French startup founder Marc Lou has launched one of the most creative sponsorship experiments the indie hacker world has seen in years. On September 8, 2026, Lou announced on X that he is competing in his first HYROX race in Turkey on September 19, and instead of chasing sponsors through traditional channels, he is auctioning ad space directly on his own body. The setup is simple. Lou has opened ten spots corresponding to ten different muscles across his back, legs, and shorts. Each spot goes up for public auction on his site at hyrox.marclou.com. Bidding starts at $1,000, and every time a new bidder outbids the current one, the price doubles. So a $1,000 spot becomes $2,000, then $4,000, then $8,000, and so on. If your bid is topped, you are automatically refunded minus the Stripe processing fee. The winning sponsors for each spot get their logo printed as a temporary tattoo on Lou's body on race day, plus a listing on the auction site and featured mentions across his YouTube channel ...