Talk B17 x Forbes — Entrepreneur… and then what? Life After the Exit with David Determe & Christine Hansen.
What happens after the sale of a company?
Once the adrenaline fades, responsibilities are handed over, the spotlight moves on and the numbers are closed, a rarely discussed phase begins: reconstruction. This is precisely the focus of this Talk B17 x Forbes, dedicated to life after the Exit, through the lived experience of two entrepreneurs who have built, scaled and sold their companies — and then reinvented their lives.
True to the DNA of Talk B17 x Forbes, the format is deliberately interactive and unfiltered. Far from static keynotes, the session will foster an open and direct exchange between the speakers, B17 members and Forbes Luxembourg readers, gathered at Tero House 17.
The discussion will be moderated by Pierre-Yves Lanneau Saint Léger, CEO of Forbes Luxembourg, ensuring a dynamic, demanding and reality-based conversation.
Agenda:
6.00pm – 6.30pm: Welcome drink at the opening
6.30pm – 7.30pm: Conference
7.30pm – 8.30pm: Networking cocktail to continue the discussions
An essential rendezvous for those preparing for an Exit, going through one, or seeking to anticipate what comes next.
David Determe
Entrepreneur and former executive, David Determe co-founded an engineering company in Luxembourg, which he grew from 2 to 100 employees, before leading its merger into an international organisation of 700 people, and ultimately selling it to a listed group with 22,000 employees. Growth, leadership, difficult decisions, mistakes and the loneliness of the CEO role — he has experienced these realities first-hand. In 2024, he chose to focus all his energy on a human-centred project and founded pairtopair, a peer-to-peer mentoring initiative.
The objective is clear: enable the professional world to benefit from the experience of others, within a structured and confidential framework. Today, more than 40 executives and managers from all sectors are involved as volunteer mentors, with a strong commitment to sharing their trials and errors — openly and without filters.
The promise of pairtopair: enabling everyone to become an enhanced version of themselves, within a non-profit project that reinvests 100% of its resources into social-impact initiatives.
Christine Hansen
Christine Hansen is a Luxembourg-based entrepreneur and founder of Sleep Like a Boss, which emerged from an earlier sleep-focused venture (Sleep Like a Baby) and was launched in the mid-2010s. She subsequently structured and scaled the model — notably through an international team/franchise approach — before selling the business (Exit) and moving on to new ventures and activities in entrepreneurial advisory and mentoring.
