Emerging companies in Europe resist pressure to adopt a “996” business culture in China

The European operating scene was recently shaken by a LinkedIn discussion With some investment capital owners who apply pressure to the founders to embrace the culture of excessive work to compete on the global stage.

The higher “996” action culture prevails in China, and has been adopted by various technology giants, including Jack Ma Alba and Titlok BytedanceBut the system was also a subject A lot of protest In recent years. In 2021, Europe workers in Europe told CNBC that they reject job offers, reject interviews, or even leave their roles, when learning the culture of Tiktok 996 work.

Sebastian Baker, the Swiss -based VC Redalpine, added to the discussion about LinkedIn by treating the new German adviser, Fredchich Mirz, who called for eight hours removal per day in Germany in an attempt to increase efficiency, while maintaining 40 hours a week.

Baking He said Mirz’s proposal does not go largely, because “40 hours a week will not cut it.”

Baker said: “In Silicon Valley, 60-70 hours of weeks, the exception is not-even they have a term for that: 996-9 am to 9 pm, from six days a week … We can get the same amount of smart and aspirations, but if we are at work constantly, we will not win.”

Ventures Mignot Index partner in London Make up LinkedIn that 996 originated in China and became “calmly the base” in emerging companies at the international level.

Part of the reason behind this last batch is that there is an ongoing view that the scene of technology and the start of Europe is Delay Behind the United States and China, both of which produced technology giants and are known as intensive work cultures.

However, I told Suranga Chandratillate, the general partner of Balderton Capital, CNBC Make that these opinions have been outdated because Europe has produced DECA courses in recent years-companies worth more than $ 10 billion including Claarna, revolution, Wise, and Checkout.com. The continent has not yet produced a trillion dollar technology company like Nafidia.

“The European technology market and the ecological system are continuing today with the United States and Asia … in the eighties of the last century, the European technical scene was behind the technical scene on the western coast of the United States, but this is not the case now.”

Invitations to Europe raised the adoption of a culture of work 996 A wave of reaction. CNBC spoke with seven founders and VCS to start European operation about the reason for their incompatibility.

Nina Mohante, the Citizen of Silicon Valley and the founder of London -based London Flowers of moneyHe said that there are already “permanent effects and unintended consequences” to adopt an aggressive culture of excess,

“You just have to think about the revolution and culture they probably have the closest that we have seen in Europe for the culture of 996, and they struggle.” “The amplification rate was incredibly high within their team, and they even I struggle to obtain their bank licenseAnd their culture was actually martyred as one of the reasons.

For her part, Revolution Cnbc told that she works in a “high -growth and high -performance environment”.

“In line with this, we have developed how we support our people: through value -based behaviors, organized development, cooperative and challenging culture, and a scale designer,” said a Revolution spokesman.

Noa Khamallah, the general partner in DONT, indicated that there is “no need for 996” and that these values ​​often contradict both the European mentality and organization.

“The most successful companies in Europe – from Spotify to Sap to Asml – did not achieve dominance through excessive work but through sustainable innovation cultures.”

View examples on Silicon Valley Uber and DeadBoth the two companies that expanded to Europe and faced a huge regulatory recovery.

And his highlights said: “These examples reveal how the ethics of the” Silicon Valley move “often collapses the European values ​​about workers’ rights, privacy and sustainable commercial practices.”

At the same time, the smaller generation is likely to work with excessive work and tends Determine the priorities of the balance between work and life.

996 will lead to the removal of young talents from European startups.

“People may tolerate exhaustion for a period of time, but it ultimately leads to confirmation and even resentment, especially with jeans and thousands of younger millennium, there is much lower tolerance of the cultures of poisonous crowds,” she said.

In fact, since 2015, technical startups in Europe have been absent from about 375 billion dollars in financing the growth phase, with the founders lost 300 billion dollars in European investments, according to European investments. European technology case at Atomico The report published in 2024. In addition, one of each two companies turns into funding to the United States for capital instead of Europe.

“What European startups really need is to access the appropriate resources-financing, talent, support-growth, innovation quickly and expand their scope effectively,” said Schembri-Stathart. “The adventure scene in the United States is a completely different ball game, and it is difficult to compete with it without a stronger environmental system here.

Timothy Armo, co -founder and former CEO of Fanbytes, is an impressive marketing company Sold for eight numbers In 2022, he told CNBC that he was a “huge supporter” of this 996 batch, but he admitted that the timing was the key.

“I think there are seasons, but I also think that if you are the founder for the first time or if your primary goal is to create wealth mainly, then I will be very frank, if this is your season, and you are retreating, then you are not serious about it.”

Armo said that there are no excuses because artificial intelligence allows project owners to be maximum efficiency because it can reduce the long -time manual tasks.

Meanwhile, Blum Moni Mohnity said that when she doesn’t sleep, she works. “I think the early stage teams tend to almost not know or without saying it actually, and doing the life of 996, because when it is an early stage, you just have to ignore more, especially if you are the founder, you always work and always include, and it may be very difficult to stop it.”

SchembRi-Stother draws the line when its team exploits to produce more work. “It is my choice to work on the weekend, but I never expected this in my team, it is certain that it is not a texture to push your teams to the collapse point.

Dion McKenzi warned of Silicon Valley Valley that the 996 culture expectations could make VC financing more far from startups in the early stages.

McKenzi said: “My fear is that since these new standards and trends become the current situation and standards for financing, it excludes many of the great founders who appreciate their mental health and/or they cannot adhere to 996 due to the responsibilities of providing care or being one of the parents.”