Thread by @ryantakesoff

The biggest lesson I’ve learned in building a $4B company:

It’s all about the people.

I’m thrilled to announce today that Bolt is the first tech unicorn to officially shift to a 4 day work week.

Here’s why we did it and how we came to the decision 👇👇👇

@naval has a philosophy on work that describes it best -

Work like a lion, not a cow.

What does that mean?

Cows graze all day - slow pace, same activity, day in and day out.

This is how most jobs are set up.

But what if we worked like lions?

Short bursts of energy, high intensity and then rest and recover for the next sprint.

High performance isn’t about how much you put in; it’s how much you get out.

Cue: the 4 day work week.

At Bolt, we fundamentally believe that we can get MORE work done at a HIGHER quality in a 4 day week.

Here were the 5 main principles that guided our decision:

Principle #1: Increased Balance Leads to Increased Output

The biggest problem with remote work wasn’t people working less.

It was people working WAY too much.

We flipped the script.

Why? Because when your team is healthy, your organization is healthy.

Principle #2: Clear Minds Lead to Better Decisions

A company is nothing more than a sum of its parts.

The bigger you get, the more parts you have.

When you have more parts, it becomes even more important to take care of each part.

Let’s take a puzzle as an example.

Think about a puzzle with 1000 pieces and each piece has a tiny chip.

Doesn’t look like a big deal, until you put the whole thing together - it’s a disaster.

Each teammate has to be taken care of so they can play their part in the bigger mission.

Principle #3: Increase the Intensity

Just like a clear mind leads to better decisions, so does a focused mind.

With a four day work week, we can feel confident going ALL IN on those four days.

We can truly give it our all.

It’s so energizing to work when everyone is all-in.

When making this decision, we asked ourselves a simple question:

What if we made every week like our annual Bolt Lightning Week?

This is our highest functioning week out of the year.

The team got *chills* thinking about what we could accomplish.

Principle #4: Tired Kills Creativity

Think about what happens when you’re tired.

Most people say: “your standards go down.”

True, but I think something more dangerous happens: you look for the path of least resistance.

Creativity is a linchpin of what has allowed us to grow 18x in 18 months.

It’s an internal force multiplier.

The 4 day work week allows us to keep that coefficient high.

Principle #5: Interesting People Make a Stronger Team

A 5 day work week barely allows enough time to take care of the necessities.

An extra day gives our team more time for their interests.

These experiences and perspectives will flow through the collective Bolt heartbeat.

I believe a 4 day work week isn’t an “if” for most companies, it’s a “when.”

In true Bolt spirit, we didn’t wait around to follow others - we put our money where our mouth is.

I’m honored to lead the company this way and can’t wait to share the results along the way.

To learn more about Bolt’s Conscious Culture, follow @consciousorg.

If you enjoyed this tweet, give me a follow @ryantakesoff.

I tweet about lessons learned fundraising, building and operating a $4B+ business.

Let’s take off together!

A Conscious Culture is all about keeping standards of execution high, while still putting the team’s health and well-being first.

Now the hard work begins. Successfully scaling with a 4 day work week.

I’m confident we can do it.
fastcompany.com/90678612/this-…