You know the feeling. It’s 8:55 PM. The office lights buzz overhead, illuminating empty coffee cups and glowing monitors. You’re exhausted, but you tell yourself it’s worth it. You’re paying the price of success.
You aren’t building a dynasty; you’re just building someone else’s.
We’ve been sold a massive lie about the 996 work schedule (9 AM to 9 PM, 6 days a week). The tech industry frames it as a badge of honor, a necessary sacrifice to stay competitive. But strip away the ping-pong tables and the free catered dinners, and you’ll see the brutal reality: 996 is a wealth transfer mechanism.
The debate always gets stuck on ‘hustle culture versus burnout.’ That’s the wrong conversation. The real issue isn’t the hours; it’s the ownership. Working 72 hours a week makes sense under exactly one condition: you hold a massive chunk of the equity. If you’re the founder, grind away. If you’re employee #50 with a 0.01% option pool, you’re being played.
Working 72 hours a week for an equity fraction of 0.01% isn’t ambition. It’s a donation to a billionaire.
I saw a Hacker News thread recently where a developer asked the community if they were actually working 996. The top comment was a brutal wake-up call: ‘You couldn’t pay me enough to sacrifice so much of my life for someone else’s business.’ Another user nailed it perfectly: ‘I can understand doing so if it’s your own company and you have a significant % of the business. But if you are an employee it does not make sense, you will not gain the time back.’
They get it. Why don’t we? We fall for the illusion of proximity to power. We think being in the room when the magic happens means we get a cut of the magic. We don’t. We get a salary, a pat on the back, and a layoff when the VC funding dries up.
The only people who should work 996 are the people who actually own the company.
When you sacrifice your evenings, your weekends, your relationships, and your health for a company you don’t own, the payoff is entirely asymmetric. The founders get their IPO. You get a LinkedIn recommendation.
Stop mistaking motion for progress. Stop mistaking someone else’s dream for your own. If they want 996 effort, they need to offer 996 equity. Otherwise, go home at 5 PM. Your time is the only non-renewable resource you have. Don’t spend it making someone else rich.
FAQ
Q: What if working 996 is the only way to get promoted?
A: Promotions give you a 10% raise. Founders make 10,000% returns. You're trading your youth for a rounding error on someone else's balance sheet.
Q: What's the practical implication?
A: Calculate your effective hourly rate. If working 996 drops your hourly compensation to near minimum wage, you aren't an elite professional—you are being exploited.
Q: Isn't this just anti-work laziness?
A: No, it's pro-ownership. The founders should absolutely work 996. Employees should work for fair compensation and their own equity, not someone else's dream.