The Best One Yet - 🤑 “$2 to Hire Me” — Venmo’s resumés. Raising Cane’s secret sauce. Google’s MJ moment. +Bitcoin Home Heaters.

Episode Date: November 19, 2025

Venmoing your future boss to get a job… that’s the wild new Hiring Hack.Google is the only stock up this week… Because Gemini is having its Michael Jordan Moment.Raising Cane’s secret sauce (literally) is kept in a vault… And it’s protected like a CIA secret.Plus, heat your home with Bitcoin?... Bitcoin Mining Machines are the new fireplace.$PYPL $GOOG $BTCNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, SaVice Wednesday. November 19th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-voy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Check your bags, baby, because Jack and I are flying to New York City for a Jim Kramer interview.

For Jim Kramer, I'll fly in and fly out of New York the same day, Nick. Bessie's the biggest brand in Wall Street TV. We are sitting down and interviewing Jim Kramer tomorrow. The guy's a legend. He hosts like two shows and sets. and newsletter every day. I think it's 200 shows a day, Jack. If you have a question you want Nick and me to ask Jim, drop it today in the comments or DMS. Yep, Jack and I will roll up our sleeves and we will ask him, Jack, he's going to love our Cheching button. I think he'll love it. Oh, are we bringing that?

Oh, I'm bringing it. So, Jack, three stories for today's pod. What do we got on the team? Boy? For our first story, while the rest of the stock market sinks this week, Google just jumped to an all-time high. Chad GPT was Google's Pearl Harbor moment. Gemini, Three is its battle of the bulge. For our second story, it's raising canes. The fastest growing chicken chain in America, it's all thanks to their secret sauce. No, literally, their sauce is a secret. So Jack and I will tell you why they don't patent it instead.

And our third and final story is a wild new job hunting hack. Send a Venmo to your future boss, and in the comments of the payment, link to your resume. That's right. Job applicants are using Venmo because you have got to. to get past the gatekeepers. And an unsolicited Venmo payment gets my attention. What is that emoji and why do I have $5 in here? But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, wonderful mix of stories. Love the mix today, Jack. Bad day, bad week, bad month for Ben the Bitcoin. Vesties, if you own Bitcoin like us, well, we hope you turned off your price

notifications. Because Bitcoin fell below $90,000 yesterday. It's down nearly 30% from its all-time high just last month. We called it the Bitcoin Blizzard and we did a whole story on it yesterday. You got to go check it out. But there's still some good news if you're a Bitcoin miner. Because you see, people are using Bitcoin to heat their homes. Here's the idea. To create new Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency is digitally mined on computer machines. Mining, it's also how transactions are processed on the blockchain. But here's the problem. Mining Bitcoin uses up so much energy, it gives off a whole bunch of heat. You thought your laptop was hot sitting on your thighs? Try touching a Bitcoin processor. Now, global Bitcoin mining actually produces enough heat as a

byproduct to warm all of Finland. And until now, that heat has been wasted. But not anymore. Introducing the Bitcoin home heater, a real product for $900. Yeah, a real thing. If Satoshi owns a ski house over an Aspen, yeah, he heat is home with this Bitcoin miner. Forget the furnace. Bye-bye wood stove. Jack, the Bitcoin mining rig has just disrupted the thermostat. No, he should point out, it's a wildly inefficient way to heat your home. Oh, yeah, your energy bill, it's about to break your bank account. But best is, Bitcoin's price is dropping.

We could be entering another crypto winter. So maybe a Bitcoin mine could heat up your home for the real winter. And for the crypto winter. Nothing screams cozy, Jack, like a Bitcoin mine in the living room. Honey, grab the marshmallow. Let's hit our three stories. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm They had an idea to cause a cultural storm

It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip T-boy City on your at list If you know you know because we're ready to go We can't wait no more so just start the show Start the show

First a quick word from our sponsor For our first story The only big stock actually up this week, it's Google. Oh, and Google also just launched their huge new AI, Gemini 3. Google is up thanks to Warren Buffett and Michael Jordan. But to start, let's go back to November 2022. That's when Chad GPT launched, and Jack, how did we describe it? We described it as a Pearl Harbor moment for Google.

Yeah, you see, Google thought they were leading in AI, and then boom, Sam Alman comes out of nowhere. It was a huge bruise to their ego. But today, Google stock is at an all-time high. Jack, today, Google stock is three times higher than when Chat CheapT launched those three years ago. Now, a big reason is that the government completely let Google off the hook with its two big antitrust lawsuits. Congratulations, Google. You're not a monopoly, technically.

No, no, no, they are a monopoly. But the government let them go scot-free. They were like, no consequences. Okay, but the bigger reason why Google stock is now at an all-time high, Google, Google, is no longer lagging in AI. Google is actually leading in AI. Boom, here's the latest Yetis. Google just launched Gemini 3 yesterday. And techies who code believe it's better than OpenAI's chat GPT5. Okay, get this. Jack and I even asked chat cheapt, which one is better? Their AI or Google's Gemini AI? Chat said that Gemini was a 4.6 out of five in terms of chat bots, but chat said that chat was just a 4.2.

Sam Olman know that its chatbot is saying this? I had no idea Sam was so self-reflective and self-deprecating Jack. But besties, tech C.E. Bros. these days, they've been having a moment, right, man? Like Zuck, Elon, Sacha, Altman. They're all oozing with, like, mojo and confidence all over the place. But on the other hand, Google's Sunder Pichai, the Wizard of Warden, he's kind of looked like the opposite. And so did Google's early AI products. I mean, look at the name of the original Google AI.

Jack, remember it was called Bard? The most mid-name ever. What is Bard? I don't know. But Gemini, their new name for their AI? That's got some Riz, man. And Gemini's Riz is symbolic of Sundar Pichai's personal and professional comeback the last couple of years. I mean, he's the only one of those techsy e-brose who has facial hair, man.

He's growing a beard. That's some confidence. Nick, after that Pearl Harbor moment three years ago, Sundar Pichai called a Code Red across the company. Jack, tell the besties specifically what he ended up doing. restructured the company, cut back on some perks, and promoted Google's top AI guy to have more power to make decisions across the organization. The result, last week, Bloomberg describes Sunder Pichai as the wartime CEO that Alphabet needed. And today, Gemini has 650 million monthly active users, just shy of Open AIs 800 million. Oh, oh, we're sorry, Yetis. Are you still not convinced about Google hitting an all-time high?

Maybe Warren Buffett can twist your arm. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway bought $4.3 billion of Google stock last month. Yeah, Warren's a Kraft Heinz ketchup kind of a guy, but he just chose alphabet as his second tech investment ever. But to really understand why Google stock has doubled in the last six months, you've got to look at our takeaway. So Jack, what is our takeaway for our buddies over at Google? Remember the Gatorade ad? I want to be like Mike. Well, Mike is Google to Open AI. Exactly. You see, Yeti's, everything OpenAI aspires to be Google already is. Google is it's Michael Jordan.

Open AI aspires to become a harmonized ecosystem of a web browser, a chat bot, and a physical device all in one. But Google already is that. It has Chrome, Gemini, pixel phones, and home hardware. Open AI aspires to become a cash generating tech powerhouse. But Google already is that, financing its data center investments with huge digital profits. OpenEI aspires to be the dominant tech interface that all consumers rely on all day. But Google already is that with Google search, Google Maps, YouTube, and Android. Now, if Open AI fails with all of its ambitions, opening eyes kind of doomed. But Jack, if Google fails an AI, they'll just sell some cloud computing to whoever ends up winning. That's pretty much why Warren Buffett bought Google.

So, Basties, what do you want to be when you grow up? Well, I want to be like Mike. Open AI would say, I want to be like Google. But Google already is Google. So its stock is at an all-time high. For our second story, Raising Cain's secret dipping sauce is so secretive, you're going to have to sign an NDA after today's episode. Don't you go anywhere, Yeti's? Jack and I are going to have track you down. Here's the secret strategy behind keeping corporate secrets.

Now, Yeties, the richest person in the great state of Louisiana is a man named Todd Graves. The most famous Cajun since Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. Because Todd Graves co-founded Raising Cains, The last is growing chicken chain here in America. Last year, we covered Raising Cains for the first time on this pod. Then, they had $4 billion of annual sales. Not too shabby. Now, they're up to $5 billion of annual sales.

I'm sorry, Jack. Red Bull doesn't have wings. Raising Cain's income statements have rings. Raising Cains is as big as wing stop, but it's privately traded. And Raising Cain's U.S. sales are now bigger than Kentucky fried chicken. Oh, not impressed yet yeties? Well, Raising Cain sales are now half as big as. Chipotle, that's right, they're coming for the guac. And they did it all with only five items on the

menu. Chicken fingers, chicken sandwich, French fries, coleslaw, and Texas toast. It's become the mecca for white meat with the business model strategy based on simplicity. But one big differentiator makes Chick-fil-A fans prey on Sundays, and it's Raising Cain's Secret Sauce. So besties, we know what you are wondering, what is Raising Cain's Secret Sauce? We're talking about the sauce. Yeah, like literally, what is their secret sauce? Because their sauce is their secret business sauce. The Wall Street Journal did a profile on just how secret their secret sauce really is. And it's a story that feels like a CIA novel. Oh, it's straight out of a bond layer. I mean, Jack, this recipe, it's only been written down once ever 30 years ago. It's sitting safely in a vault.

We don't even know where. There's been no copies made of this recipe. It's passed down by word of mouth only. Nick, this company silos information like it's the Manhattan Project, worried about Russian spies. And the reason we're saying all this is because that physical safe is just one of the many security protocols going to protecting the recipe. Another, every employee must sign an NDA that they won't tell anybody about the secret sauce. A non-disclosure agreement. And the way that the sauce comes to life is that one big batch is made daily in each of the raising cane stores. But only the manager is allowed to mix and prepare the batch of secret sauce. Oh, and that manager also has to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

But that's not even necessary because the manager doesn't even know what they're mixing. Because the manager is mixing various tubs of unmarked, unidentified ingredients sent in from various Raising Cains factories. Again, it's like the Manhattan Project or James Bond or a CIA novel, whichever you prefer. Oh, but Jack, pause the pod because the secretest part of the secret sauce recipe, what is it, man? The spice mix. Right. But that comes pre-blended from HQ.

So we still don't know about the sauce. Now, chemical analysis shows what the base really is. It's mostly ketchup, mayonnaise, and Worcestershire sauce. However, the pepper and other seasonings exact ratios, preparing it that whole process, that is a mystery. But still, it's a cloak and dagger operation for good reason, because sauce is surging in America. You might go to Raising Cains instead of Popeye's

because of the Raising Cain sauce. You may bring Papa's food to Raising Cains just to get the Raising Cain sauce. True. Raising Cains actually did 800 million sauce servings last year, and some customers fill up an entire fountain soda cup worth, which they sell for $8 each. Yeah, $8 for the sauce. It's a profit puppy, and they then bring that to their tailgate for dipping everything, including submerging an entire burrito. We watched a video on TikTok of an entire Chipotle burrito being dipped into Raising Cane secret sauce. You got to do your research. You got to do your research.

So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Raising Cains? Secrets are costly, but secrets are mythical. Yeties, there are a few famous examples of secret recipes out there, like KFC. They've got their 11 herbs and spices kept in a vault down in Louisville. Same with Krispy Cream's original glaze, and the Nutella hazelnut to chocolate ratio has never been publicly disclosed. Coca-Cola is the most legendary. Their drink recipe is a 138-year-old secret guarded like liquid gold. But why do these companies go to such expensive lengths to physically protect recipes like

they're with a louvre or something? Yeah, Jack, why not simply legally protect that recipe with a patent like you would in other industries? Well, because if you patent the food's recipe, you must reveal that recipe to the authorities. And that protection only lasts 20 years, so your iconic recipe could then be copied by Popeyes. So while keeping a secret is logistically, complicated and costly, it is arguably, more secure. But the biggest reason that Raising Cains keeps their sauce a secret, it's fun.

It turns the sauce from a mystery into a myth, and myths are unifying. Myths are for heroes. Secrets are costly, but secrets can become myths. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Yeties, you've heard of the cold call? How about the cold Venmo? Because this is the story of the unsolicited Venmo payment that got a college student a job. Venmoing your future boss to get their attention, that's the new hiring hack. Oh, yeah, it is the 50-cent internship. Got nothing to do with 50-cent the rapper. It's the story of Darshan

Patel, who was in college and really wanted an internship in film. Oh, he really wanted it. So this guy cold emailed, Instagram DM'd, and LinkedIn everyone with a connection to his dream director. Get this guy an endorsement. What a hustler. But nothing, Jack, not a or no, not even a come-in for an interview. this guy. He was being ghosted. So he randomly had the idea, what if I look up my favorite movie director's name on Venmo? Yeah, you see, the director had an unusual name, so he found him and sent him 50 cents with a link to his resume. Boom. Yeah. It worked. Totally. Unlike all of the other efforts to get somebody's, you know, ear, this got a response. Now, the response was like, what the heck is going on and who the heck are you? But after a couple of DMs, he got a call, and then he got an

interview and then he got an internship. Now, besties, this is what we found fascinating. We've all been through the job search misery that Darshan experienced, the ravine of no replies. But today, it's happening even more because humans don't read your application. AI probably does. According to a World Economic Forum report, this March, 88% of companies are already using AI to screen their job candidates. AI has become the new job gatekeeper. It is. Getting past AI is necessary before speaking to HR. Now, There are a few hacks you can pull off, like you can AI hack your cover letter to hit all the important keywords out there. Yeah, and put text in white font that you just want the AI to see, even if it's factually not true.

He's a real go-getter, like 50 times in your resume. But now, Gen Ziers are ignoring the resume altogether. They're creating TikTok videos and linking to their 30-second cinematic pitch instead of submitting a resume. When you add all this creativity up, it kind of reminds us to that movie, The Pursuit of Happiness, right? Jack, you love that one. Yeah, when Will Smith stopped. stalks the hiring manager outside of his office and insists on taking the cab ride home with him. And in that cab ride, he convinces the guy to give him an internship.

Well, basically, Darshan did the same thing, but with Venmo, a benign borderline stalking that basically worked. Benign borderline stocking. That's how I'd describe it to. Totally healthy. We're rounding up. Now, Darshan's advice to everyone else out there, do not be afraid to bother people in order to get a job. We love that advice, but we tweak it a little bit. Do not be afraid to bother the right people. And that leads to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy Darshan and everyone? Venmoing someone to get a job.

Getting the attention of the decision maker is like catching the golden snitch. Now, yeties, whether you're trying to get a job, get into school, or just get someone to say yes to something, you need an advocate on the inside. An ally to pitch your name, network internally, and advocate for you to separate your application from the sea of other ones. Harry Potter quit its terms, we would call that controlling the quaffle, beating with your blood, you're protecting the gold. They can help you win the game, but they don't guarantee you'll win the game. You see, the real key to getting hired is to identify the decision maker and then get their attention. Connecting with them, it's like catching the golden snitch. 150 points you're probably going to win. Basties, we are in the attention economy. It's harder than ever to get

decision makers to notice you. But creative ideas, like Venmoing your future boss, for the moment at least, that's one of the creative ideas that could work for you. That's the HireNAC. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday? Alphabet just announced Gemini 3. Their latest chatbot in its stock is at an all-time high. Open AI doesn't want to be like Mike. Open AI wants to be like Google.

But Google's already Google. For our second start, Raising Cain's is half as big as Chipotle. And it's surging thanks to its special sauce. Yeah, its secret sauce is the secret sauce. Now, they could legally protect the secret sauce, but then keeping it a secret is what makes it mythical. And our third and final story is about Darshang Patel. He got hired thanks to an unsolicited Venmo to what became his future boss. That two cents was worth thousands.

He got the attention of his future boss because in this hiring market, that's like catching the golden snitch. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Zuck is not a monopoly. Meta just won a huge court decision. that they won't have to divest and sell off Instagram and WhatsApp. The government had argued that meta strategy of copying, acquiring, or killing the competition broke antitrust laws, and they asked a judge to force Zuck to sell Instagram and WhatsApp.

But apparently the judge, who's a big-time scroller, disagreed. So Zuck's celebrating, and so are meta-shareholders. Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook will remain under Zuckerberg's royal domain. And second, a couple of wild headlines in AI. First, Anthropic, just got a $15 billion investment. It's now worth $350 billion. The fundraise came from Microsoft and Nvidia, who are also investors in Open AI,

the competitor of Anthropic. Okay, but at the same time, the legendary songwriter, Paul McCartney, just dropped an anti-AI song on his new album. In the track, the legendary Beatles singer and songwriter is just silent. It's two minutes and 45 seconds of silence, raising awareness for AI stealing from human artists.

And finally, If you're applying for a new job and don't want to use Venmo, how about the role of CEO of Apple? Because Apple is reportedly looking to replace Tim Cook as early as next year. That's right. Timmy Cook's beginning his 15th year as CEO of Apple since Steve Jobs passed away.

He turned it from a phone company to a services company and the stocks boomed. Yeah. But in the era of AI, they might need somebody else. Apple stock is up 1,800 in the Tim Cook era. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Legendary Yetty, David Lee's from lovely Boston, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.

Earlier this week, we covered Burberry and their big quarter, and their brivet, their British pivot to focus on all things England. Yeah, basically Burberry pivoted their fashion business to raincoats because it rains 156 times a year in London. But David points out that while it does rain a lot in London, it doesn't rain that much, only 23 inches of precipitation every year. Meanwhile, his hometown of Boston averages 44. inches of precipitation a year.

The reason for the difference, the surprising reason? Yeah, what is it? Snow. Yeah, it's snow. When you convert snow into rainwater, it's twice as much precipitation. Boston, beaten the British again and another thing. Is that a revolutionary war reference? Oh, yeah, I did, Jack. He knew it was coming.

Yeties, you look fantastic over there. Jack, you look fantastic. I can't wait to see tomorrow in New York. We got Jimmy Kramer. Here we go, man. I know. He's a legend. So, Bessie's, if you've got a question for Jim Kramer, investing advice, not investing advice, how he's able to roll up his sleeves so high, just leave a question right here in the comments.

Nick and I, I'll ask him. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. If you know. You know. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Wendy Epstein over in New York City. Happy birthday to Jesse P. in Miami, Florida. And Caitlin and George in the Bay Area are celebrating their best anniversary yet.

And a big shout out to Cameron, a Yeti who Nick just ran into on the street. I wish I was there to give you a big hug too. Oh, and wait to hear this, Jack. You know how I'm wearing the T-boy sweater right now? Another person just came up to me and said, where do I get a the best one yet sweater? I was like, it's our podcast, but you should go to our website to buy. T-boypod.com slash shop. And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a T-Boy.

Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Krispy Cream. We both own stock of Apple and Chipotle, and we both own some Bitcoin. Bitcoin, name Ben.