No KPIs. No Overtime. No Rulebook. $60 Billion.
In three years DeepSeek has grown from an unknown Chinese startup into a $60 billion AI company with roughly 173 million downloads since its public launch in January 2025. Its founder, Liang Wenfeng — whose net worth stands at $37.9 billion — says he built it without a single performance target or a single mandatory late night.
'We generally don't work overtime,' Liang told staff in a nearly four-hour internal discussion session, later obtained and transcribed by Tencent Technology. The reason, he explained, is simple: 'Research needs a relaxed environment; if you push too hard, you can't do research. Second, we're very focused, which means we do very few things.'
The operating model is strikingly lean on structure. There is no rigid hierarchy, no written rulebook, and — by Liang's own account — no documented company vision. 'We don't really have an organization — we're driven by a vision, organized by a vision,' he said. 'That vision isn't even written down. We've never written anything.'
Employees are given direction for only half of their working day. The other half is entirely unallocated. 'We hope 'formal work' doesn't take more than half of an employee's time,' Liang said. 'The other half is unallocated. They can do whatever they want.' Monthly targets do not exist. 'No one manages them. No KPIs,' he added.
Defying China's Own Grind Culture
The contrast with China's broader tech industry is sharp. The country's infamous 996 schedule — 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, totaling 72 hours — was formally outlawed in 2021, yet it persists as a badge of honor among founders. Alibaba, Tencent, and JD.com have all credited long hours as a pillar of their rise. Alibaba's Jack Ma called the grind 'a great blessing' in a 2019 essay.
The pressure has crossed the Pacific. Harry Stebbings, founder of the 20VC fund, wrote on LinkedIn that '7 days a week is the required velocity to win right now.' Index Ventures partner Martin Mignot echoed the sentiment: 'Forget 9 to 5, 996 is the new startup standard.' Some tech firms are reportedly exploring 996 clauses in employment contracts.
DeepSeek's numbers suggest a different path is viable.
What the Market Is Really Pricing
The numbers come first, and the numbers here are hard to dismiss. A $60 billion valuation built on a model that explicitly rejects the management orthodoxy now spreading through Silicon Valley is not an accident — it is a data point.
For free-enterprise readers, the lesson cuts both ways. On one hand, Liang's model is a reminder that output, not hours logged, is the unit of value in knowledge work. Bureaucratic KPI cascades and surveillance-style performance management are costs, not assets; DeepSeek appears to have priced that correctly. On the other hand, the company sits at the center of Beijing's strategic AI ambitions, and a relaxed internal culture does not change the geopolitical stakes of who leads the next generation of artificial intelligence. Capital rewards clear rules — and right now, the clearest signal from Liang's experiment is that talent, focus, and autonomy can compound faster than a 72-hour mandate. Washington and its allies should be paying close attention.
