Most employers never put the real hours in the job ad. Vinod Khosla did. His listing for a new chief of staff says the role is in person in Menlo Park, runs three years, and is “generally 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.”, with nights and weekends when needed, according to the reactions reported in several media articles.

The number is not the surprising part. The candour is. A 12-hour day is a rule many in tech and corporate India are assumed to follow without anyone saying so. Here it sits in black and white.

The arithmetic

Twelve hours a day over five weekdays is 60 hours a week, before a single night or weekend call. That is the figure Google co-founder Sergey Brin reportedly called the “sweet spot” for productivity when he addressed Gemini staff in February 2025, according to Fortune’s summary of a Wired report. A 60-hour week is also well past the 40-hour norm that most job ads quietly assume.

Khosla is not alone

Some other employers have been just as direct. Fortune reported in August 2025 that New York AI startup Rilla told applicants not to apply unless they were excited about “working ~70 hrs/week in person.” Its head of growth said nearly all of its 80 staff worked a “996” schedule, meaning 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. China declared that practice illegal in 2021, the report noted.

In India the argument has been public. Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s call for a 70-hour week started a national debate. L&T chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan’s reported remarks about a 90-hour week reignited it in January 2025, though L&T’s HR head said they were taken out of context and that he never mandated such hours.

Why this one is different

Those were remarks or one startup’s culture. Khosla’s is a formal listing from one of Silicon Valley’s best-known investors, and it comes with an upside. Earlier chiefs of staff have started companies, launched funds or taken leadership roles at Khosla Ventures, though the listing says this is “not a dedicated investing seat or a guaranteed path to one.” The unwritten bargain, long hours now for access and learning later, is stated outright.

What one listing does not prove

A single job ad cannot show what an industry does. A chief of staff to a founder-investor is an unusually demanding, high-access role, and long hours come with the territory in a way they do not for most staff. The listing does not say the 12 hours are mandatory every day, and it gives no pay. Others push back hard on the premise: Balderton Capital general partner Ivee Miller is quoted by Fortune as saying burnout is “one of the top 3 reasons early-stage ventures fail.”

So the listing does not prove a norm. What it does is show one in the open, and invite the question of whether candidates, and employers, should keep treating it as normal.