52 pitches in 52 minutes. All below 40 degrees. I've sat through thousands of pitches over 40 years inside conference rooms, coffee shops, Zoom calls, and pretty much any venue you could think of. The ones that stick out are the ones where a founder is so convicted they'll pitch through anything. So… I took 52 pitches in 52 minutes sitting in an ice bath at below 40 degrees. What I was watching for was the founder. How do they carry themselves when conditions are uncomfortable? When the circumstances aren't ideal and the room (or in this case, the water) is working against them? Pitching through stress is practice for everything that comes after. For the moments, where inevitably, everything is harder than they thought it would be. Great founders push through it all to find success, and that's why founders are heroes. I'm not a frequent cold plunger, but it was a fun experience! Next time, we need the Guinness Book of World Records there. Have an idea you want me to hear? Meet me in the ice bath. 🧊 Thanks to Business Insider for covering:

$6.52 DIESEL SQUEEZES U.S. FISHING FLEETS U.S. diesel prices have climbed to $6.529 per gallon, marking an 11th consecutive weekly increase and hammering fishing-industry margins. Fishermen from Cape Cod to Alabama are cutting activity as fuel costs surge, while weak seafood demand limits their ability to recover costs through higher prices. With distillate inventories historically tight, elevated diesel prices could keep pressure on fishing fleets well into 2027.

BREAKING: 52,007 bankruptcy cases were filed in the U.S. in August. That’s an 8% increase from a year earlier. Individuals accounted for 49,377 of those filings, up 9%. Small-business Subchapter V filings, a specific route through Chapter 11, rose 63% to 302. Those business cases offer eligible owners a chance to restructure and keep operating. I keep numbers like these in mind when someone says a rising stock market means everyone is doing well.