Kevin O’Leary slams work-life balance, saying it’s complete nonsense and founders should work ’25 hours a day, 8 days a week’

Kevin O’Leary has built a brand on saying the things other investors won’t. His latest target is the idea that founders can build something great while protecting their personal time. Speaking on Harvard Business School’s The Founder Mindset podcast, hosted by senior lecturer and serial entrepreneur Reza Satchu, the Shark Tank investor argued that anyone trying to balance a young company against the rest of their life is fooling themselves. That’s particularly true in the earliest, most fragile period of building a company, he argued “This concept in the founder years, which I call the first 36 months, the idea of balance is complete bullshit,” O’Leary said on the podcast posted Wednesday. “There is no balance. You have to work 25 hours a day, eight days a week because some guy in Mumbai or Shanghai is going to kick your ass.” “It’s a global competition,” O’Leary continued. “Whatever your idea is, there’s somebody else with the same idea.” O’Leary goes beyond the 24/7 concept to make a point. He wants entrepreneurs to understand dedication early on is the price of admission for success. “The founders that understand that sacrifice at the beginning is part of the price you pay, there is no balance,” he said. “And so the ones that are successful in my book—the ones I’ve invested in—are ferocious.” O’Leary says he paid the price himself O’Leary speaks from experience, having built a company he sold to Mattel for $4.2 billion in 1999 that ultimately made him a millionaire. He grew SoftKey from a basement startup to what he described as the largest educational software company in the world (by Oct. 1995, its products were found in 18,000 retail outlets and distributed in over 45 countries globally). But he was candid about the personal cost of building such a successful company. “I wouldn’t say I’m the best father, because I was never around,” O’Leary s