The Best One Yet - 🔵 “$400M Latte” — Blue Bottle’s acquisition. Oil’s everything tax. Startup-maxxing surge. +Solo Dining Surge

Episode Date: March 9, 2026

Founder-Maxxing is the new trend… America is losing jobs, but gaining entrepreneurs.Blue Bottle Coffee was just acquired by China’s Luckin for $400M… It’s a 9-digit latte.Oil surged 14% in the biggest one-day pop we’ve ever seen… And it’s a tax on the whole economy.Plus, did you go to that thing alone this weekend? It’s lonely leisure, and honestly, we’re big fans.$NSRGY $XOM $OILBuy tickets to The IPO Tour (our In-Person Offering) TODAYArlington, VA (3/11): https://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/shows/341317 New York, NY (4/8): https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0000637AE43ED0C2Los Angeles, CA (6/3): SOLD OUTGet your TBOY Yeti Doll gift here: https://tboypod.com/shop/product/economic-support-yeti-doll NEWSLETTER: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. Welcome back. It is Monday, March 9th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This one, this is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Happy live podcast show week to all those who celebrate, which is definitely us, Jack. Two weeks ago, we're in Austin. This week we're in Washington, D.C., we still have a few tickets available.

Link in episode description. Snag the few tickets left in the episode description. We are interviewing Kara Swisher, K-Swish, live in D.C. Plus the three stories you love, performed live, and more. I mean, there's actually a few surprises, but we can't tell you them right now. Jack, three fantastic stories for today's show. So good. What do we got on the T-boy?

For our first story, the price of oil rose by 35% last week. Petro Pop. It's the biggest one-week spike in oil since we've been keeping track. Since the Rockefellers. And because oil seeps into everything, this is a tax on your life. For our second story, oil is important, but first, coffee. Yes, Jack. Blue bottle coffee.

was just acquired for $400 million. Blue bottle of coffee. It's an American brand inspired by Japanese design, owned by a Dutch company, and just sold to China. Okay, Carmen San Diego. And our third and final story, America is losing jobs, but it's gaining entrepreneurs.

Besties, 2025 was the biggest year for new startups ever. This is founder maxing. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, we were just dancing on that intro. Love the mix. Love the stories, Jack. But Yeties, did you go out to a day? dinner, a concert, maybe a show this past weekend. And did you go with nobody? Because trend alert. Yes,

welcome to the solo economy. Get this, 20% of Broadway tickets are now bought by solo attendees. That's twice the rate of just a couple years ago. And it ain't just Phantom of the Opera. Movies and restaurants, they're swinging solo two these days. The fastest growing sales in this economy are for a party of one. Add it all up, it is a solo leisure boom. It's mono e. No Other Mono. Jack, it's a mona just moh. And it's an escalation of a story we did last year on the solo dining surge. Back then, restaurants were seeing a 52% jump in reservations for Uno. It's a burger and beer night. And Brian.

Yeah, no Brianna. The context to sprinkle on, well, more people are living single and more people are feeling confident out there. Because it does take some self-confidence to sit alone at a restaurant. I mean, it's a flex, Jack. It is a flex. One of my favorite movie theater-going experiences of all time. Yeah. I saw Jurassic Park Six alone.

alone, enormous tub of popcorn, didn't need to share with anything. I was going to say, I say it's because you're a popcorn guy. And I know what happens when I stick my hand in there. Your hand gets slapped. Besties, there is no better treat to yourself than a spa day with a little less small talk. Unless, of course, you love the person you're supposed to be small talking with. So, Besties, send this to your buddy. You started the alone leisure trend.

You know who they are. Yeah, send this to your buddy who you didn't wing man this past weekend. Hey, Timmy, we owe you one. Jack, let's set out three stories. before this song two boys from the northeast met in the dawn 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 cause we're ready to go we can't wait no more so just start to show first a quick word from our sponsor for our first story

Oil prices exploded higher on Friday on word from the White House about the war in Iran. It's the crude awakening. It's the crude awakening. Unless you're an organic mushroom forager, high oil oil prices are going to hit your wallet. Yeties, each day last week we did a story covering the war in Iran. And at first, we were surprised to see stocks actually rise. Yeah, the reason we told you last week, Wall Street's base case was regime change light. But now, that's off the table.

Because on Friday, President Trump tweeted that he would demand an unconditional surrender from Iran to get any kind of deal. And that was in all caps, which is why oil prices surged a shocking 14% on Friday. Biggest one-day jump since the Rockefellers. And over the course of the week, it was the biggest five-day jumps since we've been keeping track. 35%. Basically, Trump's all-caps declaration is a sign that this war, it ain't going to be a quick one. And that's bad news for the oil market. because one-fifth of the world's transported oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz just off the coast of Iran.

But now that oil highway has been closed. Qatar, by the way, they just shut down natural gas production. They basically got no space to even store the stuff. Because they can't export it through the Strait of Hormuz. In fact, Qatar's oil minister said that oil could hit 150 bucks a barrel in weeks if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed by the Iranians. 150 bucks a barrel, that would be an all-time record high oil price. Yes, it would be. Beating the 147 record set back in 2008, which triggered our financial crisis.

Add it all up, and that's why Jack and I are calling this, the crude awakening. And oil? Yeah, it seeps into everything. Oil is the global air that the economy breathes. You can't get that stuff off anything. Can't even get olive oil off my hands. And the price of crude West Texas intermediate oil is up 40% since the Friday before the war began. The good stuff.

But Basties, there are some winners to this oil petro pop. There are some bulls swimming in the oil. Top of the list? Canada. Yeah. North of the border, they export huge amounts of oil. And now the thing they're pumping out of the ground is even more valuable than before. So European heads of state are calling up Ottawa right now and asking for some emergency tanker deliveries, please, pretty please. Texas is also a big winner for a similar reason.

Good point, Jack. Oil companies are quietly fist bumping this high oil price because it will certainly boost their quarterly profits. They got their own cha-ching buttons. But Jack, what about the unexpected losers of the high oil prices? The bears swimming in the petrol. Top of this list is Walmart. Yeah. Because for Walmart, squeezed consumers will be even more squeezed

as their gasoline and heating prices rise. Yeah, the Costco guys may not be hitting up Costco as much. And at Procter & Gamble, their Tide products, Tampax products, Gillette products, all of them are made of plastic and packaged in plastic. And plastic is made of petrol. Even Etsy, the online arts and craft store, he's affected by oil prices. I mean, Jack, those candle materials can't be shipped unless they're on a truck, which is run on gas. Or diesel. Either way, it comes from underground.

And now you know why my birthday gift to you is delayed. But the biggest surprise loser of the spike last week in oil prices is the Federal Reserve. That's right, because our central bank wants to cut rates and stop being the party pooper for the housing market right now. Oil was the one bright spot defying inflation in this economy. but now oil is rising just like the price of everything else. The 30-year mortgage, it fell below 6% two weeks ago. We were so excited first time in years. But now, because of the price of oil going up, mortgage prices are back above 6%.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are looking at this oil seeping into everything economy? High oil prices are like a new sales tax. Everyone pays them for everything. Yeties, let's just love to sing it for a second. Anything plastic. Anything that needs to be cooked, anything in a building that needs to be heated, anything that requires a vehicle at any point in the supply chain jack, if it's got Adams, it needs oil. It needs oil. Nick and I tried really hard to think of a product not affected in any way by the rise in oil prices.

All right, let's whip out the whiteboard here. Like, I don't know, maybe a forged mushroom for sale to farmer's market? Maybe, like, that's not affected by the rise in oil prices? Maybe, maybe. Because even that farmer had to drive the tractor at some point, or like, drive. his vehicle to the farmer's market. And that vehicle, even if it's electric, it's got rubber tires. And that's Petro. Shatakis are kidding me, Jack. Honestly, Eddie's, for anything physical, even digital stuff, the more expensive the price of oil, the higher the cost for the company,

which shrinks profits or raises prices or both. So besties, Jack and I got to ask the big question. Who has the higher pain point? Iranians who are getting barraged by American and Israeli missiles. Or an American president whose popularity is often tied to oil prices. Drop your thoughts in the comments, and we'll start getting on that second story. For our second story, blue bottle coffee is getting sold to the owner of China's luckin coffee for $400 million bucks. Blue bottle. They invented the modern day minimalist coffee trend. Yes, they did. Because theatricality sells. All right, bestie, sometimes you get an origin story so good. I'm just going to read this line. You ready for this?

This company was started by a broke clarinet player in a potting shed. Are you insulting clarinet players? Because you know I played clarinet in elementary school. I know, and you were impressive. Read number two. Yeah, I was read number two. Well, this young man with this clarinet decided to take on 15,000 bucks in debt and opened their first coffee cart in Oakland many years ago.

And the goal of this coffee cart was the opposite of convenience. Yeah, the goal was single origin, slow it down, the kind of beans that you got to sip with two hands. Blue bottle started the third wave of coffee. Yes. The first wave was full jure. made at home, then you had Starbucks with speed, and then Blue Bottle slowed the entire coffee industry down. Third wave coffee houses treat coffee like wine. Snobbly. I took Jack to a blue bottle. He forgot his

copy of the New Yorker at home. They almost didn't let him in. It's like a passport situation. The besties, you know Blue Bottle because you've seen Blue Bottle even if you've never been there. They pioneered the entire minimalist design aesthetic. The pine wood counters, the polished concrete floors. Clean everything. This is the Apple store of cappuccino. That whitewashed Williamsburg coffee shop and go to with the bitter barista and eight dollar espressoes. It's a disciple of Blue Bottle coffee. And the coffee price? That reminds us of Apple too. Yeah, it does, Jack. The double digit latte was invented by Blue Bottle. Yeah, and that kind of money attracts VC. Blue Bottle raised $117 million from the Instagram founders, Google Ventures, and even Bono. Guy came a long way from his

broke clarinet class. And what do we like to say about it all, Jack? America runs on Duncan. Andresen runs on Blue Bottle. Pairs well with all birds, AirPods, and an overpriced studio apartment. But, besties, this is what Jack and I find fascinating. This is an American startup inspired by Japanese design, acquired by a Dutch conglomerate. Yes, because Nestle, the world's biggest food company,

acquired Blue Bottle in 2017 for $700 million. And the strategy made sense. Scale the cult following. They added 100 new locations, ready to drink grocery lot, and went into six new countries. They expanded the tote bag merch into fashion, too. Blue Bottle had opportunities where they would open many stores over at fashion shows. That was the association.

What the NPR tote is to Boston, the Blue Bottle tote is to San Francisco. And it paid off. Last year, Blue Bottle did $250 million in revenue. It had become a lifestyle business. But the one caffeinated problem. Decaffeinated problem. It never had profits. Plus, Jack, a bunch of the Blue Bottle Bereces unionized, which was definitely not.

in Nestle's pitchback. Which leads to the wild plot twist. Now, this American startup, inspired by Japanese design owned by a Dutch conglomerate, is selling to China. Get this, a Chinese private equity firm behind Luckin Coffee is buying up Blue Bottle for $400 million bucks. And Luckin Coffee is the polar opposite of its new sister company Blue Bottle. Oh, it's on the other end of the Ventee Jack. Luckin has got 30,000 stores selling $2 coffees, but they're buying an American artistic brand with the hundreds stores sell $10 coffees. And since Luckin just entered the United States last year, China is now a leader in both the high-end and low-end coffee business here in the States.

Yeah, Luckin is taking on Dahlina Duncan on the low-end, but also Stump Town and your local art bro barista spot right down the street. Nick, I think some Boston listeners are unsubscribing because you just called Duncan low-end. I think you should apologize. I'm sorry, high-calorie low-end. But besties, we still got to ask this question. Why the price cut? Like $700 million to $400 million. Why is it, Jack?

Blue Bottles' valuation fell in the last nine years. Maybe because you can't scale craft. Blue Bottle, they built a coffee cult. But there's a reason you don't see many mainstream cults. Oh, I know you're thinking, Jack. The Yeti's in the bestie. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Blue Bottle Coffee? The best retail is actually theater.

Now, Yeti's, over the weekend, Jack and I read this interview with the CEO of Bloomingdale's, the department store, talking about retail theater. Bloomingdale's is doing surprisingly well. While Sacks Fifth Avenue and Macy's are struggling, Bloomingdale's is doing pretty good because they've invested in their windows. You know the shopping windows you see from the street. That is the theatrical effect.

Now here's the idea. With AI everywhere, we crave human craft. And we're in an Instagram era, so we want visual stimulus. And in the attention economy, the bar is very high to keep our attention. Craft, attention, stimulus, blue bottle, hit all of those with their stores wherever they open.

But Blue Bottles' real accomplishment is the theatricality of their stores that you don't see from the competition. If you hung out at a blue bottle for 12 hours doing work, you know that they have a custom glass drip coffee contraption that no other coffee shop had. The way they brew their coffee in a blue bottle looks like a Dr. Seuss book. There's like pipes and drips and machines. It was Willie Wonkian. You see, unlike Starbucks or small local coffee shops, Blue Bottle drew in with these giant. giant artistic contraptions. It's like a science fair or something in that.

Exactly. Blue Bottle. It shows that the best retail is actually theater. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, it's, oh my God, is that? Entrepreneurs. Jack, entrepreneurs are sprouting up everywhere like beautiful weeds fertilized by AI. Besties, this is the great unbossin. Because necessity is the mother of invention.

Could AI create a golden era of entrepreneurship? Ooh, we got the data. But Besties, as my doctor likes to say, Jack, start with the bad news. On Friday, we got the jobs report for the U.S. economy. We lost 92,000 jobs in February. Besties, for the fifth time in nine months, more people were fired than hired. If you were affected, we feel for you. Tech in particular lost 11,000 jobs last month.

That's the AI effect. Remember, 4,000 of those jobs lost in February. They were from Block, right, Jack? Yeah, we covered it. Jack Dorsey laid off 4,000 people replacing them explicitly with AI. It's bleak, besties, and this part almost makes it rubbing some salt into that wound, Jack. If AI did take your job, it's probably AI that's reading your resume and cover letter as you try to get a new job. But besties, pause the pod because we found a bright piece of data for you.

We found record numbers of people saying, I'm done with the rat race, I'm done working for the man, I'm done trying to impress AIHR with my resume bullets. I'm unbossing. Besties, that's right. We just got mugged by the jobs report, but now we're founder maxing. We're working for ourselves. We're founder maxing, besties.

And get this, here are the numbers. 532,000 new business applications were filed in January, according to the Census Bureau. Almost half a million applications for new businesses in one month. That's up 37% from last year. That is 17,000 new startups every year. day. And for the full year, 2025, 5.6 million new businesses were formed in America. That's a record high beating the previous record of 2021. I'm sorry, Jack, could you put this in LinkedIn terms for us,

please, my jargon friend? This is a shocker. The number of people listing themselves as founders is up 69% on LinkedIn from one year earlier. And yeties, it's because necessity is the mother of invention, an AI and an economic slowdown are necessitating entrepreneurship. And we've actually seen this happen in the economy before. In 2008, during the financial crisis, that was a huge moment for company creation. It's what led to Uber, Airbnb, Instagram, the D2C craze of the 2010s. The pandemic was another founder pill moment. Lots of people started blue collar businesses during the pandemic to take advantage of the spreading out effect as people moved. And now in 2026, AI layoffs are accidentally birthed in a new generation of entrepreneurs pink slip to startup pipeline.

Now, a negative story could be told here. Needing work, people. People are trying to get hired. It's not working out. So they're doing their own thing in desperation. But Jack, we also should point out this could result in something beautifully positive too. They can't rely on companies right now, so you're betting on yourself. Although ironically, with the help of AI. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies founder maxing out there? Are we witnessing the start of the optimistic case for AI? Now, Yeties, last week we did our best episode yet at the time about Cal AI, a company that uses AI to count calories from food that you take a picture of. In just 18 months, Cal AI scaled

to 15 million downloads and $30 million of annual subscription revenue, and it was founded by high school students. It's an AI success story. The 18-year-old founders vibe-coded their way to glory without engineers. And that's what the AI optimists have been saying all along. Yes, AI will eliminate some jobs looking at you, Jack Dorsey, and Block, but it will create other jobs in even bigger numbers. As Sam Altman aggressively optimistically puts it, lamplighters lost their jobs when electricity was invented, but ultimately they found better jobs. For founders, low-cost AI tools are eliminating the need to hire expensive engineers, designers, and bookkeepers, whether you're launching an app or launching a plumbing business. So, Bessies, when we look at these numbers,

this is the democratization of innovation. Or put another way, AI is the boot in bootstrapping. The record number of new businesses formed last year, we call it Founder Max. Yes, we do. And it could be the start of the optimistic case for AI. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the live show week? Oil prices rose 14% on Friday, ending the week 35% higher the biggest weekly oil price jump ever. This is the Jurassic period. Busties higher oil prices, they are like a sales tax.

Everyone pays them for everything. For our second story, now that Blue Bottle got acquired for $400 million, Blue Bottle is now sister companies with luck and coffee. Blue bottles trick to start a cult? Well, the best retail is actually theater. And our third and final story, we found a bright spot in the negative jobs data. It's easier now than ever to start a company. Besties, we just got mocked by the jobs report, but now we're founder maxing. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the award goes to Ben Affleck. The actor has an AI startup that was just acquired by Netflix. The startup is called interpositive.

It gives AI tools to filmmakers that don't replace the filmmakers. It just helps them. It's an AI that guides a director on the editorial angles and storyline as they're building out of movie. And now Netflix is buying it. And second, United Airlines

may kick you off for life if you don't wear your headphones. In United's terms and conditions, wearing headphones when watching a device was a common courtesy, but now it's an official rule. Right now, you could get permanently banned from United if you are scrolling TikTok without the AirPods in.

And finally, remember clearly the AI startup that helps you lie and like cheat on your job interview? Well, the founder reported doing seven million bucks a year in revenue last year, but he also just admitted in a tweet that he made all that up. That's called fraud. It's actually one of the great things about like business and stock markets. Lying is illegal. It is. So you're going to need a lawyer.

Now time for the best fact yet, which because this Monday means some T-boy trivia. Jack, what do we got? I'm feeling a little groggy over here. Well, our clocks jumped forward by an hour last night, which was not fun. We've had daylight savings since 1918 in the United States, but two states said no thanks. Yeah, so what are the two American states that have opted out of daylight savings? You can drop them in the comments now. We'll give you a second.

And Jack, what is the answer? The two states that don't do daylight savings? Hawaii and Arizona. Hawaii and Arizona. There you go, guys. I mean, I like it. You're just being yourself. Although we should point out one wrinkle here,

the Navajo Nation within Arizona does observe daylight savings time, even though the state does not. I'm a fan of that. So if you're driving through Arizona, you may go through like three different time zones and you don't even realize it. Yetis, you are looking fantastic to kick off the week. Jack, bags packed.

We ready to go on this thing, D.C. baby. We are getting dinner with one lucky Yetty on Tuesday night. The show's Wednesday night. Doors open at six, showtime at seven, and Nick and I are going to hit up a bar afterwards to hang with you. And we will see you there. You can grab those remaining tickets right now. We got a link in this episode description.

Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Keeley Lamb down in Dallas. Happy birthday to Kristen Cruz in Farmington Hills, Michigan. And Samil Agarwal, enjoy that birthday over in the Garden State. And a big, happy fourth birthday to Anaira Golm-Kale in Seattle, Washington. And Alango is the father of two with the best birthday yet in Montgomery, New Jersey. And congratulations to Charles Prena Vu, who just became a charter pilot over in hyanus flying just outside Boston. Congratulations to Kent and Elena Meredith, who are celebrating their first IBO of their initial baby offering to Theo, born in San Mateo, California.

And the Morones, we've got an anniversary down in Miami. Congratulations to Max for getting into fifth grade at Calhoun in New York City. Yeah, coolest building in the city. It's the TV school jack. It looks like a whole VCR. Legendary place. Congrats Max. And a huge shout out to Max Bosch Powers at SMU. He's recruiting right now for a finance job. Been listening to the show for years. This guy's going to crush his interview.

Yeties, trust us. If you are hiring in finance, Max Bosch Powers is already your future CEO. You could even call him your future MVP. This is Jack, I'm on stock of Netflix, and Nick and I both on stock of Airbnb.