A social media post by an Indian-origin tech founder Daksh Gupta has sparked a discussion about work-life balance and startup culture on social media. Gupta, founder of the San Francisco-based AI startup Greptile, recently shared his company’s demanding work environment on X (formerly Twitter), outlining the high expectations he has for his employees. This sparked a debate about the pressures and demands faced by those working in the tech industry. Later on, Gupta shared another post as the previous one went viral and was even shared on Reddit. In the post, he notes that he started receiving death threats after sharing the post and further explains his take on work-life balance.
Take a look at the post here
In his X post, Gupta wrote: “Recently I started telling candidates right in the first interview that Greptile offers no work-life balance, typical workdays start at 9 am and end at 11 pm, often later, and we work Saturdays, sometimes also Sundays. I emphasize the environment is high-stress, and there is no tolerance for poor work.
“It felt wrong to do this at first but I’m convinced now that the transparency is good, and I’d much rather people know this from the get-go rather than find out on their first day. Curious if other people do this and if there’s some obvious pitfall I’m missing,” he added.
The X post which now has 1.6 million views has received both praise and criticism. The X post was also shared on Reddit also drew several reactions — both good and bad.
Soon after he shared another post where he claimed getting death threats after the initial post became viral.
In the other post, he wrote: “Now that this is on the front page of Reddit and my inbox is 20% death threats and 80% job applications, here’s a follow-up:
– To everyone who is overworked and underpaid at their software jobs esp outside the US, I feel for you, and I’m sorry this struck a nerve. the people that work here had 6-fig 20 hr/week jobs before this and can go back to them any time.
– It might be hard to believe but there exist people that want this, while a minority. the transparency exists to identify them.
– This way of working isn’t supposed to be forever because it isn’t sustainable. it’s the first year or two of a startup which is like reaching escape velocity. like people said in the comments, as we mature we’ll hire older, more experienced people who have families and can’t work 100 hours a week, and naturally we would adapt like any good organization.
– This is NOT meant to be prescriptive. there are brilliant people who run successful companies full of brilliant people who don’t push themselves this hard. Many others started the way we are starting.
– A lot of Indian hate coming from this post so I want to clarify that I am like this not because I’m Indian but because I’m San Franciscan.”
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