In just three years, DeepSeek has gone from an unknown startup to a $60 billion AI powerhouse. The ChatGPT rival has had around 173 million downloads since it launched to the public in January 2025. And its founder Liang Wenfeng says he did it all without a single KPI or late-night shifts from his team.
“We generally don’t work overtime,” Liang revealed in a nearly four-hour discussion session with staff, obtained and transcribed by Tencent Technology.
And the world’s richest AI founder explained that there are two reasons for his laid-back approach: “First, research needs a relaxed environment; if you push too hard, you can’t do research. Second, we’re very focused, which means we do very few things.”
It’s not just the working hours that are relaxed at DeepSeek. There’s apparently no rigid hierarchy handing down orders, no rulebook employees are expected to follow, and no strict written end goal that workers need to adhere to daily. Even how they manage half of their working days is up to them.
“We don’t really have an organization—we’re driven by a vision, organized by a vision,” Liang, who has a $37.9 billion net worth, added. “That vision isn’t even written down. We’ve never written anything.”
Employees aren’t even given monthly targets to hit, and Wenfeng maintains that he’s led by their consensus. “No one manages them. No KPIs,” he said, before adding that they’re only told what to do for half of their workday. “We hope ‘formal work’ doesn’t take more than half of an employee’s time. The other half is unallocated. They can do whatever they want.”
It’s a strikingly loose setup for a company sitting at the center of China’s AI ambitions—not least because the country has a famously tough working culture.
China’s grueling 996 culture has become a badge of honor in tech—DeepSeek is the exception, not the rule
China’s 996 work schedule—that is, working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. six days a week—was outlawed in 2021. But instead of going away, it’s become a badge of honor among tech founders.
The habit runs deep in Chinese tech. E-commerce giant Alibaba, social media titan Tencent, and Alibaba rival JD.com have all leaned on 996 as part of their success story, often crediting their rise, in part, to the long hours logged by passionate employees. Alibaba founder Jack Ma went as far as calling it a “great blessing” in a 2019 essay, framing the grind as a necessary ingredient in the company’s rise.
Some young Chinese have even left professional careers for lower-paying manual labor to escape the country’s tough office culture. The surging youth unemployment rate suggests others are opting out entirely.
But bosses aren’t taking note.
Entrepreneurs have been taking to LinkedIn and claiming that the only way to succeed in the current climate is by copying China’s old 996 model. Harry Stebbings, founder of the 20VC fund, ignited the debate last year when he said Silicon Valley had “turned up the intensity,” and European founders needed to take notice.
“7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now. There is no room for slip-up,” Stebbings wrote on LinkedIn. “You aren’t competing against a random company in Germany etc but the best in the world.”
“Forget 9 to 5, 996 is the new startup standard,” Martin Mignot, partner at Index Ventures, echoed on the networking platform.
“Back in 2018, Michael Moritz introduced the West to China’s ‘996’ work schedule…At the time, the piece was controversial. Now? That same schedule has quietly become the norm across tech,” Mignot added. “And founders are no longer apologizing for it.”
Some tech companies are reportedly even looking into adding 996 clauses in employment contracts—essentially forcing new hires to sign up to 72-hour weeks to help them win the AI race.
Yet, betting on a relaxed culture is propelling DeepSeek to the front of that same race. While Liang insists his company is run by “a bunch of very ordinary people,” it’s clear that his management stance is anything but.
