “I think in the UK, we often reduce our ambitions.”
996 is “ignorance”
Harry Stebings discussed “Five Things I Learned” on June 3, 2025 at the SXSW panel in London.
John Phillips | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images
Eventually, Stebbings admitted that he was joking with the ‘996 “marketing exterior wall,” but that was a more nuanced situation than always working.
“I think that’s (996) very ignorant,” he said. “If you don’t allow people to rest there and do gym workouts, that’s too long.”
Stebbings said 100% dedication is crucial in the first five years, but that doesn’t mean giving up on health, wellness and family.
“There are nuances. I’m not saying having dinner with friends or family, or just sitting at your table all day, I definitely am not.
Stebbings herself tried to spend as much time as possible with her sick mother with multiple sclerosis (MS), including marathons with her every Sunday. He jumped back to work.
He admits, but it is unrealistic to expect employees to take the same attitude.
“One of the hardest things about running a company is that you can never find someone who cares about it like you, the founder…I think it’s unreasonable to expect them to work as hard as you do.”
Suranga Chandratillake, general partner at Balderton Capital, had previously told CNBC Math Math Math Math that the focus on the hustle and bustle culture of the technology industry is “overworking rather than smart work…it’s a myth.”
“California is very good at telling stories and there are a lot of myths about the concept of the look of a startup,” he said.
Now Spence agrees with this view, saying that in America, the noisy culture is “overintegrated.”
“If you do WEWORK in San Francisco at 7 p.m., they don’t work as we see on social media… They’re overpronounced when it’s not true, but for 0.01% of the valley, it’s so real, they’re there, and work harder than ever.”
