TL;DRDeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng says the $60 billion AI lab runs with no KPIs and no overtime while Western VCs push 996 Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, told staff in a nearly four-hour discussion that the company does not do overtime and does not use KPIs. “No one manages them,” he said of his researchers, according to a transcript obtained by Tencent Technology. The remarks describe a workplace culture that is the opposite of the 996 grind that Western tech founders are now rushing to copy. Liang gave two reasons for the approach. “Research needs a relaxed environment; if...