996 IS NOT YOUR COMPETITION

Summary from the TLDR Founders newsletter

The 996 crowd posts their suffering like medals, screenshotting their commits and counting their hours - they're performing intensity to avoid asking if they even care. You can't beat someone who thinks they're playing. When you genuinely love what you're building, hours disappear, and you're not counting because you're playing. Your 0.1% equity is probably worthless, and the expected value is less than staying at Google, but the math was never the point - the joy is. Intensity without belief just leads to burnout, that weight you feel every Sunday night.