Today, Ott is the CEO of Taxfix, a Berlin-based tax app valued at more than $1 billion.
Despite spending years in the high-pressure world of technology, he says success does not mean being available for work every hour of the day.
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Ott believes that having a packed calendar does not necessarily mean you are being productive.
He told Fortune that professionals should think carefully about how they use the limited hours available to them.
Lucy Guo, cofounder of Scale AI, has previously described starting her day around 5:30 a.m. and continuing to work until midnight. He said the idea of being switched on 24/7 can eventually lead to exhaustion, and that leaders need to consider the impact their habits have on their teams as well. He usually starts his morning at around 5:30 a.m., reads before exercising and goes running. Ott may write emails or Slack messages early in the morning, but he often schedules them to be delivered when his colleagues begin their working day. (Also Read: Techie loses parents’ hard-earned middle-class savings to trading after colleague shows him Zerodha, ends up ₹ 38 lakh in debt ) He said this helps ensure that employees do not feel pressured to respond during their personal time, which he considers important for recovery.
His comments come at a time when some well-known technology leaders have spoken openly about demanding work schedules. Ott, however, does not believe that constantly working is sustainable. Ott has developed routines that help him create a clearer boundary between his work and personal time. He also tries to meditate and stay connected with his support network. His approach extends to how he communicates with his employees. Problems and periods of intense pressure are inevitable, but maintaining strong performance over the long term requires people to have enough time away from work. For Ott, the goal is not to work fewer hours simply for the sake of it. It is to be deliberate about where those hours are spent and to make sure constant work does not come at the expense of long-term performance.
Ask yourself, do you need to be in that meeting or not?” he said. Twilio CEO Khozema Shipchandler told Fortune that the only time he allows himself to completely switch off from work is for a limited period on Saturdays. “That 24/7 only works so long,” Ott said. Ott believes running a company should be treated as a marathon rather than a sprint, according to Fortune .
“Ask yourself, what is the real one thing you could do today to really have impact, make a difference?
