{"id":1067926,"date":"2026-07-04T11:47:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1067926\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:47:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:47:26","slug":"investor-wont-back-startups-unless-staff-are-in-the-office-6-days-a-week-because-theyre-going-to-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1067926\/","title":{"rendered":"Investor won’t back startups unless staff are in the office 6 days a week ‘because they’re going to fail’"},"content":{"rendered":"

For years, business leaders from Jamie Dimon<\/a> to Elon Musk<\/a> have predicted that AI could usher in shorter workweeks\u2014or even a future where people don\u2019t need to work at all. But one prominent tech entrepreneur believes the opposite is true for teams that want to win.<\/p>\n

As AI allows startups to accomplish more with fewer people, Jason Lemkin<\/a>, founder of the SaaS community SaaStr, said the companies that come out on top won\u2019t be collaborating on Zoom\u2014they\u2019ll be in the office on Saturdays.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want small, high-paid teams that work in the office over six days a week,\u201d Lemkin said last month on the 20VC podcast\u2019s weekly news episode<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019m not interested in investing in anything else\u2014I\u2019m just not interested. And it\u2019s not because I don\u2019t have empathy, it\u2019s because they\u2019re going to fail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemkin\u2019s comments came during a discussion about the future of work, sparked by a viral moment<\/a> from Ryan Petersen, CEO of supply chain management company Flexport, who argued<\/a> that remote work amounts to \u201cwhite-collar fraud\u201d because employees simply aren\u2019t as productive at home as they are in the office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Petersen pointed to his own experience, saying workdays are routinely interrupted once children come home from school.<\/p>\n

While Lemkin acknowledged that companies made the remote work model work during the pandemic\u2014and that some employees might still pull their output weight with just 15 to 20 hours\u2014he believes that era is largely over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe companies we want to invest in\u2014and this is a very narrow set of the universe\u2014they\u2019re not hiring folks that want to work 20 hours a week from home,\u201d Lemkin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Make your choice, boys\u2019: Lemkin says you can earn eight figures working six days a week\u2014or $180,000 with flexibility, but not both<\/p>\n

Convincing workers to be in the office six days a week\u2014let alone five\u2014may be an uphill battle. Fully on-site work<\/a> is the preferred arrangement for just 4% of millennials, according to a recent Gallup poll<\/a>. Even among baby boomers, the generation most likely to favor in-person work, only 10% prefer being in the office full time. Hybrid work remains the overwhelming favorite across generations.<\/p>\n

But Lemkin argued the debate isn\u2019t really about work-life balance<\/a>. In his view, it\u2019s about ambition\u2014and whether employees are willing to make the sacrifices required to build an outsized company in the AI era. With new models and tools arriving almost weekly, startups have little room to slow down. The companies that pull ahead will be those with small, highly paid teams constantly iterating and collaborating\u2014not employees putting in a few hours a week from home<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, it is how you build a winner,\u201d Lemkin said. \u201cYou can\u2019t win in your marketplace if people are working 20 hours a week. You can\u2019t win.\u201d<\/p>\n

That difference, he argued, can come with major financial implications.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t get to make 10 million for working 18 hours a week. You get a watch\u2014you get an Omega,\u201d Lemkin said. \u201c[Do] you want an Omega, or you want to be rich? Make your choice, boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Employees willing to embrace the pace of high-growth startups\u2014the best of whom, have coffee shops open 24\/7\u2014have the opportunity to earn in the $100 million range, while those seeking more predictable hours may be better suited to established companies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to invest in anyone in the middle. I can\u2019t afford to invest in the folks that want watches,\u201d he added. \u201cEnjoy your $12,000 Rolex or your $8,000 Omega. I hope it\u2019s meaningful to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortune reached out to Lemkin for further comment.<\/p>\n

From Silicon Valley startups to Fortune 500 tech giants\u2014AI is raising the bar for work-hour expectations<\/p>\n

Lemkin isn\u2019t alone in arguing that the AI race is reshaping expectations for startups.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Last year, it was reported that many Bay Area startups<\/a> had begun leaning into work models resembling China\u2019s infamous \u201c996 work schedule\u201d<\/a>\u2014in which employees are expected on the clock from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., six days a week, totaling 72 hours per week.<\/p>\n

Harry Stebbings, founder of the 20VC fund, said on LinkedIn last year that Silicon Valley had in fact \u201cturned up the intensity,\u201d on their AI-era work culture, and European founders needed to take notice.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Seven] days a week is the required velocity to win right now. There is no room for slip up,\u201d Stebbings said in the post. \u201cYou aren\u2019t competing against random company in Germany, etc. but the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just startups that are feeling the pressure\u00a0<\/p>\n

Google co-founder Sergey Brin<\/a> reportedly urged employees working on the company\u2019s Gemini AI models to spend at least every weekday in the office, telling them that roughly 60 hours a week represented the \u201csweet spot\u201d for productivity. Those who failed to embrace the moment, he warned, risked slowing down the entire team.<\/p>\n

\u201cA number of folks work less than 60 hours, and a small number put in the bare minimum to get by,\u201d Brin wrote<\/a> last year, according to The New York Times. \u201cThis last group is not only unproductive but also can be highly demoralizing to everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n