The Best One Yet - 💿 “Adele venmo’d you” — Spotify Wrapped’s data transcendence. DoorDash’s 15 minutes. China’s conscious uncoupling.

Episode Date: December 7, 2021

You’ve seen your buddies’ Spotify Wrapped fill your Insta Stories because Spotify’s annual tradition transcends the greatest debate in tech. DoorDash is jumping into the #1 startup theme of 2021: 15-minute Super Delivery. And another Chinese stock (Didi) is pulling a Gwyneth Paltrow and “consciously uncoupling” from US markets.$SPOT $DASH $UBER $DIDIGot a SnackFact? Tweet it @RobinhoodSnacks @JackKramer @NickOfNewYorkWant a shoutout on the pod? Fill out this form:https://forms.gle/KhUAo31xmkSdeynD9Got a SnackFact for the pod? We got a form for that too:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe64VKtvMNDPGSncHDRF07W34cPMDO3N8Y4DpmNP_kweC58tw/viewformLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. And this is Snacks Daily. It is Tuesday. Tea Boy, Tuesday, December 7th. Ouch. Yeah. That's one hurts.

BTC. Bitcoin is down 30% from its all-town high. Hasn't been the best one yet for our buddy Ben the Bitcoin. Great guy. This pod, without question, is the best one. Yeah. This is so much better than yesterday's pod. Jack, what's our first story?

Spotify's Wrapped 2021 confirms that you are Taylor Swift's 10 millionth best fans. Spotify's annual tradition rises above the greatest debate in tech. For our second story, the number one startup theme of this year has been 15-minute super delivery. Super delivery. So DoorDash is jumping in to deliver you a pint of hog andaws before you even know you want it. For our third and final story, D-D is delisting. It is. They're leaving the U.S. stock market. China is pulling a financial, Gwyneth Paltrow.

And Chris Bart. And Chris Martin. Great guy. But Snackers, before we hit that great mix. A wonderful mix. Today is Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. And it's not just any Pearl Harbor remembered state. It is the 80th anniversary of the day Pearl Harbor was attacked.

December 7th, 1941, 80 years ago, Pearl Harbor was attacked, bringing the United States into World War II. More than 2400 Americans died when the Hawaiian port was bombed. It was the worst attack on U.S. soil in its history all the way up until September 11th, 2001. But here's the thing, Snackers. When you're looking back on Pearl Harbor, it also became a total catalyst. Nick and I are students of economics and history. It led to the greatest economic mobilization in American history.

Because the U.S. didn't just enter the war after Pearl Harbor. The U.S. transformed its entire economy to ensure victory the day after Pearl Harbor. You can see it, first of all, in the federal budget, which jumped from $9 billion in 1940 to $95 billion. in 1945. Oh, and there's more where that came from. America's GDP. It nearly tripled during that same period. Look at Ford Motor Company. They turned their car factory in Ipsilani. Great town. Into a B-24 bomber factory. Michigan was building airplanes, baby. Maid Tags stopped making washers, and they started making mufflers for B-26 aircraft. Iowa, they paused on corn, pivoted to war supplies. And the Brooklyn Navy Yard was churning out destroyers, including the USS Missouri, which is where the war formally ended.

Brooklyn built boats. Industrial America was the Arsenal democracy, including probably Nick, Schenectady, New York, where your grandfather was probably like... Lighting and powering the world over there, Jack. Can we read off some more numbers here? Men and women were pumping out 300,000 airplanes in the U.S., 90,000 tanks, and 64,000 ships across American factories. That is more production than all three of the enemy countries combined. We repeat, combined. On Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, we're not just remembering a tragedy.

Snackers, it's also an amazing collective response. Let's hit our three snacks. You're tuned in to snacks daily. We spoke to the lawyers and we got to get something legal out the way. The snacks about to hear ain't food. It's air candy. They don't reflect the views of the robberhood family. It's all informational just so you know.

We're not recommending any securities. It's not a research report or investment advice. Not an offer or sale of a security. Right. Snacks is digestible. Business news for you. Rob her financial, LLC, member Fenbra, slash SIPC. For our first story by the grace of Drake, Spotify just wrapped up its famous, wrapped feature of what you've been listening to all year. It's an annual tradition at this point. It is a tradition.

And it does transcend data privacy paranoia. If you've been on any type of social media in the last seven days, you know who got wrapped and you got wrapped? We all got wrapped. my friend Rose who said, somebody tell me when all this Spotify wrapped is over and I'll come back on social media. Spoiler, buddy Timmy is a mellow moods playlist guy. Well, it's the year and review slideshow from Spotify that turns into shareable social media posts. Spotify's been doing wrapped for five years now. It's been a thing. They track your listening from January to October and then they tell you, what artist did you listen to the most? It tells you how many minutes you've listened to

certain artists. It tells you how many days you woke up and listened to just one podcast. How long it stayed in your head rent-free. It tells you that you listen to so much Adele that her lawyers Venmo requested you for more royalties. You know, I actually expected Adele was going to be my number one, but she was.

This is a confession here, everybody. Yeah. I'm actually in pictures now and it's like, it's like Drake, like sent out a seasoned desist. There were so many raps about Drake. Now,

Nick and I aren't just listeners on Spotify. We also have a podcast on Spotify. We're seeing the other end of this spectrum over here. So Spotify gave us wrapped for creators. So we got some stats on Snacks Daily Snackers. Jack, can we whip out the map on this one? There's a couple of countries that listened to the first time. Somebody in Zambia listened to Snacks Daily this year.

We see you, Zambia. This one, we're extremely proud of. 112,000 people listen to Snacks Daily on Spotify more than any other podcast this year. Takeaway, we love you guys. But Snackers, here's what Jack and I find fascinating about Spotify wrapped. Spotify wrapped isn't just a feature. It's become a growth hack. It's free marketing for Spotify and everyone's taking part.

Jack, let's travel back a year ago because that's the latest data we got on Spotify wrapped. Get this, Snackers. A hundred million listeners on Spotify engaged with their Spotify wrapped product last year. That's about one third of Spotify listeners. But the number of people who saw a post on social media is way bigger than 100 million. Including like my mom. It boosted interest in the Spotify app. That's what this product.

does. According to news publication protocol, there was a 21% jump in downloads of Spotify last year in the first week of December, which coincided with Spotify Rapped. And not just that. Spotify's app over in the App Store rankings, it went from being in the top 30 apps worldwide to one of the top 10 apps worldwide because of RAPT. Now, Apple Music has their own version of this. They call it replay. But it's like a lot harder to share on social and it's painful to actually see how it. So, Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies over at Spotify? Well, everyone's obsessed with protecting their personal data.

Spotify is helping you unprotected fear. Yeah. Honestly, the like number one fear Jack and I have seen when it comes to tech these days, privacy. People are afraid that their personal data is going to get out there for all to see. That's exactly what happens with Spotify wrapped. They help you get your data out there for all to see. Raft is that. Rapt is your personal data, but bundled up into a beautiful package that screams,

I love James Brown. In 2014, Facebook tried to do something like this. They created a highlight reel of your best Facebook pictures you posted this year. They did. Do you remember what happened with that one, Jack? 2014. Yeah, people freaked out. Yeah, they did.

People were like, this picture from college, this was still around. Never make anyone see this again. Uber couldn't do this if they wanted to. No, they're going to be like, oh, you traveled to the airport. Again, that's weird. Twice in one week. Amazon wrapped would just be like pretty boring. Oh, congratulations.

You ordered more mouthwash than you. you did the previous year. Great work. If Google did this, it's like, you searched what is this thing on my thigh how many times? If Google revealed what we're all Googling, this would cause total chaos. This would be bad. Spotify app is special. It speaks to the power of product execution. Because it drives downloads of Spotify. To the power of audio as expression. It transcends privacy paranoia. For our second story, what's your favorite Ben and Jerry's flavor again? It's a Maricone Dream. Are you sick of waiting for it? Yeah, sure. Okay. Because our second story, Super Delivery, just went for being a startup battle to an industry war.

DoorDash is officially entering the 15-minute super-delivery race. Jack, can we talk about the startup boom of 2021? The theme of the year, Super Delivery. We like to call it Super Delivery. You city folk, 30 minutes too long to get delivered. God. Takes Jack 30 minutes to drive to like the nearest booming. Well, Snackers, we got top minds in this country.

working on supersonic delivery of your shampoo and conditioner. Yeah, and that's why I get this. This is wild. Nearly $10 billion of venture capital has poured into super delivery apps just this year. That's half a lift. Super delivery. It only works in cities because they store the goods that you order for delivery blocks away from where you live. We just have urges in these cities, Jeff. Now, Amazon uses giant fulfillment centers because they got to service the whole like tri-state county area region.

Super delivery, on the other hand, they use micro-fulfillment centers, which are glorified pantries. It's a little center that services the entire neighborhood with 15-minute delivery. So they're operating like digital bodegas. It's a much smaller space, smaller inventory, but it's easier and quicker to get that Ben and Jerry's pint to jacks face as soon as possible, even though he wants it right now. I have an American dream. So Snackers, 2,000 items can be delivered from these super delivery apps within a five-block radius. and it's a whole bunch of stuff. One micro fulfillment center has some mac and cheese.

It has some chocolate sauce. It has some dove soap, you know, standard staples. So here's what Jack and I noticed. DoorDash is looking into delivery. It wants to do all things delivery, everything delivery. And it notices that $10 billion of venture capital money in one year has flowed into super delivery. DoorDash thinks it's a threat. That is freaky.

That's a potential enemy. That's a rival. So DoorDash just launched Dashmart. 10 to 15 minute delivery. Are you kidding? It used to be 15 to 20 minutes. Jack, we've just undercut the whole competition here with 10 minute delivery. Did Usain Bolt come out of retirement?

Here's the thing. At some point, like it's a race to the bottom, you can't go more than one minute delivery. You can't do instant delivery. I mean, until they like inception this thing and they know what you want before you'll want it, and then they deliver it to you. Now, Nick and I see this and we think DoorDash has a huge advantage over the half dozen or so super delivery startups that are already out there.

It does. because they've eliminated friction because you already have downloaded the DoorDash app. A super delivery startup, they have to splurge big money. All the money the venture capitalist gave them on marketing to get the word out for this so far unknown app. Yeah, Jack, three months ago, had you heard of Joker or Gorillas or GoPuff? No, but now maybe I have because they have New York City subway ads basically saying like, hey, trust us. We can get it to you in 10 minutes. Please download our app. That costs a lot of money. On the other hand, DoorDash, all of that. they got to do is like notify you the next time you open up the app.

Ding. You're looking for Pad Ty and then they're like, whoa, I can order from Walgreens and it's delivered in 15 minutes. Of course I'll try that. It doesn't cost that much money for DoorDash to pull off that magic. So Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies over in the whole super delivery industry? New York City is the latest venture capital backed Lab City. Snackers, when venture capital gets excited about a new industry, they fuel that startup with a whole

bunch of money. A whole lot of startups with that money. And those startups with all that money, they need a laboratory to experiment with that new industry. And for electric scooters, that lab city was San Francisco. There's a lot of early adopters there, not that much public transportation and a bunch of hills. So many hills. For self-driving cars, that lab city was Phoenix Scottsdale. The roads are very straight. The turns are very 90 degrees and there's no snow. For super delivery, though, that lab city is New York City starting this year. New York. The only U.S. city dense enough for super delivery to physically be possible and get there in 15 minutes. Yeah, the business model doesn't work without this kind of density.

Get this. New York has 28,000 people per square mile. That's over double the next closest densest American city. Just about all the super delivery startups have picked New York as a result. That's where they're starting and that's where they're learning to deliver so darn quick. For example, Joker, that's a super delivery app. They're thriving in New York City. they just hit a billion dollar valuation just last week.

Another company, 1520 they're called, is failing in New York City. They just shut down. They're all experimenting in New York City. And DoorDash is launching in New York City. New York City is the latest venture capital backed Lab City. For our third and final story, Didi, Didi is leaving U.S. markets. It is going home back to China. It's part of China's conscious uncoupling from the U.S.

and let's hope this doesn't become a nasty breakup. This could turn into a Mori Jerry Springer kind of thing. We don't want that. But in the meantime, Snackers, D-D-D-D-D-D-Global, it's the Uber rival. It was a big deal this year. They had a big year. The Chinese ride-hailing app called D-D-D-D. They wanted U.S. investor money this year.

They did. So back in June, Jack, I remember where we were, you and me, over a couple sweet green salads. We were covering this story. D-D-D-Global, IP-Oed, and it was an immediate disaster. One week after D-D-D-D-listed their stock on the new. New York Stock Exchange. Big deal. The Chinese government launched an arbitrary investigation and banned the DDI app from all app stores

in China. Okay, China's Uber, their Uber of China, you couldn't download the app in China this summer after they IPO. The stock never recovered. It's down by over 50% since their IPO. So it looks like Didi's stock market listing in New York this summer. It may have gotten the Chinese government upset. So last week, D.D. did something shocking that Nick and I have never seen.

Didn't see this coming. They announced that they're delisting their stock from the New York Stock Exchange. The announcement was only 80 words, and Didi didn't say why they were doing this. This was not a press release. This was a glorified tweet. But Bloomberg is reporting that China ordered Didi to delist from the New York Stock Exchange. And as we know, what president she wants, president she gets. So this is an example of China pulling a Chinese company back to China out of the U.S.

But Snackers, here's how we're also seeing this. It's also an example. of maybe some pushing of this Chinese company by United States regulators. Just last week, the SEC finalized rules for the holding foreign companies accountable act, which passed Congress and got signed by President Trump last year. It's a very literal name for the act for a very specific reason. This is going to require Chinese and other foreign companies to provide just as much transparency on their businesses as American companies do, like a whole lot of transparency.

It's only for companies with stocks listed in the U.S., but they have to provide data, meeting logs, and email correspondence to the SEC. That reservation for Tuat Nobu, that's got to be on the books and someone's going to want to know what you order. And crucially, who was attending? And did you get the Miso Black Pot? Now, the Chinese government is not happy about this at all. They will not let their companies comply. They say for national security reasons, they don't want the Biden administration having their hands on like corporate emails. In the meantime, if you're a Chinese company whose stock is true.

trading in the United States, you've got three years to comply with this transparency law. Unless a compromise is reached, then it looks like all 248 Chinese stocks could be pushed out by this new SEC rule. Jack, 248 Chinese stocks is a big number, but is there a bigger number we could sprinkle on some context with? Two trillion dollars. Two trillion dollars of value. These 248 Chinese companies with U.S. listed stocks actually represents 10% of, of all the stock on the New York Stock Exchange. And that $2 trillion could transfer and delist back to China. So, Jack, what is the takeaway for our buddies who are every Chinese stock in the United

States? China is consciously uncoupling from U.S. capital. Snackers, the United States, we got a lot of capital, a whole lot of money. And China appears to be consciously uncoupling from it. Which is different from like an ugly divorce. It's far more amicable. We're looking at this and Jack and I are like, you know what? This reminds us of Gwyneth Paltrow and Cold Place Chris Martin in their eternally perfect breakup a few years ago.

They're not together anymore, but they're still friends. They still co-parent. They're co-children. They just don't have an unbelievably beautifully decorated house they share together in Malibu anymore. No, they're not doing the parenting in that house. They're just hanging out on the weekends and the kids split the time. The reason we think this looks like a conscious uncoupling is you can still invest in delisted Chinese stocks. It's just a little bit harder to do so. You can still invest in DD's Hong Kong listed stock, for example. And thanks to this amicable uncoupling, U.S. companies can still operate in China right now. Yeah, China's still going to let Apple assemble its phones in China.

The bigger risk here is if this transforms from a nice uncoupling to a vengeful dirty breakup. Well, the other huge news that hit yesterday, the Biden administration just announced a diplomatic boycott of the entire Beijing upcoming Olympics. The athletes are still going to go. and they'll get the support of the U.S. government, but no dignitaries or politicians are going to the games. Which is what is so scary about the conscious uncoupling. It's peaceful right now, but it could escalate into an uglier divorce. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday?

Spotify wrapped is free marketing every year for Spotify. And it's working. Somehow Spotify transcended our personal data paranoia. DoorDash is entering superdelivered. New York City is the VC-backed, lab where DoorDash is testing all this stuff out. D-D is delisting from the U.S. Dock. And we're hoping that conscious uncoupling stays that way.

Kind of like how it's worked for Gwyneth and Chris. Now, time for our snack fact of the day. This one sent in by Kathy Tom from lovely Kent Washington. Did you guys know that tennis balls were originally white when tennis first started? They changed it to yellow because of television coverage. The white was harder to see. And so they converted to yellow tennis. balls to make it easier for people to watch at home.

That's also the reason why there are changeovers in tennis on every odd game. The breaks are for commercials. Nick, remember when hockey was trying to get more fans? You mean every year? And they added the blue highlights so you could see the puck on TV. We're still trying to do that. They got to bring back that light, man. That was amazing.

I need that blue highlight. Like, I'm struggling to follow a hockey game. I don't blame you. The Star Wars vacation of ice hockey is the greatest opportunity. for ice hockey jack. Saved by Lundquist that was. You will not block this puck. The force is with Messier.

Kathy, thanks for that great snack fact. You deserve to be in the Hall of Fame down there. New Portland Island. Snackers, you look fantastic today. If you haven't yet, go up to click to follow us right here on Spotify or on Apple, and that way you're always with us. Nick and I will see you tomorrow.

Can't wait. And before we go, happy birthday to Snacker Grace down in Mesa, Arizona. Happy 30th to Dwayne Paris in Newark, New Jersey. And to Rachel Wang in Southern California celebrating hard. Happy birthday's fee in Chicago. And Owen Agbuna down in El Paso, Texas, listening while holding on to his Peloton shares. Oh, wait, now we have to say we both on Peloton shares.

Yeah, this is Jack. Nick and I are both recovering Peloton shareholders. That sounds like a struggle to get out. And Claire Graciella and Leanne Cohane, congrats on the new baby Snacker. Fort St. Lucy. To anyone else celebrating something today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins, except for our Peloton stock. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Spotify and we both own some Bitcoin. Ben. I own stock of Amazon and Nick own stock of Apple. Robin Hood Snacks, newsletters, and podcast reflect the opinions of only the authors who are associated persons of Robin Hood Financial

LLC and do not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc, or any of its subsidiaries or affiliates. They are meant for informational purposes only and are not a recommendation to buy or sell any security, cryptocurrency, or investment strategy in any account. This is not an offer or sale of a security, not a research report, and is not intended to serve on the basis for any investment decision. Any third-party information provided therein does not reflect the views of Robin Hood Markets, Inc., Robin Hood Financial LLC, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. All investments involve risk, including loss of principal and past performance, does not guarantee future results. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member FINRA, SIPC.