To kick off the year, the Talk B17 X Forbes explored a particular moment in an entrepreneur’s life: the exit. Not as a trophy, but as a true turning point. A logical next step, sometimes uncomfortable, often unspoken, and far too rarely documented.
With a genuine desire to put people back at the centre during this Year 1 in numerology, the event set its tone without exaggeration. Alongside it came a clear intention to open the 2026 lecture cycle differently. Starting from failure, not as a fault or accident, but as an experience. One that teaches, grows, intellectually and emotionally. A necessary sideways step in the times we live in, giving the evening its depth and making it particularly distinctive.
“We talk a lot about success, very little about its cost. Even less about what happens afterwards,” said moderator and Forbes Luxembourg CEO Pierre-Yves Lanneau Saint Léger, setting the tone.
The Exit as a Point of Friction
From the start, a recurring idea emerged: that an exit acts as a revealer. All agreed on one point: the sale is meticulously prepared, rarely the aftermath. “We prepare the legal, the financial, the strategy. We never prepare the entrepreneur themselves,” David Determe, founder of Betic, an architectural company, explained.
The Decision: Desire, Not Rupture
Christine Hansen, founder of Sleep Like a Boss, recounts a simple journey. After a first project focused on babies’ sleep, she created Sleep Like a Boss, which she developed as a franchise in nine countries, working digitally and in English from the start. She sold her intellectual property to franchisees. The business thrived.
Her decision to exit was not driven by any particular difficulty. “It wasn’t that it was boring or repetitive. I simply enjoyed building the business more than working with insomniac clients.”
The observation is simple, but taking the step is not: “Am I choosing the easiest path? Is that reason enough to stop something I built with so much patience?”
Bold by nature, Christine identified one of her franchisees as the buyer. “I knew she would do a great job.” The structure was lean, without employees. The transfer revolved around the brand and intellectual property. “It was much simpler because it was small.”
Once the sale was signed, Christine quickly stepped back from operations. She remained available to answer a few questions, then withdrew. “At a certain point, it’s no longer what I would have done.”
Growing, Then Passing On
David Determe’s journey is on a larger scale. Co-founder of an engineering firm he grew from two to around a hundred employees, he thought early about succession, not for an immediate sale, but anticipating the risk of stagnation. “If we wanted to go faster, further, it wasn’t possible at our scale.”
The idea of an exit emerged when the company reached around forty employees, not as an end goal, but as a necessary step to continue developing a larger project. “I am someone who gives my all; I couldn’t betray the company by doing something else on the side.”
The first sale was exploratory. The second led to integration into a Belgian group, followed by a sale to a listed company. The process took a year. “It’s horrible. You run the company, negotiate the sale, find your place in the group, and you can’t talk to anyone. You feel dishonest,” he said with a level of honesty that prompted applause from the audience. “We’ve just ended the myth of the heartless entrepreneur,” joked Pierre-Yves.
The Deal, Fine… But What Next?
David Determe clearly distinguishes two phases. First, the deal. “When you see the money land in your account.” But very quickly, the aftermath catches up. “You close the door and realise professionally, you’re nobody. No title, no role, no team, no email.” For him, the shock was also physical. The day after signing, he ended up in the emergency room. “It wasn’t a burnout. It was overheating, the MRI images prove it.”
He likens the aftermath to a period of mourning, going through stages necessary to accept the exit. “For a year, you prepare the business. You prepare the administration. But you, you’re not prepared…”
After two successive exits and several years at the helm, he left the company definitively at the end of 2024. A period of rupture followed. “You leave the network. The first few months, it’s flattering; everyone calls. Then you have to decide what you do with all that.”
Passing On Differently
From this phase, a new project emerged. In 2024, David Determe created pairtopair, a mentoring initiative for executives. The goal is clear: share experience, unfiltered. “I’ve made mistakes. I have scars. Might as well make use of them,” he laughs.
The model is structured. Mentors volunteer. Mentees fund the mentoring. Profits are reinvested into socially impactful projects, supporting struggling executives, associations, and students. Today, around fifty mentors are involved.
Christine Hansen also supports entrepreneurs. She emphasises preparation beforehand: structuring processes, documenting activities, and not being indispensable. “If it’s all in your head, you can’t sell.”
Failure or Experience
The word “failure” comes up several times during the discussion. Christine Hansen rejects it. “I prefer to talk about experiences.” She stressed that what is often labelled as failure is logical at the moment the decision is made. David Determe agrees. “Entrepreneurship is trial and error.”
From the audience, one participant summed up what many felt: “The moment you no longer had to be loyal to your values, you left.”
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