Chris Hladczuk, Hanover

Can you raise venture capital and have a work-life balance?

Investment

Anyone raising venture capital should kiss goodbye to a work-life balance.

That’s the controversial view of Chris Hladczuk, CEO of New York-based Hanover, which has $1bn in assets under administration.

He stirred up a storm on social media by claiming it’s ‘delusional’ to think you can be successful in business if you’re not prepared to put in the hours.

Writing on LinkedIn he said: “Raising venture means you sign a commitment to build a billion dollar business.

“Your job is to do whatever it takes to win. So why do people say work-life balance is possible?

“Let’s just state the facts.

“Your odds are 0.00006% to build a billion dollar company.

“You’re competing in the ‘Olympics of Business’. But you think you can win an Olympic gold medal training half the time?

“To me, it’s delusional. I don’t think I’m 2x more talented than everyone else… so I can’t work 40 hours when others work 80 hours.

“Sound crazy? Don’t raise VC. Bootstrap your company and work 9-5.”

His outspoken comments have split opinions.

People need to shower

Former VC investor Kiran Mehta disagreed. “Every founder doesn’t need to go full Elon and work 72 hours straight without having a shower,” he said.

“In my experience, in 90 per cent of cases, those that are putting in the super long hours are both not very efficient nor good delegators. Two traits that aren’t well suited for VC backed startups.”

You can’t have it all

Sieva Kozinsky, founder and CEO of Enduring Ventures, agreed. “Delusion is thinking you can have both worlds,” he said.

24/7 is only choice

Indian entrepreneur Zeeshan Mohammed said: “There’s no 9-5 if you are building a business. It’s only 24/7. Plus, not every business is scalable to a billion dollars. If you see the potential and can sell it to the big guys, it’s better to do with VC money. You can fend off the competition, build the brand and grow in the right way. I’d rather grow fast and work more hours than lack financial security.”

Working long hours isn’t everything

Adi Ben Mat, co-founder and CTO at Intellis, disagreed with Hladczuk’s comments. “I see it the other way around,” he said. “When you have VC funding, you’re not doing the work of 10 people yourself. It’s more about allocating resources wisely, streamlining processes, and making smart strategic moves. While working long hours can still be a factor, it’s not the defining challenge.

“On the other hand, when you’re bootstrapping, you often wear multiple hats and take on the workload of an entire team until there’s enough revenue to start building one.”

Long hours = burnout

Founder and best-selling author Patrick Mork also disagreed. “There’s a fallacy that building a great company requires a stupid amount of hours,” he said. “Certainly there are times when it does, but for me, a founder who is constantly working seven days a week and long hours is not working efficiently, burning themselves out and not managing their energy.

“It also means that they’re unable to delegate or trust their teams with tasks that are better suited to others. When you have the right team, the right leadership mindset and the right investors you can find somewhat of a balance, but that doesn’t mean that there are not sprints that are going to be very long and very hard along the way.”

Stay true to yourself

Chilean tech entrepreneur Jose Puga, co-founder of ChucaoTech, said: “If you want to build an innovative startup, in a world where you will compete with 1000’s of innovative startups, then you are going to need to put your best effort. No matter who funds you.

“Having been employed for more than 10 years , to then co-found and bootstrap for six years to then get VC funding, I can tell you the desire and pressure to deliver is in your genes, or it is not. No matter to whom.”

Don’t grind yourself into the ground

James Mahy, founder of Bristol-based Bearly Fit, said: “As a founder I’ve seen far too many people take VC funding, end up grinding themselves into the ground and ultimately fail anyway.

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“I’m building a business that is sustainable and has steady growth. It may not be a billion $$$ company but it’ll be mine and it’ll mean I can help my users without worrying about investors.”

Treat people as people

Byron White, co-founder of Yaupon Brothers, said: “I think GPs (general partners) of VC funds need to remember that they are investing in people, and people have needs which include not sacrificing everything they enjoy in life because their investors playing with other people’s money demand it.

“I agree that it takes a ton of work and grit to make it. Does it require zero work/life balance? No, it does not. That’s a toxic mindset and it doesn’t work.”

 

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