One million French people launched their business in 2023. The figure is enough for M6 to justify the launch of a fourth season of “Who wants to be my partner? “. Even though almost half of them will go bankrupt within five years, 500,000 will prosper. And among them, around twenty will owe it to the game show. Deciphering a success with 2 million viewers (per episode, on average, for season 3), which is starting to give a better image of entrepreneurship.
For those who are not familiar with it, the game brings together start-ups in search of liquidity and potential investors with telegenic personalities: Marc Simoncini, founder of the Meetic dating site, today at the head of Angell Bike ; Eric Larchevêque, co-founder of Ledger, leader in secure cryptocurrency wallets; Jean-Pierre Nadir, founder of the e-tourism site FairMoove; Anthony Bourbon, boss of Feed, which markets replacement meals, particularly in collective catering.
The buzz comes from one of the three newcomers, the basketball star Tony Parker, alongside the two businesswomen: Kelly Massol, creator of Les Secrets de Loly cosmetics, and Stéphanie Delestre, of QAPA, a platform for temporary recruitment.
Humor and charisma
The producer, Arthur, must not regret his choice. Whether during the presentation, on November 27, 2023, or during the first episodes viewed, the former leader of the French basketball team then the San Antonio Spurs (four times NBA champion) impresses with his comeback , his charisma, his professionalism – he actually demanded to be in all the episodes. Add to that his humor, ambition, self-deprecation and his casting talents.
Facing the group of potential partners, the first to “pitch” is Olivier Rousseau, from Flycup, inventor of packaging specific to concerts or sporting events. Followed by Théo Heude and Jérémy Boué, creators of Hydratis, a French brand which offers lozenges and perfumes enriched with mineral salts and trace elements.
To avoid monotony, interludes summarize the success stories of Tony Parker and Kelly Massol. Before continuing with the candidates. Mehdi Bouzghaia, the exuberant founder of the Barbier de Marseille, precedes Fabio Coupas, a young landscaper, and Benjamin Bir, one of the founders of the start-up Inga, which sells sponges and washable paper towels, in short, which reinvents the tea towel.
You also have to get used to the vocabulary: cash pooling (cash management between holding company and subsidiaries), workshop (collaborative workshop), mindset (state of mind)… But the show, with the seats and the emotional sequences, should not not forget that investors take real risks. Without having had access to the files beforehand, they have little time to decide whether or not to commit their own money – this was the case for nineteen projects out of the forty-two presented in season 3. This is the price to pay to make the show credible.