Indian-origin woman advocates working ‘14+ hours a day… It's baseline'; internet reacts
In her now-viral post, Suresh wrote: 'If you're not spending 14+ hours a day working on your dream, you're ngmi.' She added, 'You can't build a world-changing product on 9–5 energy. 80-hour weeks aren't extreme. It's baseline.'
Her comments, which have racked up over 65,000 views, sparked a range of responses from users — from admiration to criticism.
One person asked, 'What do you do to decompress after an 80-hour week? Physically. What actually works?'
Another replied with sarcasm, 'Why just 14 hours? Make it 24.'
Some shared personal experiences. 'I burned out chasing 80-hour weeks. Found I actually build better products when I'm rested and thinking clearly,' a user wrote.
Another commented, 'Wow, another person who's never had to pay bills or have a social life telling me how to live my best life.'
The post has since fuelled a wider conversation about work-life balance and the pressure of hustle culture in startups and tech.
Joining the ongoing conversation about work-life balance, India-origin tech leader Dharmesh Shah had offered a frank take on the reality of building a successful startup.
Shah, who is the founder and Chief Technology Officer of HubSpot, shared his thoughts in a post on X (formerly Twitter) in March, where he spoke openly about the challenges of managing both work and personal life in the startup world.
He acknowledged that maintaining balance is difficult, especially when aiming for high levels of success. "Wanting work-life balance is OK. Wanting to build a breakthrough startup is OK. But you shouldn't expect both," he wrote.
'In 30+ years and knowing hundreds of founders, I've never met a single founder that built a breakthrough startup while maintaining work-life balance. Any competitive human endeavor requires sacrifice to stand-out. Whether it's athletics, arts or entrepreneurship. Raw talent is not enough. You have to toil,' Shah wrote.
'Unhappiness comes from expecting more out of the system than you put in. Either path is totally OK, as long as you understand that you picked a path. Two roads diverged in a wood, and if you take the one most traveled by, don't think that won't make a difference,' Shah said.
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