A 29-year-old VC founder sparked a debate after posting about a 7-day workweek. He shared his philosophy with us.
That's if "you want to build a $10 billion business," Stebbings added in an interview with Business Insider.
"If you want to build a great business, fantastic. You don't need to work seven days a week. You don't need to absolutely burn the midnight oil," Stebbings said, adding that if you do want to build a $10 billion business, "my lord, you have to give it everything."
The founder's post ended up fueling an online conversation about the comeback of China's controversial 996 culture. Despite being deemed illegal by the Chinese government in 2021, it's a practice of working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week that appears to still be happening at certain companies. Some have criticized the schedule, which has previously been attributed to worker deaths.
Stebbings said most of the backlash to his LinkedIn post came from European workers. Many American respondents, on the other hand, said a seven-day workweek was an obvious conclusion, Stebbings said.
Promoting a 7-day workweek
Stebbings, who has a 20-person firm, said there's nuance to what a seven-day workweek should look like. The founder said he's aware of his own limits and what it takes to maintain his energy. He urges his team to do the same by prioritizing stress relief, including working out during their lunch break.
In addition to an hour in the gym in the morning and an hour of walking after work, Stebbings said he spends 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. having business meeting while walking in London's Hyde Park. He said he hits 30,000 steps every day, and walks a marathon with his mother everyweekend.
While Stebbings said he supports people taking time off, in the last 11 years, he's only taken two vacations, both within the United Kingdom, where he's based. He typically works until around 1 a.m. each day, he said, with a break to walk and eat sushi — his first meal of the day — between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m.
"When your brain is starved, you're much more alert because as an animal, we're like trained to be a lot more active and looking for food," Stebbings said. "And so, I find my alertness goes up a lot."
His employees seem to share a similar mindset of prioritizing work. When Stebbings leaves the office at 8 p.m., he said the office is still full.
"They get paid really well and they do the most meaningful work of their lives, right?" Stebbings said about his staff. "So they seem pretty happy."
Stebbings said he believes that people feel happy when work is going well and they have momentum. He added that "winning" is one of the biggest ways to contribute to society, and harder work leads to a higher likelihood of winning.
A short-term hustle
While Stebbings prioritizes work and expects his employees to do the same, he doesn't necessarily promote living this lifestyle long-term.
"You cannot work in this manner for more than three to five years," Stebbings said. "The most important thing to understand is when you are in your first three years, speed is your single biggest competitive advantage."
Stebbings said his decision to work at this pace for over a decade is a personal choice. However, once someone is five or six years into a job, they've built efficiency processes and playbooks so that they can have more downtime and less intensity in their day-to-day, he said.
Until then, Stebbings promotes working relentlessly for those who want to build a $10 billion business.
"I think this is what everyone, especially in Europe, forgets. We are in a global war for efficiency and data," Stebbings said.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


UPI
3 minutes ago
- UPI
Boeing machinists who build fighter jets reject contract, plan strike
A large American flag is hoisted behind a Boeing F/A-18 E1 Super Hornet jet before dedication ceremonies at the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Mo., on August 3, 2024. Machinists at three plants in the St. Louis area the product fight jets rejected a contract. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo July 27 (UPI) -- Several thousand Boeing union workers at three St. Louis-area plants who build fighter jets are planning to go on strike after rejecting a proposed contract Sunday that would pay an average of than $100,000 per year. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers at Boeing factories in St. Louis and St. Charles in Missouri and Mascoutah in Illinois voted against the new contract that included a 20% wage increase over four years. The contract for District 837 members will expire at 11:59 p.m. CDT at which point there is a seven-day cooling-off period before a strike could start. In all, there are 16,000 employees at the three locations, according to St. Louis Business Journal Research. "IAM Union members delivered a clear message: the proposal from Boeing Defense fell short of addressing the priorities and sacrifices of the skilled IAM Union workforce," the union said in a news release. "Our members are standing together to demand a contract that respects their work and ensures a secure future." Boeing and the union representing the machinists on Thursday reached an agreement on a four-year contract that would boost annual salaries to $102,600 with an 8% increase in the first year and 4% for the other three years. "This contract puts money in members' pockets, protects healthcare access, and ensures our members have a voice in future health decisions all while respecting the skill and dedication IAM workers bring to Boeing's critical defense programs," IAM Union International President Brian Bryant said after the tentative contract. The total increase would be 40% when including other benfits. There was a $5,000 ratification bonus. Boeing said the current average hourly pay of $35 is $6 higher than three years ago. "The IAM Union remains committed to achieving a fair contract that meets the needs of our members," the union said. "The IAM Union looks forward to returning to the bargaining table with Boeing's leadership to deliver meaningful improvements that support the well-being and livelihoods of IAM members and their families." IAM, with approximately 600,000 active and retired workers, is one of North America's largest and most diverse industrial trade unions. They represent workers in aerospace/airlines, defense, shipbuilding, railroads/transit, healthcare and automotive in the United States and Canada. "We're disappointed our employees voted down the richest contract offer we've ever presented to IAM 837 which addressed all their stated priorities," Dan Gillian, Boeing Air Dominance vice President, said in a statement, obtained by KSDK-TV. "We've activated our contingency plan and are focused on preparing for a strike. No talks are scheduled with the union." Last year, Boeing machinists in the Pacific Northwest were in a 54-day strike that shut down airplane production. Ultimately, they agreed to an immediate pay boost of 13% and a total of 44% over four years when compounded. Boeing has more than 170,000 employees worldwide. The vote came two days before Boeing plans to announce its second-quarter earnings.


CNBC
33 minutes ago
- CNBC
CNBC Daily Open: A week when everything happens
Choose a comfortable seat and grab your popcorn. These five days will basically be the Olympics for market watchers: And looming over all those financial and macroeconomic events is U.S. President Donald Trump's August 1 deadline for his new tariffs. As Kim Forrest, founder at Bokeh Capital, said, "What isn't happening in this week?" Here's the ideal scenario for investors. The Magnificent Seven companies reporting earnings this week and the U.S. economy secure gold at their respective events. (The Fed is expected to keep rates unchanged — whether this qualifies the central bank for a medal is up for debate). Big trading partners of the U.S., such as South Korea and India, secure a deal with the White House and join the European Union and Japan at the podium, while Beijing extends its tariff suspension with Washington. If those events happen, U.S. stocks will probably have legs clear hurdle after hurdle — and the S&P 500 can continue topping record announces a trade agreement with the European Union. Most European goods, including cars, exported to the U.S. will face a 15% tariff, Trump said Sunday. The bloc also agreed to purchase $750 billion worth of U.S. energy, he added. The Fed is ready to start lowering rates, Trump said. On Friday, the U.S. president said Fed Chair Jerome Powell told him "the country is doing well," which Trump took to mean "he's going to start recommending lower rates." Futures markets disagree. Perfect week for the S&P 500. The broad-based index rose Friday to close at a high — its fifth record in a row last week. The Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average also advanced. The Stoxx Europe 600 lost 0.29%. Palantir joins rank of top 20 most valuable U.S. companies. After rising more than 2% on Friday to hit a market cap of $375 billion, Palantir bumped Home Depot out of the list. The software provider has more than doubled in value this year. [PRO] Keep an eye on these overbought stocks. Using CNBC Pro's stock screener tool, the team has identified 18 stocks that might be trading at levels higher than their fair value, based on their 14-day relative strength index. Under Trump, Uncle Sam is becoming an active investor The Trump administration has taken direct stakes in companies on a scale rarely seen in the U.S. outside wartime or economic crisis, pushing a Republican Party that traditionally championed free-market capitalism to embrace state intervention in industries viewed as important for national security. More interventions could be on the horizon as the Trump administration develops a policy to support U.S. companies in strategic industries against state-backed competition from China.


CNBC
33 minutes ago
- CNBC
How the U.S.-EU trade deal impacts America's imports overall: Tariff simulator
A tariff simulator shows a dramatic drop in global exports to the U.S. as a result of President Donald Trump new trade deal with the European Union. On Sunday, Trump announced a trade deal with the EU, following discussions with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Trump said that the deal imposes a 15% tariff on most European goods to the U.S., including cars. According to the Tariff Simulator by the online data visualization and distribution platform, The Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC), the forecasted global exports to the U.S. in 2027 are expected to drop by more than 46% compared to the average of the last three years, or $2.68 trillion. The forecasted U.S. exports to the world in 2027 are expected to increase by 12% compared to the average of the last three years, or $1.59 trillion. The forecast builds on an extended gravity model designed to anticipate how trade may be reconfigured in response to the announced trade deal between the US and the EU alone. This forecast does not include the impact of all the broad tariff increases set to be imposed on Aug. 1. "While the U.S. is imposing tariffs on the world, the world is not imposing tariffs on each other," explained Cesar Hidalgo, economics professor at the Toulouse School of Economicsdirector for the Center of Collective Learning, and founder of Datawheel, which built the OEC Tariff Simulator. "The point here is that countries will have a natural tendency to rewire their trade relationships away from the U.S. in many of these scenarios, he added. "This is true for most countries, except for Mexico and Canada, which are too integrated with the United States and are unable to rewire as quickly as less integrated countries." Hidalgo explained the tariff impact using Germany as an example, "In the early 2025 scenario where there were no new tariffs, exports from Germany to the US were forecasted to go from $133B (2023) to $155B in 2027. With the 15% tariff framework, exports from Germany to the US are forecasted now to go up from $133B 2023 to $149B 2027," said Hidalgo. "Exports are down with respect to what we would have expected if tariffs would have remained the same as they were on January 1st of 2025." Under the 15% tariff scenario projected by the Tariff Simulator, the U.S. will import more from UK ($22.5 billion), France ($10.2 billion), and Spain ($5.65 billion) and less from China (-$485 billion), Canada (-$300 billion), and Mexico (-238 billion). As a result of the decrease in Chinese exports to the U.S. under this scenario, China is expected to import more from Russia ($70 billion), Vietnam ($34.4 billion), and Saudi Arabia ($28 billion) than the U.S. Chinese imports from the U.S. are expected to drop by $101 billion. Logistics experts have warned for months that even with tariff rates at lower rates than the original "reciprocal" rates announced in April, the products are still expensive. The layering of the tariffs will make many products more expensive to import and companies will forego shipments. Retail executives say the result would be a lack of product diversity on U.S. shelves, something American consumers have grown accustomed to. Andrew Abbott, CEO of niche ocean carrier Atlantic Container Line, says the resolution of the tariff levels will be the deciding factor for some European shippers. "I have seen some ocean bookings of high-value products (construction equipment, agricultural equipment, aerospace, transformers, etc.) have put all bookings on hold," said Abbott. "It all depends on the tariff rate. For example, a U.S. customer buying a $300,000 piece of machinery could potentially have $90,000 in tariffs assessed on it, so this is why some companies are waiting until a tariff rate is definitively set," he said. "Companies bringing in low-valued items, on the other hand, are continuing to order product." Based on trade data compiled and analyzed by the OEC, the bills of lading — the receipts for the containers detailing the product and company information — show IKEA is the top U.S. company importing from the EU at 28%. Southern Glazer's Wine and Spirits was next at 9%, followed by Continental Tire (4%), Bosch (4%), Dole Food Co. (3%), and Diageo (2.3%) as the top importers. Examining the top EU exports to the U.S. by product category reveals that furniture leads the list at 11%, followed by rubber tires at 7%, bedspreads at 6%, and wine at 5%.