Part 3 of 17 in Work-Life Balance for Indian Founders: A Practical Guide for the Indian Entrepreneurial Family← Part 2Part 4 →
Narayana Murthy’s call for a 70-hour work week, and subsequent endorsements or critiques from other Indian business leaders, have made long hours a contested patriotic virtue. Hirshberg would caution that the entrepreneur’s obsession is rarely shared by the spouse or children. The software founder who worked 60- to 70-hour weeks for years until his child asked “Daddy, why don’t you eat with us anymore?” is a story that plays out every evening in apartments across Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Pune. The belief that one is securing the family’s future can quietly erode the very relationships one claims to be protecting.
Yet Indian founders also demonstrate more sophisticated responses. Hardik Jagda, founder and CEO of Proximity Works, wakes between 3 and 5 am, protects the early hours for deep work without touching email, aims to wrap meetings by 2:30 pm, exercises, reserves later time for creative work, and targets a 9 pm bedtime. Inspired by Olympic athletes who pair rigorous training with recovery, he explicitly rejects Silicon Valley’s rigid 996 culture for his team even while working six days himself. Ankur Sharma of Rebel Foods speaks of “work-life assimilation” rather than balance. Amit Kumar Agarwal of NoBroker divides life into reading, family moments, and health, and prioritises meaningful conversations with his son.
Namita Thapar has spoken candidly about the absence of perfect balance: prioritising work draws resentment from family; prioritising family draws the accusation of working part-time. Ghazal Alagh has described pausing a strategy deck at 11 pm to become “Mom” for an impromptu bedtime story. These are not theoretical positions; they are daily negotiations.
The YourDOST founders’ decision to bring their toddler to the office is another distinctly Indian improvisation. In a culture where grandparents often live nearby or in the same house, the boundary between work and home is already porous. The challenge is to make that porosity intentional rather than chaotic. Bringing Rudra to the office reduced guilt and created a workable rhythm for both the company and the family.
Things to Talk About
- What does a non-negotiable family dinner or bedtime look like in our current schedule, and what would have to change to protect it for the next 90 days?
- Which of my long hours are truly high-leverage deep work, and which are simply the default of always being available on WhatsApp or email?
- How do we define success for the family in a way that is not solely measured by the company’s valuation or revenue?
Things to Do
- Use an AI calendar assistant to block “family focus” time as immovable appointments and to draft polite, professional decline templates for non-critical meetings that fall inside those blocks.
- For one month, track actual productive hours versus presence hours. Let AI summarise the data weekly and surface the top three time sinks that could be eliminated or delegated.
- Experiment with an early-morning deep-work block of 90–120 minutes before the household wakes, then protect the evening for family. Measure both company output and relationship quality.