AI investment has revitalized the Bay Area tech economy and pushed startups back toward intense, long-hour work patterns reminiscent of pre-pandemic norms. Many startup founders and employees feel compelled to work extended hours to avoid being outcompeted. Pandemic-era remote work blurred schedules and reduced the visible work grind, but the environment has shifted back to competitive, often Darwinian dynamics. Venture capital has become highly concentrated, with a large share of funding going to a handful of AI-focused companies, making fundraising harder for smaller startups and increasing pressure to prioritize rapid growth over time off.
"There's just this general feeling that, 'Unless we work as many hours as we possibly can, someone else is going to beat us,' said Adrian Kinnersley, CEO of TwentyAI, a recruitment and staffing firm with many clients in the Bay Area. "It's really a move back to what was before COVID for people who are young and ambitious and want to build a company that will change the world."
Silicon Valley startup guru Steve Blank, an adjunct professor of management science and engineering at Stanford University, believes Silicon Valley tech's work ethic mostly collapsed during the pandemic, as lockdowns drove people into remote work, and work-from-home became prevalent. "No one knew what the hours were," Blank said. "You were feeding your dog, you were playing pickleball." Now, Bay Area startups have swung back to the classic work patterns birthed in the '80s, when budding enterprises were filled with
Collection
[
|
...
]