The Best One Yet - 🦩 “69% pink” — World Cup’s pink-ness. Netflix’s Season 2 Slump. Fiat’s Pixar Car. +Grocery AI Branding

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Why are 69% of World Cupers wearing pink cleats?... Because of 1 paper 2 years ago.Netflix has a new problem: The Season 2 Slump… Data shows you ghost shows after Szn 1.Fiat just invented the smallest car ever… It’s not better than Tesla, but it is first-er.Plus, why every AI startup is named after your grocery list. Avocado AI, Broccoli AI, Nano Banana…$NKE $NFLX $STLAGrab your Tickets to the IPO Tour: Our In-Person OfferingSan Francisco 9/23: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0064AFB5F688BDBoston 10/14: https://tickets.citywinery.com/event/tboy-the-ipo-tour-in-person-offering-8cdhupSeattle 11/4 (21+): https://www.axs.com/events/1446394/the-best-one-yet-ticketsNEWSLETTER: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, Soviche Wednesday, July 8th, and today's part is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. I mean, we're in the funnest place in finance. Should we get right to the three stories, Jack? For our first story, Netflix is facing a new threat, the season two slump. Besties, you might binge season one, but you're ghosting season two. For our second story, a wild coincidence at this World Cup, 69% of players are wearing pink cleats. It's not coincidence, Jack. Those pink shoes, they all go back to one consulting report from two years ago.

And our third and final story is Fiat. They just launched the smallest car in America. It's also the cutest. We call it the Pixar car, because the biggest opportunity to sell is through a hotel. But yet, he's, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Wonderful mix of stories. Love the mix today, Jack. Great mix.

Banana, avocado, broccoli. Those aren't things I'm trying to feed my toddler Nick that he won't eat. No, besties. Those ain't ingredients to your favorite recipe. Those are the hottest thing in AI. Trend alert. Tech is naming their AI after Whole Foods. Yeah, like the whole AI startup scene, it sounds like a food pyramid right now. Follow us on this one. Kick it off with jalapeno. That's the new chip from OpenAI. And garlic. That's Chatchip-T's new large language model. Nanobanana? It's Google's AI image generator. And avocado.

Ah, that's Meta's cutting-edge AI. But who could forget broccoli AI? Which just... raised $25 million. Oh, and Elon's code name for the latest groc test? What is it, Jack? Chocolate. So we dove in T-boy style, and the foodification of AI, it goes even deeper. You've got all of AI, fig AI, guava AI, peanut AI, Pekan AI, Walnut AI. Sesame AI, cinnamon AI, and there's a Pekon AI for those who are not part of Pekin AI, Jack. These are all AI startups, real thing, and they're all branded like your grocery list. So we had to ask, why is tech doing this? Well, because AI,

is literally artificial. Coming for your spice drawing egg. But there's nothing more natural than food. So with these whole food branded names, maybe you find AI less threatening because it reminds you of your mom's meatloaf. But wait, Jack, pause the pot. I just found another one.

You ready for this? I'm hungry for it. Donut AI. It's a startup in San Francisco. Can you believe it? What are they doing? Personal crypto-agentic AI trading. That's exactly what they're doing, Jack.

That's exactly what this company does. Donate AI. Besties add it to the shopping cart and let's hit our three stores. 15 years before this song Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm They had an idea that caused 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 Tea 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, for the first time ever, we're seeing signs that Netflix is actually losing viewers. The data shows that you stopped watching Netflix after season one. Bessies, let's start with a hot take here. Started watching season two of beef on Netflix. You know the drama about the luxury club in Santa Barbara? It was a good time, right, Jack?

Did you sign up for the Trocco skin treatment at the clinic over in South Korea, Nick? I'll take three of them, please. I want to look 20 years younger. No big deal, they're $45,000 per person. But they include business class. Fair. Full disclosure, Jack and I prefer season two of the show Beef compared to Season 1. And the reason that's a hot

take is that the data shows nobody agrees with us. Yeah, we're total outliers. According to Bloomberg, the data shows that people are only watching season one of Netflix shows, and they're skipping season 2. We got the receipts in drama. Beef lost 73% of their viewers from season 1

to season 2. Again, season 2 was incredible. Season 1 wasn't. So that's a miss by everyone. Trust us on this one. In comedy, Running Point and the four seasons, those shows, 50% drop after season one. In action, the Night Agent lost 50% of their viewers in season two, and another 35% in season three, which resulted in the show getting canceled.

Worst, besties, the result, Netflix has not had a breakout show since February. This is Netflix's driest streak since they were sending DVDs with the Postal Service. Newman! Bridgerton's season four was a huge hit. Shonda Rhymes doesn't miss, but that was in February. And to satisfy over 325 million people, subscribers, Jack, what does Netflix need? Constant hits. They can't afford this season two slump. It's a really bad sign.

The sophomore slump, not fun for the streamers at Netflix. That's why Netflix stock is down 41% in the past 12 months. And as a shareholder, Jack insisted we do this story. The best is Netflix invented the binge. But here's the big question. Have they finally outgrown their greatest creation? Maybe, Nick. Because here's more data that doesn't look good. Oh, boy. The amount of time people spent watching Netflix last year grew less than 2%.

But Jack, what about the time spent on YouTube and TikTok over that same period? Netflix grew 2%. YouTube and TikTok rose 17 and 18%. Now, besties, pause the pod for a sec, because streaming video was unquestionably better for customers than cable TV for years. But Netflix isn't competing against TV anymore. They're competing against 4-U pages. So is Netflix failing to compete against the addictive algorithms of vertical video in all of our

phones right now? Maybe they are. Maybe. And some say that's why Netflix tried to acquire Warner Brothers this past winter. You know, distract Wall Street from the slow and growth numbers with a nice transformative acquisition. Now, we should sprinkle on some context that you shouldn't bet against Netflix, should you make? This is the shareholder in Netflix Jack coming out right here, isn't it, Jack? Netflix is still number one in streaming by far. Half of the most watch shows on TV are Netflix shows. And whenever Netflix has been counted out, they found a way to take the lead again. takeaway, which Nick wrote, not me. So this isn't like shareholder bias here. Yeah, and of course, The Godfather, too, whenever they try to pull me out, they're back in. So Jack, what's the takeaway

for our buddies over Netflix? Excellence is evolution. Yeties, the way Jack and I see it, all of Netflix's advantages can be copied except one, their excellence in evolution. Some companies have unreplicable advantages, like Apple. Yeah, Apple. You see iPhone users, you're locked into the ecosystem. No one's cracking Club Apple anytime soon. But Netflix doesn't have uncrackable advantages like Apple. In fact, nope. Whatever Netflix does in streaming, within a year, every other streamer has copied it. And that is why Netflix's differentiator has been to evolve to stay ahead of the copycat competition. Their first differentiator was having no late fees for your DVD rentals. To beat Blockbuster. Then it was on-demand binge streaming. To beat TV. And then it was no ads.

To beat other streamers. But what's Netflix's differentiator now? Live sports? Podcasts? I don't know. You can dupe that stuff, Jack. You can dupe at all. It's definitely not movie theaters because they're not doing that.

Besties, we are not sure yet, and that is honestly why the stock's down 42%. But always, Netflix has had an eventual answer. Because Netflix's biggest strength is its evolution. And beef, season two. Trust us. Trust us on this one. And don't get the Trocos skin package.

It's not worth it. And you might die. For our second story, The biggest drama at the World Cup is not the overturned red card. It's the pink shoes. 69% of the players wore pink cleats by accident. Oh my God. And it all goes back to one report from two years ago.

And flamencos. But Bessie's first. Team USA officially out of the World Cup. And Jack, you know what that means for our business ears? I hope we don't start a trade war with Belgium. Oh, yeah. We're predicting it. Chocolate tariffs coming to Belgium very soon.

But as you watch the rest of this awesome tournament, you may notice something that Yeti Nicholas Figurora sua. He DMed us, so we dove in T-boy style, and it turns out everyone at the World Cup is wearing pink. Not slamming Sam in the color of this show. No, no, no, no, no, no. We're talking neon, highlighter, Lisa, Frank, full-on unicorn pink, my friend. Peptobismal pink. Totally, Jack. According to writers, 365 of the 528 starters in the opening matches wore pink boots. That's 69% of the pitch fully done in pink below the knees, Jack.

Brazil, Colombia, Germany, all 11 starters were in pink boots. You catch the Mexico versus South Africa game? What did we notice, Jack? Only three players weren't wearing pink cleats. Festies, this is fascinating. Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Balance, getters, they all tried to make their own individual statements. By making cleats that were pink. They wanted to say pink is the new black. But they ended up with a fashion faux pa.

Totally, Jack. I can't believe Ronaldo is wearing what iron. Right. Messy, if you're going to show up here, you gotta go back and change in the wardrobe. So it's been kind of hilarious. Each of these sneaker brands have been justifying why they went all in on pink for the World Cup. Nike, for example, said studies show bold colors boost player confidence in high-pressure situations. New Balance said they just want to stand out.

And if you look at the color wheel, the psychonomics seem to show it would. Pink is the opposite color of green, according to the color wheel, so it does stand out on the pitch. Grass field, pink opposite. I like where that goes, Jack. But the biggest reason why every World Cup team wore pink cleats, just look at the national flags. Ah, the flags. Because besties, no team has pink on their national flag, and therefore no team has pink on their jersey. Pink cleats, they stand out because they blend in with nothing. Add it all up, and the most popular color shoe at the World Cup is one of the most uncommon colors in the world. But here's the craziest part. It doesn't appear that these coordinated pink cleats were actually a coordinated effort at all.

There's no FIFA rule. There's no breast cancer awareness campaign. It's not a lot. It's not. not a political statement and it's got nothing to do with a slamming salmon a T-boy. It was all a coincidence. Or was it? I'm going to call a yellow card on this one. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Noticing the pink cleat issue. This is the flamingo effect.

You try to stand out, but you all end up looking the same. Yeah, it's a funny thing Jack and I discovered. There is one other explanation that no one will admit, but everyone listening to this podcast should know. It's a marketing study from two years ago. The Coloron, WGSN, Colour. You see, this consulting report predicted that in two years, this year, 2026, electric fuchsia would stand out as the top color. To quote the report, this shade of pink is a vivid neon with kinetic

and digital qualities for exhilarating rebellious effects. Well, Jack, it appears multiple apparel shoe brands may have paid for that report or were indirectly influenced by it. So ironically, the color intended to express individual rebellion became the color of conformity. And that reminds us of flamingos. They're born gray, but flamingos turn pink as they eat all that baby shrimp under their legs. How wild is that? Flamingos, individually, they stand out. But once they all eat the same thing, the whole flock ends up looking the same. And these World Cup teams, they all ate the same report from the same consultant.

Oh, it's collusion by consultant, Jack. One niche report influenced everyone. Remember the flamingo effect. You try to stand out. but if you all eat the same thing, you end up looking the same. Let's know what you think. We'll see after the break. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, Fiat just launched the smallest car in all of America. The Topolino. It is unbearably cute. It is adorable because this is a golf cart with an Italian passport. Now, Yetis, you are with us every day. We see you on that run right there. So last week, you know, we covered the 80th birthday

of the Vespa scooter. The Vespa is the Italian icon of tininess. That's right, while Mercedes is showing off eight cylinders. Vespa is showing off eight centimeters. Well, Fiat has been made in Italy long before Vespa even became a verb. Fiat, they're not just older than Ferrari. They used to own Ferrari. And on Tuesday, this 127-year-old company unveiled the Fiat Topolino. Ah, the Topolino. Jack, you just spent four days vacationing on the Amalfi Coast. Can you whip up a translation for us over there, please? You know, I learned so few Italian words. It's like kind of embarrassing. Basically just food words.

Yeah, but Jack's gone all in on those food words. Like, he doesn't just get spaghetti. He gets to go to spaghetti. Well, Topolino actually means little mouse in Italian. Which is advanced Italian 3.01. Besties, this two-seater, it's going to be the smallest street legal car in America. That's why it's the little mouse. It's so small, it's probably going to end up in the next McLemore music video.

It is so small. It's actually legally barely even considered a car. The EU, it's not considered a car. It's technically a quadricycle. True, which is like a motorcycle, but four. And the price, $14,000, which is also small. But the car is even smaller. It's eight feet long. Jack, can you sprinkle on some context, please? Barely longer than Wembe Mianna over in France. Topolino, it's four feet shorter than the Fiat 500, the smallest car currently for a sale in America. We repeat, this new smallest car in America is 50% small. smaller than the number two smallest car in America. There is so little space in this car, and this sounds like a yo-mama-dice, but it is not.

That's the promo pictures of the car show the luggage strapped on the outside of the vehicle. And it's not even big luggage. It's like a carry-on size suitcase. But there's no room for it in the car. The Tupolino's battery, it's one-eighthenth the size of the Fiat E-500. So it can still fit two humans inside as long as they're not professional basketball players. Oh, and you want to know the horsepower of this thing? Eight.

My lawnmower has more horsepower. Add it all up and it's like a Pixar lamp at a baby with a toaster oven and got cast in honey, I shrunk the kids. This thing has racing stripes, true story. But they're the shortest racing stripes in the world. The convertible version of the Topolino is called the Dolce Vita. What does that mean, Nick? What do you tell us, Jack?

The sweet life. But it doesn't have doors. It comes with ropes instead of doors. So if you go too fast and turn a corner, you could fly through the twine by accident and hope you buckled your seatbelt. But Jack, you won't go too fast. because the top speed of this little car is less than America's slowest speed.

Which brings up a great, important note, Nick. They're not competing in the mobility space. This is explicitly micro-mobility. Because this new Fiat tiniest car tops out at 19 miles per hour and gets only 46 miles of range. For an upgrade, it goes 26 miles per hour. But either way, it's a glorified golf cart.

And the pricing strategy is messing with our minds. Because at $13,995, The Topolino is either the world's most expensive golf cart or the world's cheapest car. And for that reason, we think it could strategically target two totally different audiences. First is retirees. Boomers down in Del Boca Vista with their giant 401ks, they might want the nice expensive golf cart to simply ride over to the clubhouse. But also, it could reach the city dinks. Gen Z can't afford a car right now, but they do want to drive downtown on their own wheels.

But a contrarian opinion from Nick and me, we think the top buyer, won't be a person, at least at first, it'll be a place. Yeah, and that place is luxury hotels. Hello, Mr. Martel, you're checking in? Well, we have three nights booked for you at the villa, which comes with a complimentary Fiat Topolino to move around the grounds. Yeah, we think the Ritz Carlton's going to be all over these things. Because if people try these out at luxury hotels, they might buy one for their own neighborhood when they get home. And who just did that? Uh, The Pope. True story. He ordered 20 Topolinos to get around Vatican City carbon-free. Mama Mia.

So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies going zero to 19 over at Fiat? Don't try to be better. Try to be firster. Yeah, be firster. E. Eddies, the United States actually has no legal category for what the Topolino actually is, so it's going to get treated legally as a golf card. In the eyes of the law. Yes, like a golf cart. And there's a surprisingly huge market in America for golf carts that will never once touch the fairway. Just look at the villages, that huge residential community down in Florida.

where they have 80,000 privately owned golf carts rolling around, not just for golf. So Fiat is jumping at the opportunity to be the first automaker building a golf cart in the image of a car. Now, Basties, we should point out there is a risk here, right, Jack? Like the fast follower can sometimes win? Look at Rumba. It invented the robot vacuum, but it's now bankrupt because of Chinese knockoffs. It's the dupes. But when it comes to electric vehicles, Fiat, they can't compete with Tesla on quality and they can't compete with BYD on price.

So Fiat's not even trying to be better. than those two. They're trying to be firster. Jack, and you'll whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday. Netflix is on its coldest streak ever, and people aren't watching season two. It's the season two slump, but we think Netflix will figure it out because their excellence is their evolution. For our second story, 69% of World Cup players wore pink cleats trying to stand out, but none of them stood out. Ah, it was accidental collusion by consulting. We call it the Flamengo effect. And our third and final story, Fiat launched the Topolino. It's a $14,000 golf cart with an Italian passport.

Fiat's not trying to be better. Fiat is trying to be fester. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, meta's newest product, it can read your mind. It sucks newest invention. It decodes brain activity to text, or as he calls it, brain to quarti. Yeah, they're trying to compete with NeurLink.

Meta says their AI can read your brain waves, without surgery and then convert it into writing. If you're thinking, man, that's crazy right now, the computer will type, man, that's crazy because it's reading your mind. And second, as we always say, oil spills onto everything. Oil prices spiked and stocks fell yesterday. Kind of feels like spring again, Jack. Because the war in Iran flared up yesterday.

A tanker was shot by the Iranians in the Strait of Hormuz. So oil prices pop 5%, but it's still way below the wartime levels. And stocks fell 1%, but they're still very close to all-time highs. We'll monitor the situation, as they say on Twitter. And finally, Nestle is changing their food recipes because, well, people on OZempic have dull taste buds. Cornflakes, tropicana, popsicles, all those brands may get salt and spices added to the recipe. The world's biggest food maker realized that GLP wants, they don't just change your appetite, they change your whole taste profile. Your tongue literally tastes Cheetos less if you're on OZempec.

So they're tossing more orange powder on there. What do I got to do to get some cool ranch on this popsicle? Now, time for the best fact. Yeah, this one sent in by legendary Eddie, Howie Furtig from lovely Durham, North Carolina. Push and play. Hey, Nick and Jack. It's Howie Furtig from Durham, North Carolina. I'm your oldest getting.

Last week, while out of conference, my team of seven held an Uber XL. As soon as we got in, Enrique Handed his microphones, started a T. Swift song on his karaoke machine, and turned on some disco nights. In about five seconds, everyone was in full voice. We came to a stoplight. I was riding shotgun, and I pointed to a way more across the street and said, what do you think? Enrique motioned to the back of the SUV and said, that's why I got the karaoke machine. It's a fact.

We're living in the experienced economy. Dude, Howie's our oldest listener and he knows all the lyrics to Fade of Ophelia. Not too shabby. By the way, Enrique, that Uber driver jack, I think he wasn't trying to be better. He was trying to be firster. He was trying to be firster. Although, as a result, he was better than AI. Yetis, you look fantastic for Cevice Wednesday.

If you haven't yet, grab your tickets to our live shows. The next one, September, San Francisco. September 23rd at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. We can't wait to see you there. Oh, and by the way, when we're in San Francisco, if you can think of a food that does not have an AI startup that's taken that name, drop it in the comments. We couldn't find one.

Deep fried Oreos AI. I just snagged the domain name, Nick. Scallop AI. We'll see you in the sea. Jack and I will see it tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Esther B. Marino. O.C. born Spanish-Rays Yetty celebrating the best birthday yet. Happy 28th birthday to Natalie Hudson, who's celebrating with barbecue sauce and big music down in Austin.

And Peter Satiwa, and turned him 50 years old in Chicago Snacker turned Yeti doing logistics. Happy birthday to David Notton and Oxnard. California. And KADR Shaker is turning 14 years old down in Duval, Washington. Great to get you never shout out, Kedar. Happy 32nd birthday to Kelsey Denison in Vancouver, Canada. The Kanoch. And James and Courtney Manning, congrats on the three-year anniversary in New York City, even more pickleback shots than last year. We wouldn't forget, guys. Congratulations to Dr. Jason Litt on four years of successful entrepreneurship. Elite spine and pain is crushing it in the MD. And a quick correction from Sarah Pettapest and Charleston. Last week, we did a story on moving in with

nuns to save on rent, we said covenant we meant to say convent. Which is why I just did, ate Hail Marys as penance. And a special goodbye from Jess, Jenna, Flore, and Annalise to Mr. Sears. The legendary teacher and fan of T-boy is moving on, and we can't wait to see him again soon. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix, and Nick and I both on stock of Apple.