“Adult hours” and how we work at Kinde

At Kinde, we don’t track time. We don’t care when you log in, or whether you’re working during “normal” business hours. We care what you ship, and how it helps the customer.

We call it adult hours.

It’s simple. We hire smart, thoughtful people and trust them to manage their own time. If someone wants to take a walk in the middle of the day, hit the gym before lunch, or pick their kids up from school, we’re all for it. Life doesn’t wait until after 5pm.

It’s not just about flexibility. It’s about creating the kind of space where people can consistently do their life’s best work.

“Adult hours” wasn’t part of some grand manifesto. It came from a place of exhaustion. After years of working in (or observing) environments where output was judged by how online you looked, how many meetings you attended, or how fast you replied on Slack.

We didn’t want that for our team (or ourselves).

We’re a startup, but we don’t operate in survival mode. We wanted to build a company that moves fast, but also lasts.

So we started asking, what kind of rhythm lets people do consistently great work? And what kind of culture makes that possible?

Here’s what a typical day looks like for me.

This is my power hour. It’s the first win of the day before anything else starts, no meetings, no noise. I’m 42 now and not chasing a Brad Pitt body, but staying in shape keeps my mind sharp. It gives me a sense of momentum that carries into everything else.

This goes against the usual advice to protect mornings for deep work, but it works for me. I’ve found that once I hit flow on a project, I don’t want to stop. So I front-load the distractions, alignments, quick decisions, unblocking the team, and protect the back half of the day for deeper work.

This is usually a mix of lunch, a walk, maybe some life admin. Sometimes I just sit in the sun for 10 minutes. It breaks up the day and helps me reset before diving into anything creative or technical.

This is when I build, code, design, write and think. I try to keep this block uninterrupted and avoid context switching. If I’m in a good groove, this is where the real progress happens.

I have three kids, and time with them is non-negotiable. They wrap up school pretty early (around 2.45pm). We might hit the beach (I live in Byron Bay), play outside, or just hang out. It’s a reset that reminds me why I care about building a sustainable company in the first place.

Often I’ll log back in once the house is quiet. No pressure, just space to tinker. It’s often when ideas click into place or loose ends get tied up. But if I’m spent, I don’t push it. Rest is part of the rhythm too.

It’s not rigid. It’s designed to protect focus, reduce context switching, and make space for both work and life.

Adult hours work because they’re grounded in a few things we believe deeply:

• Do your life’s best work → protect time and focus like they matter (because they do)
• Human kindness, gentle manners → trust people to work the way they work best
• Stay foolish → question the defaults; do what works, not what’s expected

We’re a startup, yes. But we’re not interested in burning out to prove it.

Speed matters. But so does sticking around long enough to finish what you started.

If you’re a founder thinking about how to structure your own company—steal this, remix it, or reach out. We’re always up for a conversation.