For a long time, U.S.-based founders and investors looked at China’s tech work culture—nicknamed 9-9-6 because employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—as a grueling anomaly. But lately I’ve been hearing about employees at hard-charging artificial intelligence startups working even longer hours. The most vivid example came this week, when we broke the news that coding generation startup Cognition was offering buyouts to some of the staff from its newly acquired rival, Windsurf. In an email to staff, Cognition CEO Scott Wu noted that people at the startup frequently clock 80-hour weeks, and most of the team spends six days a week in the office. The seventh day, he said, is spent “on the phone with each other.”
Aug 7, 2025
Dealmaker
By Natasha Mascarenhas
Supported by
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For a long time, U.S.-based founders and investors looked at China’s tech work culture—nicknamed 9-9-6 because employees work from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week—as a grueling anomaly. But lately I’ve been hearing about employees at hard-charging artificial intelligence startups working even longer hours.
The most vivid example came this week, when we broke the news that coding generation startup Cognition was offering buyouts to some of the staff from its newly acquired rival, Windsurf. In an email to staff, Cognition CEO Scott Wu noted that people at the startup frequently clock 80-hour weeks, and most of the team spends six days a week in the office. The seventh day, he said, is spent “on the phone with each other.”
“We don't believe in work-life balance,” he said, adding, “Going forward, we will be asking all the new employees from Windsurf to commit to the same level of intensity. We are the underdog. The standards of work that this moment demands from us are extreme.”
It’s not lost on me that the two-year-old startup is getting funding offers right now that could more than double its valuation, to about $10 billion. Wu’s missive, with its overtones of Elon Musk’s “extremely hardcore” call to arms when he bought Twitter, will probably play well with potential investors.
Cognition is not alone. Employees at companies like AI hiring startup Mercor and coding assistant Anysphere routinely clock seven-day workweeks, I’ve been told. Early-stage investor Sarah Guo, who has invested in Cognition, posted about Wu’s memo, writing, “If this offends you, ngmi” (not going to make it).
I’m even starting to hear more about employees working a “007” schedule, which refers to an all-day, every day work schedule.
Masha Bucher, founder of early-stage venture firm Day One Ventures, said the increased work hours are driven by competition and opportunities in AI.
“I would be worried if the founder of a company isn’t in the office, working at least one day on the weekends,” she said.
The OpenAI Startup Fund has filed paperwork indicating it is raising nearly $70 million for its sixth special purpose vehicle, a type of specialized fund that taps a specific group of investors to invest in one company.
If the funding is successful, the new SPV would raise the amount OpenAI’s fund has raised in SPVs overall to around $200 million, outpacing the company’s inaugural $175 million fund and effectively doubling its assets under management. The fund doesn’t use OpenAI money but relies on outside investors.
The fund’s portfolio companies include coding app Anysphere, which OpenAI has previously tried to acquire, and legal AI startup Harvey. SPVs have gained popularity as an investment vehicle because they allow fund managers to raise money to invest in just one startup, which prevents overweighting of the bigger fund in one stock and gives the firm’s limited partners extra exposure to sought-after stocks.
In fact, Thrive Capital, which is in talks to invest in a sale of OpenAI shares held by current and former employees at a $500 billion valuation, has used at least one SPV to invest in the ChatGPT maker.
These SPVs also tend to come together more quickly than broader funds, which may take months to raise. The simpler investment process SPVs offer could come in handy as OpenAI navigates a restructuring effort and negotiations with Microsoft over licensing OpenAI’s technology.
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