This investor won’t back startups unless staff are in the office 6 days a week: ‘Not because I don’t have empathy, because they’re going to fail’

For years, business leaders from Jamie Dimon to Elon Musk have predicted that AI could usher in shorter workweeks—or even a future where people don’t need to work at all. But one prominent tech entrepreneur believes the opposite is true for teams that want to win. As AI allows startups to accomplish more with fewer people, Jason Lemkin, founder of the Saa S community Saa Str, said the companies that come out on top won’t be collaborating on Zoom—they’ll be in the office on Saturdays. “I want small, high-paid teams that work in the office over six days a week,” Lemkin said last month on the 20VC podcast’s weekly news episode. “I’m not interested in investing in anything else—I’m just not interested. And it’s not because I don’t have empathy, it’s because they’re going to fail.” Lemkin’s comments came during a discussion about the future of work, sparked by a viral moment from Ryan Petersen, CEO of supply chain management company Flexport, who argued that remote work amounts to “white-collar fraud” because employees simply aren’t as productive at home as they are in the office. Petersen pointed to his own experience, saying workdays are routinely interrupted once children come home from school. While Lemkin acknowledged that companies made the remote work model work during the pandemic—and that some employees might still pull their output weight with just 15 to 20 hours—he believes that era is largely over. “The companies we want to invest in—and this is a very narrow set of the universe—they’re not hiring folks that want to work 20 hours a week from home,” Lemkin said. ‘Make your choice, boys’: Lemkin says you can earn eight figures working six days a week—or $180,000 with flexibility, but not both Convincing workers to be in the office six days a week—let alone five—may be an uphill battle. Fully on-site work is the preferred arrangement for just 4% of millennials, according to a recent Gallup pol