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When Jeffrey Wang posted to X last week asking if anyone want to go in on an lodge of fancy - but - low-priced office nap pod , he did n’t ask the Charles William Post to go viral . He articulate so many others wanted in , he could have ordered over 100 unit .
“ I had way too many people than I could handle , ” Wang , co - founder of AI research startupExa Labs , tell TechCrunch . “ I want to order two nap pod for ourselves , and see how they turned out . I had 100 - plus demand . ”
I ’m purchase Japanese space capsule bed as nap pod for our new SF office . If you want to bulk Holy Order with me , they should be something like $ 1000 / layer . Please DM me if interested!Comparable product sold in the US cost like $ 15Kpic.twitter.com/eker5y4LfZ
The post did n’t just hit a nervus with other disco biscuit users who want a forty winks at work . Some mass joked about the hygienics of sharing a bed with part mate . One answer , “ The last thing I require to do is portion bedsheets with my software developer coworkers . ”
Many admire the exceptional features of these nap pods , or clap the whole musical theme of office napping . “ Every modern office should have one — no dissimilar than nap on a 15 hr flight ; some undertaking [ sic ] require the better inference that rem sleep gets you , ” reply another .
A few pointed out the more obvious doubt : Why would an employer await people to sleep in the office rather of go home ? Or as one military post answerer put it : “ Nothing is a bigger red flag that [ sic ] a possible employer register off their ‘ nap seedpod . ’ I ’d be outta there . ”
The answer is simple : Silicon Valley startup hustle culture is back , especially in Cerebral Valley , the Hayes Valley vicinity of San Francisco that ’s filled with early - point AI startups , often establish and staffed with 20 - somethings who make their companies their whole lives . Hustle refinement went out of favor in the post - pandemic years , when people had act aside from both their offices and San Francisco .
But Hacker houses in San Francisco arepopular again . AndCerebral Valley is its own cultural phenom , where those who trust in the future of AI ( or fear it ) live in such mansion and go to the same party .
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In the case of Exa Labs , the need for pile pods is a born extension of its hacker house history . Exa is a 10 - person startup that was , until a few weeks ago , in such a planetary house , where co - worker of tiny companies exercise and dwell together .
“ Like a flock of companies in that area , we worked out of our business firm . We exchange two bedrooms into a big office , ” Wang said , adding that everyone worked , hung out , eat together . “ And that scale to like nine people . ”
So the nap pod keep employee ’ ability to stop work and sleep , rather than the idea that “ employees are slave , ” he said .
“ We be in a mankind where you do n’t always get perfect sleep . As much as you prioritize it , sometimes you get a spoilt nighttime , ” Wang said . “ If people are tired , they should be able to take a nap . Sleep is basic for productivity . ”
But he also admits that , in his view as a founder , startup life story requires an all - in commitment .
“ Startup life is not for everyone . My Centennial State - founder and I go to Harvard and experienced , like , really , really tough grueling semesters , ” he said . “ But this is something on another level , you roll in the hay ? This inauguration matter is , like , way harder than I ever anticipated . ”
The company isa Y Combinatorgraduatethat trains large spoken communication poser to perform search functions when they need to get at sources of datum , or the cyberspace . Wang enounce Exa ’s oblation is being used by about 100 pay customers , and tens of grand of developers , range from other AI startups to researchers and AI labs .
employee at Exa Labs are “ well paid ” Wang said , and have equity . So the fellowship ’s attitude is , “ if you ’re not in , you ’re out , ” he suppose . “ perchance at some startups , it ’s fine for the company to not be your main priority in life , but like , definitely not at a high - ontogeny one . ”
That translate into long minute and , if not hold up at the office , then at least catch a wink there . As the locution goes , “ Code , eternal sleep , repeat . ”
As someone who has covered the ups and down of startups for many years , I can definitively say that there fare a clock time in a growing society ’s lifewhen such hustle culture has to be toned down , or what the company is really doing is poor labor and employee management .
The clip for reasonable work hour anticipation should come when hiring has grown beyond the power to dish out handsome former - employee equity , or at a size where more employment laws practice . Or simply when the team begin adding people who have home andwant to go home to them every night .
As for clear sheets in Exa ’s nap pods , that wo n’t be a problem , Wang says . “ We had a toga party to lionize a rebrand and we buy 30 - 40 sheets . We have plenty of sheets . ”
