The job ad reads like a dare. Work in the office from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Stay reachable nights and weekends. Keep that up for three years. The role is chief of staff to Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures, the firm behind bets on OpenAI, Stripe and DoorDash. The Journal's Katherine Bindley and Chip Cutter wrote it up on Monday, Oct. 19.
Ryan Batra, a talent vice president at Khosla, posted it on LinkedIn with a warning. Anyone who needs predictable hours or a playbook should pass. The internet split at once. Matteo Franceschetti of Eight Sleep said he'd take it himself if he weren't running a company. Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian said it could change someone's life. The reporters see a bigger shift. In the AI era, the grind isn't hidden anymore. It's advertised. Margaret O'Mara, a historian at the University of Washington, calls that saying the quiet part out loud. Young founders brag about 9-9-6, which means 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. One startup has run multiday work trials, some on weekends. Another offered interviews to party guests willing to get a company tattoo.
Why it works right now
Raheela Anwar, who runs Group 360 Consulting, says the timing is the point. Some see a no-hire job market, where employers can be blunt. Anwar says that in a better market, people like this might have had more options. “It's the exit that is making this attractive,” she said. Chief of staff has long been a fast track to the top. Jason Fried of 37signals, no fan of hustle culture, didn't object either. The expectations are clear, he said. “If I was 25, maybe it'd be the best thing in the world.”
One thing the listing didn't include was a salary range. The firm expects more than 1,000 applications anyway, a spokeswoman said. Late Friday, Oct. 16, Khosla clarified a few details on X. There's no set hours rule, he wrote, but the job is intense. “I work 80 hours/week and this person needs to keep up.” Hesam Motlagh, who held the role from 2021 to 2023, called it an amazing learning experience.
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This is Career, and underneath it Cash Flow · M5. Every job has a price. This one lists the hours and hides the pay. That's backwards for anyone trying to run a household. Do the math before you do the interview. Take whatever salary they finally name and divide it by the hours they really expect. Compare that hourly number to the job you'd leave. Then put a value on the exit Anwar talks about, and be honest that it's a hope rather than a paycheck. Some people should take this job. A 25-year-old with no dependents and a cheap apartment might be one of them. A parent with a mortgage probably isn't.
Here's the connection to your own money. Anwar said the ask works because candidates have fewer options. Options are what an emergency fund buys. If you or your adult kid is job hunting this fall, check the cash cushion this week. Count the months of expenses it covers. Three to six is the usual rule of thumb. A thin cushion is how a 12-hour day becomes the only offer you can afford to accept. If yours comes up short, bring that number to your next review with us, and we'll map out how to fill it.