Pitching billionaire VC Tim Draper can feel cold as ice

"“I took 52 pitches in 52 minutes at below 40 degrees,” Draper wrote on X on Wednesday. “Welcome to my office.” Draper also included a photo of the ice bath. Four people sat around the cold tub, looking directly at Draper. Floating chunks of ice surrounded them. In an email to Business Insider, Draper wrote that the pitch session took place at an “undisclosed location where we do Draper University survival.”"

"“Pitching in stressful situations allows entrepreneurs to relax when they need to,” he wrote. Draper is not a frequent cold plunger, “but I am apparently good at it,” he wrote. He took on the 52 pitches continuously, but wrote that things became “dicey” around the 40-minute mark. The VC hinted that some potential deals emerged from the ice bath pitches. “There are always a few that catch my imagination,” he wrote."

"Silicon Valley is on a health kick. Many in the industry have embraced lifting weights and injecting peptides while cutting out alcohol. Why be a scrawny nerd when Mark Zuckerberg got ripped? Their embrace of frigid conditions isn't new, though. Since at least the 2010s, tech executives looking to live longer and work harder were dunking themselves in ice baths. Cold plunges have some benefits. Shocking the senses with cold temperatures can relieve joint pain, reduce inflammation, increase energy, and decrease stress."

A venture capitalist known for backing major technology companies took a pitch session in an ice bath. He reported taking 52 pitches in 52 minutes at below 40 degrees, with the session held at an undisclosed location tied to founder training. The cold environment was framed as a way for entrepreneurs to handle stress and relax when needed. He noted that the process became dicey around the 40-minute mark and that a few pitches caught his imagination. The approach fits a broader Silicon Valley health trend that includes weightlifting, peptides, and avoiding alcohol. Ice baths are used for potential benefits such as reduced joint pain, lower inflammation, increased energy, and decreased stress, though long-term healthy aging effects remain uncertain.

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