Start-up CEO receives death threats for company’s 84-hour workweeks
Daksh Gupta found himself in the middle of a heated debate after making a post on X saying he expects his employees to have “no work-life balance”, working 84 hours a week, and sometimes even on weekends. (Image credit: X/@dakshgup) Photograph:( X )
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The X post received a flood of reactions from social media users. While most users called the work environment at his company “toxic”, the CEO also claimed to receive some death threats and many job applications
The X post received a flood of reactions from social media users. While most users called the work environment at his company “toxic”, the CEO also claimed to receive some death threats and many job applications
CEO of a San Francisco-based artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, Greptile, said he received death threats after posting about the company’s 84-hour workweeks on social media.
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
— Daksh Gupta (@dakshgup) November 10, 2024
- 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… pic.twitter.com/RzAM75DiG2
Daksh Gupta found himself in the middle of a heated debate after making a post on X saying he expects his employees to have “no work-life balance”, working 84 hours a week, and sometimes even on weekends.
“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,” he wrote on X, adding that “transparency is good” rather than people finding it out later on their first day.
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He further said, “Curious if other people do this and if there’s some obvious pitfall I’m missing.”
The post received a flood of reactions from social media users. While most users called the work environment at his company “toxic”, the CEO also claimed to receive some death threats and many job applications.
CEO defends his stance on 84-hour workweeks
In another lengthy post, he defended his stance saying, “It might be hard to believe but there exist people that want this, while a minority. The transparency exists to identify them.”
He also said that his “inbox is 20% death threats and 80% job applications”.
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Gupta further acknowledged that it may not be for everyone, saying “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,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
