The Gen Z founder said that most of his employees work 5 days at the office

In 2022, Wang quit because he wanted a work culture of in-person collaboration. He founded an AI startup in 2023 and told BI that most of his 14 employees come in five days a week.

He said telecommuting is bad for junior staff

While working at Plaid, Wang said she enjoyed the flexibility of managing her own time. But nine months into the pandemic, he was frustrated that he couldn’t connect with others in tech.

He told BI that as someone early in his tech career, he didn’t want to spend all his time on Zoom calls.

When he was allowed to return to the office in 2022, many of his colleagues were still working remotely. “Technology has never returned to a state where most companies have a five-day-a-week office culture,” he said.

Networking and developing new skills remotely takes longer than it would in an office. “Remote work benefits people who are more stable in their careers at the expense of those who are juniors,” he said. BI reported on more Gen Z employees feeling isolated and restricted by their remote work environment.

“If you’re a new grad and you start a job and you’re just working remotely, you’re just shooting yourself in the foot,” he said.

He said the pandemic’s work-life balance has gone too far

Wang told BI that he was pleased that the pandemic had sparked a rethinking of the role of work in people’s lives, but he felt that many of his fellow millennials and Generation Z had taken it too far.

He said telecommuting is a big part of why fewer people see work as a significant source of purpose, “I think that caring factor is really important and feeling a duty to what you’re working on. ” It’s hard to engage with a company’s mission and feel connected to co-workers when everything is on Zoom, he added.

While still working remotely for Plaid, Wang traveled to Hawaii for four months. He liked his lifestyle there, but said he didn’t prioritize work.

Wang said that people should not approach work as a checkbox, “It’s a bit sad to me that so many people treat work as if it’s something to get over,” he said.

“What better thing can you do for yourself and your own happiness and your own life than to find work that you enjoy,” he said.

He quit his job and built his own culture in the office

Wang told BI that he left his job in March 2022 because he wanted to work personally with colleagues.

“People started companies in their garages and slept on their couches and grew things from there,” he said.

He said he realized the only way to build a culture where he could get what he wanted day-to-day was to start his own company. “Otherwise, even to this day, you’re basically stuck working a weird remote job.”

He co-founded Exa, an AI search engine, in January 2023. From the start, the company had a close-knit culture that valued office work at its offices in SF’s Mission neighborhood.

“We are essentially an AI research lab,” he said. “There’s a lot to be gained from collaborating and brainstorming.”

Wang said he doesn’t force his employees to RTO five days a week and supports those who have a hybrid work model if they want to. But most of Exa’s 14 employees come into the office every day. He said they eat lunch and dinner together and regularly play soccer and other sports together at the nearby park.

“You should really love your colleagues,” he added.

Wang said that half of the office lived together in a hacker house and were good friends. “We’re all enjoying it,” he said. “We’re really cool at lunch. Everyone’s having fun and having very dynamic conversations.”

They regularly network with other AI startups headquartered nearby, including OpenAI, he said.

He said Amazon’s 5-day mandate makes sense

Wang said he believes Amazon’s mandate to require its corporate employees to come to the office five days a week is the right decision for most teams working at Amazon.

He acknowledged that some teams could work better in a remote environment.But I think probably for most of the teams out there at Amazon, I bet it’s the right decision. I think you need someone to be tough on that decision.”

“More companies need to do things like what Amazon is doing because frankly, most people who work remotely in tech aren’t really, they’re mostly relaxing,” he added.

He said BI startups like Exa benefit from desk work because they have to respond to rapidly changing priorities and decisions. “We could have decided something in the morning and then in the afternoon it would change,” he said.

The Gen Z founder said the debate over RTO mandates was surprising. He told BI: “Four or five years ago, this was the norm,” adding: “Why do we think remote work is normal?” Sitting in your bedroom on Zoom for 30 hours a week is not normal, he said.