Key facts
- Three young AI startup founders shared their sleep schedules over a four-day period.
- Lance Yan, founder of Traverse, averaged between 5 and 6 hours of sleep per night.
- Kavitta Ghai, cofounder of Nectir, adhered to strict sleep rules, aiming for 7 hours.
- Boris Skurikhin, cofounder of Docket, did not cut down on sleep, averaging over 7 hours.
- The study highlights differing sleep cultures within the Silicon Valley startup scene.
A four-day study tracked the sleep habits of three young founders in the AI startup space, revealing contrasting approaches to rest and work. Lance Yan, 19, founder of Traverse, admitted to often getting only 5 to 6 hours of sleep, sometimes as little as 3 hours, and described his Y Combinator days as waking up in darkness and sleeping when it was sunny. He acknowledged the need for balance but stated he hadn't found it.
Kavitta Ghai, 29, cofounder of the ed-tech startup Nectir, maintains firm sleeping rules, never pulling an all-nighter and ensuring she gets 7 hours of sleep. She uses a sleep mask, takes magnesium, and monitors her sleep with a Whoop band, aiming to fall asleep in under 3 minutes. Ghai's sleep diary showed nightly durations ranging from 7 hours and 7 minutes to over 8 hours.
Boris Skurikhin, 26, cofounder of the AI startup Docket, is not a 'grindmaxxer' and prioritizes sleep, describing such individuals as 'hospitalmaxxer' due to unhealthy habits. He typically gets in bed around midnight and sleeps for over 7 hours, with his longest recorded sleep being 8 hours and 40 minutes. His sleep diary entries showed durations between 7 and 8.5 hours.
The study highlights two competing sleep cultures in Silicon Valley: biohackers advocating for optimized performance through rest, and 'hustlers' who believe founders should work through the night.