A Full Ironman of Attention

5hrs of sleep, 100 pitches, 35°C, 2 Red Bulls and an unforgettable cookie

It all started the night before. After a five-hour drive, we got to Toulouse around 9:30 p.m. and went straight to L’Entrecôte for dinner. The kind of deeply satisfying meal that feels like carb-loading before a competition, except it wasn’t carbs, just perfectly cooked steak and a mountain of fries. A little treat before the storm.

Then we checked in at the hotel. The room I had booked felt like a mix between a sauna and a preheated oven. The AC was dead. We came back down, gave up, and switched hotels.

At the second place, déjà vu… the AC had broken in part of the building. The guy at the front desk handed us six room keys and said, “Some still work — go see.”

So we played hotel roulette, testing room after room, until we found one that was functional. That night, I managed to sleep about 5 hours.

I woke up groggy, like when you’ve got a 6 a.m. flight and spend the night half-asleep, half-checking the time every 20 minutes.

At 9:00 a.m., the first pitch began.
Then the second.
Then ninety-eight more.

100 entrepreneurs.
5 minutes each.

No breaks.
No air conditioning.
No excuses.

By 11 in the morning, it was already 35°C (that’s 95°F for my American friends), and we were all glistening with ambition and actual sweat.

I had one big bottle of water, two Red Bulls, and a single goal:

Be just as focused for the 100th pitch as I was for the first.

Because these weren’t just pitches.

People had traveled from across France, Belgium, even Spain, all for those 5 minutes. And a few days earlier, I’d seen someone post online: Why are you wasting time pitching to Jean? You should be talking to your customers.

So yeah, I felt the pressure.

If they were going to spend their day with me, I had to show up for real.

Not to impress.
But to listen.
To help.
To be fully present.

And it was amazing.

– A startup building drone detection tech for mobile defense teams.

– Another making autonomous robots for intralogistic, ridiculously efficient and beautifully engineered.

– A synthesizer used by Hans Zimmer and Jean-Michel Jarre, with the soul of a Stradivarius and the design of a spaceship.

– And a world champion beatboxer who not only performed live (mind-blowing), but explained how he’s helping kids with dyslexia using rhythm and sound.

And 96 others…

Founders working on health, education, mental wellness, nutrition, reintegration, childcare. People solving real problems with heart and humility.

You could feel it.
No posturing.
Just clarity and fire.

At the very end of this 10-hour pitch marathon, just when I thought my brain was about to melt, Natacha walked in like an angel of mercy, holding a box of DeVilmar cookies.

Now, these aren’t just cookies. They’re handcrafted in Toulouse, and they look like gourmet Oreos, but when you bite into them, it’s pure indulgence. Sweet, unapologetic, kind of sinful, the kind of treat that says, you’ve earned this.

And the timing? Perfect. It felt like getting a trophy after a long, strange Ironman of attention. One bite in, and suddenly, the exhaustion turned into something softer like, maybe this whole thing was worth it.

That cookie brought me back to life.
I gave everything.
Energy.
Attention.
Feedback.
Presence.

And in return, I got 100 stories.
100 sparks of belief.
100 reasons to keep showing up for this.

Thank you to every single entrepreneur who pitched.
Thank you for your clarity, your courage, your conviction.
Thank you to La Mashine for creating the kind of day that matters.

Who’s in for next time ? :)