Harry Stebbings, founding father of 20VC, says billion-dollar corporations aren’t constructed on five-day work weeks.
20VC
Enterprise capitalist Harry Stebbings confronted a wave of backlash in June after urging European startup founders to extend their work hours — however he now admits there’s some room for nuance when making use of his mantra.
Stebbings, founding father of 20VC, a agency managing $650 million in funds, suggested founders on LinkedIn final month that “7 days every week is the required velocity to win proper now,” to compete with startups in Silicon Valley and China.
The submit went viral, to Stebbings’ shock, and sparked a debate on whether or not China’s brutal “996” work tradition — which suggests working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days every week — is required in Europe.
The dialog is rooted in a persistent stereotype that Europe’s tech and startup scene is lagging behind the U.S. and China, which have produced trillion-dollar tech giants and are recognized for implementing lengthy working hours.
The U.S. is dwelling to the most important tech corporations on the planet, reminiscent of Meta, Google, Amazon, and Apple. China in the meantime homes giants like Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent.
“If you wish to be a $10 billion firm in Europe, competing in opposition to them [Silicon Valley and China], you’ll be able to’t do it on a nine-to-five, Monday to Friday.”
Harry Stebbings
Founding father of 20VC
Seven founders and VCs shared why they’re resisting the 996 push with CNBC Make It on the time.
“What Europe actually wants is not extra hustle-porn, it is extra aggressive funding,” Sarah Wernér, co-founder of Husmus, stated again then.
Talking to CNBC Make It concerning the fallout, Stebbings stated that he wasn’t ready for the criticism he acquired, and that his authentic submit did not apply to the overwhelming majority of people that responded.
“I believe it is every thing that is improper with Europe, that backlash,” Stebbings stated. “We’re preventing in opposition to firms being inbuilt Silicon Valley, and velocity and the power to maneuver quick, actually determines success, in AI particularly.”
He added: “Whenever you go to the Valley now, and once you go to China now, they’re working seven days every week within the fastest-growing firms. It is that easy. So, if you wish to be a $10 billion firm in Europe, competing in opposition to them, you’ll be able to’t do it on a nine-to-five, Monday to Friday.”
‘We ought to be working tougher than ever’
As firms construct extra vital merchandise, Stebbings stated the bar is larger than it was once.
“We ought to be working tougher than ever as a result of we’re working to resolve extra vital issues than ever,” he stated.
However European startups are struggling to entry funding on the development stage. Atomico’s State of European Tech report of 2024 confirmed that, since 2015, Europe’s tech startups have missed out on practically $375 billion in growth-stage funding, with founders shedding out on a possible $300 billion in European investments.
“There may be nuance. I am not saying miss dinner with buddies or household or simply sit at your desk all day.”
Harry Stebbings
Founding father of 20VC
Husmus’ Wernér stated that the proper degree of capital is required for European startups to work intensely with out breaking themselves. “If a group of 10 is burning out to maintain up with a 50-person U.S. VC or Chinese language government-backed startup, the issue is not their stamina, it is their cap desk.”
Nevertheless, Stebbings pinned this all the way down to poor advertising and marketing and stated Europeans aren’t nice fundraisers in comparison with their American counterparts. “I do not suppose it is a lack of entry to money in any respect, and when it comes to the work ethic there, if you happen to suppose which you could construct a $10 billion enterprise and work 5 days every week, then I am sorry to say, you are deluding your self.”
Some founders have even been “badly” suggested to incorporate exit slides of their pitches, he added. “That makes me really feel sick, like I am planning my divorce after I get married.”
In stark distinction, People are a lot better at telling thrilling tales after they promote their companies. “I believe, typically within the U.Okay., we downsize in ambitions.”
996 is ‘ignorant’
Harry Stebbings at a SXSW panel on “5 Issues I’ve Discovered Being an Entrepreneur” in London on June 03, 2025.
John Phillips | Getty Photos Leisure | Getty Photos
Finally, Stebbings admitted that he jokes with the “advertising and marketing facade” of 996, however that it is a extra nuanced image than working on a regular basis.
“I believe that is [996] very ignorant to do,” he stated. “if you happen to do not permit individuals breaks in there and a fitness center exercise, it is simply moronic.”
Stebbings stated that 100% dedication is important within the first 5 years — however that does not imply abandoning well being, wellness, and household.
“There may be nuance. I am not saying miss dinner with buddies or household or simply sit at your desk all day, and I am some horrible individual, completely not. It is actually vital to show off and have a few hours away out of your laptop and simply be with buddies.”
Stebbings himself tries to spend as a lot time as potential along with his sickly mom, who has a number of sclerosis (MS), together with strolling a marathon together with her each Sunday. He jumps straight again to work after.
However it’s unrealistic to anticipate staff to undertake the identical perspective, he acknowledged.
“One of many hardest issues about operating an organization is you’ll by no means discover somebody who cares about it as a lot as you do, the founder… I believe it is unreasonable to ever anticipate that they may work as exhausting as you.”
Suranga Chandratillake, basic accomplice at Balderton Capital, beforehand advised CNBC Make It in June that the concentrate on hustle tradition within the tech trade is about “a fetishization of overwork quite than good work…it is a fable.”
He stated: “California is superb at telling tales, and there is loads of mythmaking across the idea of what startups appear like.”
Stebbings now agrees with this view and stated hustle tradition is “over-glamorized” within the States.
“In case you go right into a WeWork in San Francisco at 7 p.m., they don’t seem to be all working like we see on social media… they overly pronounce it when it is not likely true, however for the 0.01% within the Valley, it is so true, and they’re there and dealing tougher than ever.”
