'No work-life-balance': Tech founder goes viral for 84-hour work week post

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – The 23-year-old founder of a San Francisco tech startup has gone viral over a social media post admitting that his company offers "no work-life-balance."

In a post on X last month, Daksh Gupta, the founder of AI startup Greptile, said his company offers an 84-hour work week.

Employees at Greptile, according to Gupta, work 14-hour workdays six days a week, or sometimes seven days.

"Recently I started telling candidates right in the first interview that Greptile offers no work-life-balance," Gupta said. "Typical workdays start at 9 a.m. and end at 11 p.m., often later."

Gupta emphasized that the startup environment at Greptile, which is headquartered in the Transamerica Pyramid, is "high stress" and that "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."

Gupta's initial tweet has been viewed over 1.6 million times, and the post has also gone viral on Reddit. In a follow-up tweet, Gupta said his inbox is now "20% death threats and 80% job applications."

"To everyone who is overworked and underpaid at their software jobs [especially] outside the U.S., I feel for you," Gupta said, "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," he continued. "The transparency exists to identify them."

Gupta went on to say that Greptile would not operate in this mode forever as it "isn't sustainable."

"It's the first year or two of a startup which is like reaching escape velocity," he said. "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."

With some social media replies suggesting Greptile's no work-life-balance approach was due to Gupta's Indian heritage, the CEO also clarified that was not the case.

"I am like this not because I'm Indian but because I'm San Franciscan," he said.

Greptile advertises itself as an "AI expert" marketing a tool for other developers. The company has 2-10 employees, according to its LinkedIn page. Starting salaries for open positions range from $75,000 to $200,000.