\u201cBasically I work in marathons and sprints,\u201d Germanavicius said, describing something far beyond the typical \u201c996\u201d workload of 9am to 9pm, six days a week. For Germanavicius, it\u2019s more like two months on and two weeks off. \u201cTwo months I work, 24-7, seven days a week, then two weeks off. This two weeks off doesn\u2019t mean that I\u2019m fully offline, but I try to relax and put a lower gear.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old is proud that his current business, InRento, is on course for its third profitable year. And even though his first business, an artificial intelligence (AI) startup named WellParko, did not work out, he\u2019s proud that one of his investors made a profitable exit, and that they both backed his current venture. \u201cActually, last month, I bought out two of their funds, so they made a serious profit, because we are at this stage that we are growing profitably.\u201d But Germanavicius was quick to add that he doesn\u2019t exactly enjoy being his own boss.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s much more stressful, to be honest,\u201d the strong-jawed, long-haired Lithuanian tells Fortune<\/em>, \u201cbecause you have all this pressure, you know? Like, what if I\u2019m wrong? What if my assumptions are wrong? What if my decisions are wrong?\u201d Germanavicius said he doesn\u2019t like \u201cthis whole concept of like having no boss is easier.\u201d When he started WellParko at 18 years old, he added, \u201cI wasn\u2019t ready. So I had to go through all the pains, go through all this pressure.\u201d Now that he\u2019s managing a \u20ac50 million portfolio<\/a>, \u201cthis pressure is insane,\u201d and he\u2019s learned the hard way how to manage. \u201cIt\u2019s not about being free to be your own boss. It\u2019s about serving the customer to get a good business off the ground. Like, it\u2019s not stress-free to be your own boss.\u201d<\/p>\n When Fortune<\/em> offered that his work sounds like the old expression \u201cno pain, no gain,\u201d Germanavicius grinned and offered an anecdote from deep in Shaolin, China. After WellParko exited, he said, \u201cthe first thing I did, I booked the ticket to China and I went to train with the Shaolin monks.\u201d<\/p>\n Germanavicius waved away suggestions that this was some kind of homage to Wu-Tang Clan, the Staten Island rap group obsessed with the concept of Shaolin from old 1970s kung fu movies. \u201cNo, no, no, no,\u201d he said, \u201cfor me, mastery is one of the key values in life.\u201d He said that despite the monks speaking no English and communication being limited, he learned two mantras from his Shaolin master: \u201cHe always said two things: \u2018No pain, no gain,\u2019 and \u2018practice makes tired.\u2019 Not perfect, but practice makes tired, no pain, no gain.\u201d<\/p>\n Germanavicius called himself a \u201ccontrarian\u201d who was always entrepreneurial, recalling that he launched a bicycle buying-and-trading business as a middle schooler. (He loves Ironman because of his lifetime love of cycling, he added.) He was an entrepreneur before he was a college student, and he only went to university (the prestigious ESADE<\/a>) for a few months before deciding that it was a waste of time, \u201cdelaying\u201d the start of more meaningful things. \u201cThe opportunity cost was too high and I was feeling like I\u2019m underperforming in life.\u201d<\/p>\n The founder told Fortune<\/em> that he had a pivotal conversation with his mother when he decided to drop out. \u201cI wasn\u2019t confident at first, because at first, of course, it was like a great university and great opportunity, and I had a scholarship.\u201d He said he always remembers what she told him: \u201cListen, it\u2019s your life. You live it how you want, because you will have to live it. Not me, not not anybody else, just do what you want.’\u201d Germanavicius said this was the \u201ctrigger\u201d for his decision. He also disclosed that his father died when Germanavicius was young (almost precisely the time he started selling bicycles). \u201cIt was hard, but at the same time, I think it got me to this understanding that no one\u2019s going to take care of you, you know, and you have to take your own actions, and you have to take the responsibility for them.\u201d<\/p>\n A crowdfunding platform that allocates capital to real-estate projects, InRento is active in markets beyond Eastern Europe. They are active in six markets including Poland, Italy, Spain, and Ireland. \u201cWe take all the edges of Europe,\u201d he told Fortune<\/em> jokingly. \u201cI feel like we go to the markets where financing is inefficient,\u201d full of bankable projects and clients, who can\u2019t get traditional bank financing. This doesn\u2019t mean they are sketchy, he said, explaining there are many family owned companies, often in hospitality, which need to raise a few million euros, but most banks in the market uninterested in loans smaller than \u20ac10 million. For example, he showed Fortune<\/em> plans for a former Harry Potter-themed tourist attraction in Poland that needed renovation.<\/p>\n Germanavicius added that InRento is fully regulated and supervised by the Central Bank of Lithuania, with a license issued by the European Central Bank. He said they are fully audited, do annual reporting, and comply with all the applicable laws and regulations of financial institutions in the countries where they operate. \u201cWe also publish audited accounts and audits publicly to our clients,\u201d he said, \u201ctransparency helps to support reputation and our reputation is our biggest asset.\u201d<\/p>\n Fortune<\/em> spoke to Bernardas Preik\u0161aitis, InRento\u2019s Chief Operating Officer, to get a feel for what it\u2019s like to work for this beyond-996 founder. Preik\u0161aitis credited Germanavicius with giving him instant trust and the space to grow, training him beyond legal counsel into a business-oriented leader, and offering swift upward mobility rather than locking him into a narrow role. According to Preik\u0161aitis, Germanavicius asserts high expectations with a direct, almost intimidating manner but balances this intensity with tremendous trust in his team.<\/p>\n Despite perceptions that employees may be afraid of Germanavicius due to his high standards, Preik\u0161aitis affirmed that those who stay are deeply motivated by this environment of trust and responsibility. In practice, the leadership style avoids micromanagement, largely reducing communications to updates and priorities. Preik\u0161aitis noted, \u201cEveryone knows what to do. There is no box-checking, no need to report back constantly. It\u2019s about prioritization and getting things done\u2014deals and investor safety above all.\u201d\u200b<\/p>\n He described this as an odd tension between trust and distrust. \u201cFrom day one, he basically gave a lot of trust to me,\u201d but at the same time, Germanavicius always stresses an edgy kind of work persona, almost a paranoia. \u201cHe always tells me, \u2018You know, never trust no one.’\u201d Thinking it over, Preik\u0161aitis described the approach as: \u201cI trust no one, but I give 100% trust in you and what you are doing, and I believe in you, and I will enable you at any cost.\u201d<\/p>\n Germanavicius told Fortune<\/em> he was \u201cstill learning,\u201d and after all, he has never had a boss himself. \u201cI still think I\u2019m not very a good manager, to be honest.\u201d He said when he first began working, he assumed others would be wired like himself, but he encountered a more standard mentality. \u201cWhat I realized was that people from these very deep corporate backgrounds, when you give them all this freedom \u2026 for a lot of people, it was weird.\u201d He said his workers \u201ccouldn\u2019t comprehend\u201d an environment without traditional hours where key performance indicators (KPIs) were the only thing that mattered.<\/p>\n At InRento, he said he tends to hire \u201cself-starting\u201d people. \u201cThey don\u2019t really care about hours. The whole company culture that we build is that we don\u2019t limit holidays. Like, if someone wants to take holidays, they can take as much as we as they want. And basically there are no work hours.\u201d He said he trusts his team to set their own schedules, be responsible for their own work. \u201cIt\u2019s very KPI-driven. We are a financial institution where everything can be measured, and all the performance can can be driven to numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n The description of going beyond 996 is familiar to startup founders across the world. Day One Ventures founder\u00a0Masha\u00a0Bucher<\/u><\/a>, an early backer of 11 unicorns and over 30 exits, told Fortune<\/em> that the Silicon Valley culture is nonstop. \u201cPeople I know, close to me, work seven days a week, from 6:00 or 7:00 am with a break for sports until like midnight or 1:00 or 2:00 am.\u201d She said 996 is a catchy phrase, but isn\u2019t representative of what she sees at all because it far undersells the situation. Like Germanavicius, Bucher said she\u2019s always had that work ethic herself, since age 14. She said it\u2019s \u201cflexible,\u201d but \u201cI don\u2019t remember when I was on vacation and what vacation is. I think when you do something you love, you don\u2019t feel like you need vacation.\u201d<\/p>\n Bucher also said that she views hard work \u201clike a talent\u201d and that not all smart people have it. \u201cOne of the saddest things in life is that some of the most intelligent people in the world that I know of, they just don\u2019t work hard, right?\u201d She also insisted that the Silicon Valley community is taking care of itself and working sustainably, despite the long hours. The founders she sees \u201care not unhealthy,\u201d she said. \u201cIn fact, they\u2019re healthier than many more people that don\u2019t live like this.\u201d She said people need enough sleep, some kind of exercise of sports routine, but not necessarily vacation.<\/p>\n There is another word for what Germanavicius and Bucher are describing: \u201cmicroshifting<\/a>.\u201d A permanent shift to the workday created by remote work\u2014workers dividing their days into many small, flexible blocks\u2014is becoming the norm for younger generations in the workplace, often befuddling people from more traditional corporate backgrounds. Priya Rathod<\/a>, Indeed Workplace Trends Editor, told Fortune<\/em> that the biggest risk with microshifting is \u201cblurred boundaries,\u201d and \u201cif you don\u2019t create a structure around this, some workers feel like they\u2019re always on.\u201d<\/p>\n Rathod said there was a special need to \u201cprotect personal time\u201d with this shift in the workday. \u201cIn the work world we\u2019re living in, we\u2019re working across time zones, which means you may be taking calls and not just in that 9 to 5 time period. So if you\u2019re doing that, you need to protect other time.\u201d She described microshifting as \u201ckind of a partnership between the employee and their team and their manager to make sure that they aren\u2019t doing this to the point of burnout.\u201d<\/p>\n Germanavicius is one of the managers adopting an entirely new kind of management style for the world of microshifting\/always on\/996-adjacent schedules. He told Fortune<\/em> that he encourages people to take vacation and \u201cdon\u2019t experience the burnout, because it\u2019s very hard to recover.\u201d He also said he takes care to set up people who can support him, because \u201cthe company must not be dependent on me. If it\u2019s dependent on me, then it means I\u2019m doing a craftsmanship, not a business. The business needs to work for you, you shouldn\u2019t work for the business.\u201d There is a price to pay for the microshifting world, though: availability and adaptability.<\/p>\n \u201cJust to be perfectly clear,\u201d Germanavicius added, his eyes narrowing, when he takes his two weeks off after sprinting for two months, \u201cit doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m not working. It\u2019s just that, you know, I sleep in, maybe I have out-of-office on my email,\u201d but he\u2019s still monitoring. He said the business is cyclical, with \u201cpeak\u201d and \u201clow\u201d seasons. \u201cSo what I always ask from my team: Don\u2019t pretend that you\u2019re working. If you don\u2019t have, let\u2019s say, nothing meaningful to do. Go spend time with your family, but when we have a big fish, then we need all hands on deck, we need to be sprinting.\u201d He said that it\u2019s just like his Ironman training: \u201cIf I work, I work. If I do sports, I do sports \u2026 I would rather push myself to the maximum and then take some time off, and then push again.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo work-life balance\u201d is the reality Preik\u0161aitis sees at InRento\u2014not out of negative pressure, but from a shared sense of mission. Preik\u0161aitis credits Germanavicius as the model: \u201cYou either live with your work or there is just no balance.\u201d He said the results are in the KPIs: zero defaults and millions of dollars in deals. Preik\u0161aitis said he is inspired to work so hard from his parents\u2019 stories of living under Communism. \u201cMy father, he was a director at one of the tax authorities in Lithuania. He was earning basically 20% of what I\u2019m earning right now. And he was 45, 46 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, Preik\u0161aitis said the distribution of wealth is getting \u201cridiculous\u201d in Lithuania: \u201cthere\u2019s a huge separation between the middle class, upper class, and the lower class\u201d and it is very hard to live in Vilnius unless you\u2019re a member of the professional class. yeah. \u201cI think this is the tendency for the whole of Eastern Europe \u2026 if you want to make out a living, and you want to have at least a decent apartment, and I don\u2019t know, let yourself travel at least two times a year, you need to work your ass off.\u201d<\/p>\n Germanavicius claimed that he has gained some self-knowledge in his short but profitable, and intense-sounding career. \u201cI am not this kind of person that takes the easy choice, and in general in life I notice that the more pressure I have, it\u2019s easier for me to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Gustas Germanavicius has only been competing in Ironman events for 15 months, but he\u2019s already become the top-ranked athlete in his home country of Lithuania (a title he lost in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":734,"featured_media":6880,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[111,909,783,7968,902,3366,228,7969,7971,5310,7970,2325,1453],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Profitable Contrarian<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Shaolin-monastery-2019.jpeg?format=webp&w=1440&q=75\")
<\/figure>\nWhat he\u2019s like to work for<\/h2>\n
A shift into microshifting<\/h2>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Inrento-250707-SmallFile-31-3.jpg?format=webp&w=1440&q=75\")
<\/figure>\nNo pain, no gain<\/h2>\n