A US startup offered high-tech sleep aids for everyone. Of course with a clear goal in mind and that’s not just slumber.
How much would you spend to help your employees get a good night’s sleep? Last year, the CEO of the AI startup Factory took an unusual talent management measure: He bought everyone expensive mattresses.
Factory has grown rapidly since its founding in 2023. The young company now employs 120 people and raised $150 million in funding in April from Khosla Ventures, Sequoia Capital and Blackstone.
Spent $90,000 on mattresses
CEO Matan Grinberg told Harry Stebbings on the “20VC” podcast that he gave each employee an “Eight Sleep” mattress cover worth $3,000 (around €2,600) when the startup still had 30 employees. “The decadence of startups, right?” he says.
Eight Sleep mattress covers use an internal liquid to cool or warm the bed. The system can also be split in the middle of the bed so that different partners can set different bed temperatures. Newer models have a height adjustment function for raising and lowering.
Sleep for high performers
In an interview with Business Insider, Grinberg compared his employees to professional athletes. Like NBA players, his engineers also need rest, he said. “I want to make sure that everyone is really getting the most out of their mental capacity,” he said. “You need good sleep for that.”
Grinberg said he also limits consumption of refined sugar in the office because he fears it affects concentration. Instead, he invests in better, more expensive snacks like protein chips and canned matcha.
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Bouncy castles not allowed
He’s not trying to be like Google in the 2010s. Grinberg spoke out against the mentality that offered “everyone a bouncy castle.” (Those days are long gone, as Big Tech companies are scaling back their generous perks.) These benefits have “nothing to do with work,” he said.
But Grinberg is also not a fan of what he observes from his competitors: “Grindslop” – that is, bragging about how hard you work and praising your 996 work schedule. “We don’t run a daycare center,” he said. “I don’t have to dictate specific working hours.”
The expensive mattress covers, he said, were the right kind of perk. He hasn’t given the Eight Sleep products to Factory’s new employees yet, but is considering making them “standard equipment” – or at least offering a comparable health benefit.
Although they typically lack the financial resources of established tech giants, startups have long relied on extravagant benefits to attract talent or increase employee productivity.
Nathaneo Johnson, CEO of Series, told Business Insider that he hired a private chef – and that it was more beneficial than a chief of staff.
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Other CEOs have also made sleep a priority. The CEO of wearables company Whoop said in 2024 that he was giving an extra $100 a month to employees whose “average sleep performance is 85 percent or higher.”
Big Brother has to stay outside
In the post-pandemic wellness boom, many have made better sleep a priority. Consumers purchase mouth tape and Oura rings to ensure they receive the best possible recovery. There is a term for this on the internet: “Sleepmaxxing”.
Grinberg didn’t know exactly how much more productive Eight Sleep products made Factory’s employees. He knew they liked them – and that he didn’t want to be “too much like Big Brother.”
“We joke in the office: Imagine if there was a metric: ‘Billy didn’t sleep well, so don’t trust his code today,'” Grinberg said. “We haven’t gone that far yet.” Nevertheless, he was convinced that good sleep is linked to good work.
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“They will be better,” he said of his employees on the podcast. “You’ll be clearer-headed. You’ll be sharper.”
