‘Strict office timing of 10 am to 10 pm’: Bengaluru founder’s post on hustle culture sparks debate
Mohan Kumar of Matiks has sparked controversy by promoting a 12-hour workday for his young team.
A Bengaluru-based entrepreneur has reignited the debate around hustle culture by revealing that his employees work 12 hours a day, six days a week. Mohan Kumar, the co-founder of mobile gaming app Matiks, has stirred up a storm with his latest X post, where he spoke about “strict office timings” that employees are expected to follow.
Kumar said that Matiks employees are expected to work from 10am to 10pm from Monday to Saturday. Many of them also log in on Sunday.
“Strict office timings”
“We have strict office timing of 10 am - 10 pm and 6 days a week. Still, our team members work beyond 10 and on Sundays as well,” he wrote on X.
Kumar acknowledged that some people would have a problem with the long office hours.
“People will criticize this, but the reality is if we have to build the first global product built in India, we need everyone to be all in. Let's move out from job mindset to building mindset,” he said.
Kumar further told HT.com: “We don’t look at our team as employees. We see them as founding members on a shared mission.
“We’re not building a company for survival or paychecks; we’re trying to build something that India can be proud of on a global stage,” said the co-founder of Matiks. “Of course, not everyone resonates with this mindset, and that’s okay. But for those who do, this journey doesn’t feel like a ‘job.’ It feels like chasing a dream.”
The reactions
Nevertheless, the post sparked a wave of reactions, both positive and negative.
“Hard disagree, almost no one can sustain peak IQ bandwidth beyond 40-50 hours a week, anything beyond that is slop,” wrote one X user.
“Please tell the equity structure, we will understand much better about mindset then,” another requested.
“Hope you give all your employees a cofounder status,” a third person posted, while a fourth said: “I really hope it’s a rage bait”.
(Also read: ‘How long can you stare at your wife?’: L&T chairman says he wants employees to work on Sunday too)
More about Matiks
Kumar followed up his divisive post with a picture that shows a bed set up inside the workplace. “This is how we work in 10-10 setup. Conference room of Matiks and Saturday night,” he captioned the image.
Kumar further told HT.com that he has a small team of 12 full-time members and a few interns. Asked if working from office is mandatory, he replied: “Most of us work from the office, not because it’s mandatory, but because the kind of momentum we need to build Matiks is hard to replicate remotely.”
He emphasized that it’s not all work and no play at the Bengaluru startup.
“What’s unique is that everyone in our team is under 25. We’re all fresh out of college, building our careers and our lives from scratch. We don’t work like typical employees. Sometimes we end up working very long hours; sometimes it’s just fun, chill, and laughter in the office. There are team dinners, spontaneous outings, or late-night brainstorming sessions that feel more like college group studies than office work,” Kumar explained.
The co-founder also clarified that contrary to what his post would have one believe, employees are not “forced” to work 12 hours.
“No one here is forced to work 10 to 10. But many of us do, and even come in on Sundays not because we have to, but because we want to. That’s the difference when you care about what you’re building,” he said.
