The Best One Yet - 🍰“AI’s 5-Layer Cake” — Nvidia’s epic explainer. LEGO’s verb’ing. Nio’s battery-swap cars. +End of Athleisure

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

Lego had its best year ever, launching 2 new sets every day… Thanks to a lesson from sports.Nvidia’s Jensen Huang wrote his first blog post in 6 years… to explain AI is like a 5-layer cake.China’s Nio is out-innovating Tesla… because it doesn’t charge batteries, it swaps ‘em.Plus, it’s the End of Athleisure… denim is eating LuluFYI, here’s Nvidia blog post: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-5-layer-cake/ $NIO $MAT $HAS $LULU $NVDABuy 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. It's Wednesday, Wednesday, March 11th. And today's pod is the best one yet this is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Live show DC Tonight. Final, like six tickets are available.

That's it. We added 20 tickets last second. Snaggers. The links in the episode description. Oh, by the way, besties, we're recording from the stage where we're going to actually do the show. Yeah, yeah. Tonight. Show time is at 7.30.

Doors open at 6.30. As for stock markets, well, they climbed again on Tuesday as oil prices fell. Markets remain soothed by the president's comments on Monday that the warner-round will soon end. And Jack, I am soothed by your voice as you share with us the three fantastic stories for today's show. For our first story, how did Lego just have their best year ever during a trade war? How? By launching two new Lego sets every day. Because Lego learned a lesson from college sports.

For our second story, China's electric car company, Neo, is so a different. They don't charge batteries. They swap them. True story. Because Neo is now 10 times bigger than Rivian and 100 times crazier than Tesla. And our third and final story. In Video CEO, Jensen Huang just wrote a rare blog post about how you should understand AI. Here's what he said. AI is like a five-layer cake. So Jack and I are taking a bite out of each and every layer to share it with you. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix for the venue with a live show, Jack? Nick, what is the millennial uniform? Well, Jack, I'm not seeing Brooks for Bollos and J. Crew. I'm seeing Viori and a hint of aloe.

It's athletic. It is. The default wardrobe for berries, brunch, or getting on an airplane. And we see you, Basties, Lulu leggings with the Athleta hoodie, and maybe, just maybe, an outdoor voice is sweat-wicking tea. But here's the plot twist. Fabletics, Kate Hudson's Athleisure brand is pivoting to denim. I'm sorry, pause the pod jack.

A workout wear brand is launching jeans? Yes. And this may signal the end of the athleisure trend. Gerd your stretchy loins! Because denim growth is accelerating, but athleisure growth is decelerating. You see, Eddie's customers just ain't Netflix and chilling like they used to. And you can see it in Lulu Lemon stock price. Lulu is down 67% in two years.

I'm feeling it right now in Lulu Lemon stock price. Soft clothes are out, hard ones are in. Comfort is cold. Carhart is hot. And we don't think Fabletics is the last Athleisure brand. That's going to be slipping into something less comfortable. I mean, Jack, could Lulu Lemon maybe collab with Levi's? Nike skims could pivot to Nike stiffs.

Jack and I also think aloe should just acquire Jinkgo. That jinkgo. You know what we're talking about. So today's full on Spotify. Do you wear more ath leisure, less athleisure, or the same as five years ago? Drop your phone in the comments, and I will hit on three stories. Fifteen 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. It's 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. Our first story.

Despite trade wars, market wars, and real wars, Lego just had its best year ever in 2025. Lego is fascinating. They're winning because they're playing offense and defense at the same time. But besties, as you may or may not know, we actually did a whole deep dive episode on the origin of the Lego on The Best Idea Yet, our weekly show. The episode opens with Lego helping the Allies in World War II.

I mean, what a story. They're also the world's biggest tire company. Just really tiny tires. Yeah, small, small, small tires. But there's nothing small about the Lego business of the last year, is it, Jack? Sales rose 16%, which is twice as fast as the rest of the toy industry. Besties, Lego's now doing 13 billion bucks in revenue. That is 30% more than Hasbro and Mattel.

Combined. They're putting up double-digit growth numbers over Lego, like a young, Furby. This Denmark-based family-controlled business is still not public. True story. So if you want to buy stock, you're straight up missing out. Your S-U-M-O-Sumo. But in the meantime, it looks like Barbie stop playing with Ken and is now hanging out with a set of Legos. But how was 2025 the biggest year yet for the world's smallest toy? Well, yet he's Jack and I jumped in T-boy style for their twice annual earnings. And it turns out Lego has been on the offense. Get this. They launched 860 new Lego sets last year. Yeah. The most ever. Jack, can you sprinkle on more context, please?

That's more than two new Lego sets per day. What is that? I can't even process. We picked a random day from December. They launched a Golden Retriever puppy Lego set, a trio of top Pokemon Lego set, and a Lego set of the NASA Artemis Rocket. And yes, all of them were triple-digit price profits. They're expensive. Now, Nick and I think we need to retire the word cadult. I mean, at this point, the kiddult term doesn't even work. It's their core customer. Because Lego is now an acceptable midlife hobby. Puzzling, knitting, Legoing. They're all acceptable things to do on the Saturday night when you're staying in. And strategically, they brought in the audience. So Lego's now catering to women with a new partnership with MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

You can buy a $200 Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, Lego set. But then they've also gone deeper with men with a new F-1 partnership this year. The Ferrari Pit crew set? 300 bucks. Nice gift for your man's fifth year anniversary. Wait, that was weird. No, isn't that weird, Jack? Lego, and they're treating business the way Jack and I see it like a movie studio. They're making some things rated G, some things rated PG-13, even some rated R sets. They're doing rom-coms, they're doing action. They're just approaching, making anything as LEGOs. Now, kids still want the big starter set bucket of Legos, but the adults want their super niche passion statement set to build and then put on their bookshelf. But Jack, I've got to pause the pot here for a sec. Here's the shocker.

Lego is the most international business in the industry, man. How is it thriving with tariffs taxing every part of their business? Well, besties, Jack and I noticed that Lego learned a lesson that we learned back in college sports. As a backup, second string, third string quarterback, and a potential ready to go second string face off lacrosse guy. Time for the takeaways. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lego? Offense wins games, but defense wins championships. You know, Yeti's those record high 860 new Lego sets that they launched last year,

that was Lego on the off. That's Lego keeping their foot on the pedal to stay ahead of the competition. The offense. But what you didn't see was the defense, the logistical investments that set up the offense for success. Because Lego opened their sixth factory on their third continent last year. Wow. And this year, they're spending $1.5 billion to build their seventh factory right here in the state of Virginia. That's defense. That's localized production. And it's key to reducing shipping costs, avoiding tariffs, and becoming a job creator for each region that it sells into.

Which keeps you on the good side of all the politicians who are setting the tariff rates. So the way Jack and I see it, the offense is the new Picasso Lego set. The defense is the distributed production of all the LEGOs. Like in sports, offense gets all the stats and the MVP awards and all the praise and all the highlights. But the defense does the grunt work that deserves the credit to. Vessies, you notice how there's only been two defensive players to ever win the NFL MVP? And only two defensive players to ever win the highsmen. Yeah, defense just doesn't get the same glory as the offense. Still, Lego knows what coaches know too.

Offense wins games, but defense wins championships. For our second story, while Tesla's car sales are past its peak, Neo's car sales in China are exploding. Neo should be a wake-up call to America. We're giving it. If we coddle our car industry forever, our Lincoln's will become lemons. Wait to you hear what Neo is doing.

But besties, to start by sprinkling on some context, back in 2019, Neo was a new stock trading on the New York Stock Exchange for just $1.50. We covered that IPO on this podcast. We did. It was founded by China's Elon Musk, and the pitch was, this is Tesla but for China. Tesla, but with Chinese characteristics. And that's why the Robin Hood investing crowd pumped the stock up to $60 during the pandemic.

Although Neo stock has floated back down to five bucks today. But we still think you need to pay attention. Because Neo has passed Tesla, in our opinion, in terms of innovation. Because besties, Neo just announced they sold 125,000 electric cars just last quarter. Jack, can you sprinkle on more context? That's only a third as many cars sold as Tesla, but it's 10 times more cars sold than Rivian. And Tesla's sales have fallen for two straight years, while Neo's growth has nearly doubled last quarter to 72%. Now, we said a second ago that Neo is more innovative than Tesla, in our opinion.

We know that's a big statement today. It was bold. It was bold. But Neo is revolutionizing the car experience in ways not just new, but ways that aren't even possible here in the States. We're talking Star Wars-level stuff. Like, Jack, you know, in every Star Wars movie, they visit a new planet and, like, there's a new hoverboard everyone uses? That's like Neo. We're not even embellishing this. For example, Neo announced last month that they had completed their 100 millionth battle. Okay, I'm sorry, pause the pot, I'm fascinated. Battery swap. In China, you don't have to charge your Neo's battery. You can swap your Neo's battery. That's right.

Since 2018, Neo has built 3,800 battery swapping stations, with 1,000 more coming this year. For context, Tesla has about 3,000 supercharging stations in the U.S. So, Neo has more battery swapping stations than that. Again, Jack, we've got to dive in T-boy style to this. What is the swap exactly? Okay, so each battery swapping station has regular chargers. Although high-end Nios can charge in just five minutes. Yeah, that is six times faster than any other U.S. electric car can charge.

But if you don't have five minutes to charge your NEO, let's say I only have two and a half minutes, Jack. Then you can swap your depleted battery for a fully charged one. It's like Jiffy Loop. You roll into this room and then the floor opens up to remove and replace your battery in just two and a half minutes. Imagine if you could replace your iPhone's battery like that with a fully charged battery. That's what they're doing with Nios in China. It's like a chassis switcheroo. It costs $25, and you're out in just 150 seconds.

$25, $2.5 minutes you're out of there? That's the same experience with pumping gas here in the U.S. In fact, Neo has turned this into a new industry. Basically, Bass, battery has a service. You buy the car, but you don't actually buy the battery. No, no, no. You subscribe to your Neo battery. It's actually sold by a different company within Neo. You see, the battery is by far the most expensive part of an electric car. It is. You can subscribe to a small battery because you live in the city and don't take long trips and then swap out a big battery for that one summer road trip you're taking this year. You're going to Tahoe?

Honey, we're swapping batteries in two minutes. Now, add it all up and China treats the battery with the respect that America gives to the engines. Yeah, China has basically put the battery on a pedestal. But we should point out a huge caveat. Although Neo just had its first profitable quarter ever, they've never had a profitable year. Yeah, Neo actually lost over two billion bucks last year. And that's the huge tension we face when it comes to Chinese competition. It's subsidized by the government.

So it doesn't matter how much money they lose at all. What China wants is to win industries at any cost. And what she wants, she gets? So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at China's Neo? You can't protect your children forever. They need to face the real world. Hey, Eddie's. The reason these crazy tech innovations are new news to you?

Well, it's because they're barred from the United States. And that reminds us of Fiat. Fiat. After World War II, Italy shielded their national car company from foreign competition. Hey, Kifachia. What is it going on here, Jack? They didn't want Germans, Brits, and Swedes putting Italians out of a job. Well, that's why the United States has banned Chinese cars from being imported here to America as well.

It's to protect American car making jobs. But here's the problem. Fiat decayed. It kind of became a bad car over the last century. Fiat went from Italian pride to Italian disgrace. Yeah, I ran to one for our honeymoon and went zero to 60. Eventually. So, that is what we're saying is competition is the blood that runs through the veins of capitalism.

China's competition, it's unfair. Chinese electric vehicles, they benefit from massive state subsidies. True. But we must find a balance. We can protect our car industry in the short term, but we must invest in the long term because that Chinese competition is coming someday. Because what China's doing right now with electric vehicles, it's a maug-in American. electric vehicles, and it even is put in Tesla to shame. Meanwhile, America is at risk of letting

our Fords become fiatts. We're going to drive to a commercial break. Let us know what you think in the comments. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, NVIDIA's Jensen Wong just drew a map of the AI industry that you need to understand. Because AI is like a five-layer cake, with each delicious layer driving different elements of our economy and our stock market. I'll pull out of the oven and we'll explain it to you. But besties, to start this story, let's go back to September of 2020.

Jack, what was happening then? That's when NVIDIA's CEO published a blog post that, boy, do I wish I had read. Who's got creating a premier company for the age of AI? The reason we wish we'd read it is that that was two years before Chatsy BT launched, and yet NVIDIA was talking about becoming an AI company.

Back then, in 2020, if you invested $1,000 in Vivida stock, it would be worth $15,000 today. So this week, when NVIDIA's CEO published the first blog post since then, six years ago, we won't be fooled again. We read it so many times.

We read this one. And here it is. AI is a five-layer cake. That's the title. And here's the first sentence from Jensen Wong, the legendary leather-bound CEO of NVIDIA.

He's not a leather-bound notebook. But he's his style. He's a leather-bound CEO. It's a vibe. He said that AI is one of the most powerful forces shaping the world today, not just the economy.

It is not a clever app or a single model. It is essential infrastructure, like electricity and the internet. So, besties, grab some sprinkles, buttercream, and a plate, because we are slicing up Jensen Wong's five-layer cake analogy on AI. Because there are stock market winners in each and every layer. All right, Jack, let's grab your apron. At the top of this AI cake is the applications, and what is that exactly? This is how we humans interact with AI today.

Yeah, besties, think of like the chatbot, sales forces Einstein, way most self-driving cars. These are the applications of AI in the real world that consumers interact with. But beneath the applications are the models, the LLMs that have been trained on huge amounts of data to get smart. That's the second layer of the cake.

You got OpenAI, Anthropic, Google meta. They're the players actually in the top two layers, the model and the application. The third layer is where things get physical. The infrastructure. And the third layer you see Oracle, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services. They all build cloud-connected data.

data centers to house and operate chips. Which brings us to the fourth layer. The chips. Yeah, the chips. Invita and AMD designed them. TSM manufactures them, and they fill up all those data centers. And boy, do they get hot when they're humming. Oh, you got to bring them out of the oven.

Because on the bottom layer of this five-layer AI cake is the energy. Artificial intelligence, not possible without huge amounts of electricity. So those are Jensen's five layers. And we think you need to understand them because, man, this industry is just too important not to understand. We've got energy under the chips, under the infrastructure, under the models, under the applications. It's like a five-tier wedding cake. And what's so wild about this is that baking this five-layer cake requires workers of all different kinds. I mean, Jack, it requires electricians, plumbers, and pipe thirers.

And concrete pourers. But it also requires tech workers, physicists, PhDs. Our best white-collar and blue-collar workers are building out this technology stack. But, Jensen, if you are listening and we believe that you are, we would actually propose a six-layer to your AI cake. natural resources. For both the chips and the electricity, the natural resources are like the I don't know, the icing on top. Yeah, but I guess not on top. It would be like the cake plate underneath the cake. Yeah, yeah, because it's below with the electricity is the natural resources. This is the reason why President Trump wants to acquire Greenland for the rare earth metals and the other

rocks and resources that are critical to AI. So AI, it takes raw materials from the bottom and converts them all the way up to intelligence at scale. And now Craven Magnolia, preferably the banana cake with the chocolate chips. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the five-layer cake of AI? To grasp where we are in this AI revolution, we're going to quote Winston Churchill. Okay, so Jack just finished this book on Winston Churchill.

Jack, why do you take it from here? It was actually on FDR. Supporting Role Winston Churchill. In 1942, after the Allies finally had their first major victory in World War II, Winston Churchill grabbed the radio microphone and addressed the nation. What did he say? What did he say? He said, this is not. the end. It's not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning. Okay, first of all,

I like how the accent developed over the course of the quote. Second of all, yes, you do get the award. Third, we think that this captures where we are in the AI revolution. We're at the end of the beginning. End of the beginning. Because AI is scaled, but it's still nascent. Businesses are being created with AI, but they're also being destroyed by AI. We don't know who the winners of AI will be yet. We just know who's winning right now. Just like Winston and the allies in 1942. So the reason we wanted to read Jensen's cake post is that AI is the defining economic force of the generation. And according to Jensen, we've spent hundreds of billions of dollars to stack it out so far, but there's trillions still to come. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for

Saviche Wednesday? Lego enjoyed a record 2025. It's growing not from kids, but from adults. It's all because offense wins games, but defense wins championships. Second, Neo is doing things with EVs that would blow your mind. Like battery swapping and battery subscriptions. Oh, we can't coddle Ford from Chinese competition forever, or Ford could end up like Fia. And our third and final story is Jensen's first blog post in six years. It says that AI is a five-layer cake.

So where are we in the baking of that cake? Well, this is not the end. It's not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end or the beginning. Good job. Accenting halfway through the sentence. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But besties, this pot's not over.

We'll fight them in the body. That's good. That's one of the Gary Old. That's what I was going for. Besties first, KPMG put out a shocking survey that reverses the narrative on AI and your job. Get this. Just 9% of CEOs surveyed by KPMG plan to cut jobs this year due to AI. They're not cutting jobs because of AI?

What's going on? CEOs apparently are not seeing the ROI on their AI investments yet. One day AI is taking our jobs. the next day it's not taking our jobs. We're all figuring out what the future is in real time. Maybe AI isn't like corporate OSempic. Maybe it's more like corporate Botox. Again, it's only the end of the beginning.

And speaking of AI, second, we've got Meta, which just acquired MaltBook, the viral social network designed for AI chatbots to become friends with their other AI chatbots. Now, this deal brings MaltBooks two founders onto Meta's AI payroll. And that's what this was all about. Similarly, last month, Open AI,

hired the founder of OpenClaw, another AI startup. Zuck and Altman are like, hey, we're impressed what you did with that AI thing. Come work for us, we'll pay $10 million a year. Not too shabby. And finally, Timothy Shalame is the top pick to win an Oscar this year. But there is one problem, and the problem is the ballet. In an interview with Matthew McConaughey, Timothy Shalemay said that opera and the ballet are dead arts.

Having just seen the Nutcracker, I can't believe he said this, Jack. Shalemay lost 2 million followers on Instagram because he trash-talked the ballet. And his mom was in the ballet. Ballet sales actually rose after he said that quote. He came out and apologized, but still. And now you can't even get a ticket to the Metropolitan Opera. Now, time for the best fact yet, which, because we just landed in D.C. was sent in from Kevin Goodwin on Spotify.

Washington, D.C. does not have a J. Street. Yeah, it's a funny thing we noticed when you were looking around. Jack was like, H. I. I'm sorry, Sesson Street, we need to borrow a vowel. City planners apparently thought that the letter J looked too similar to the letter I. Which is also why there's no I train on the New York City subway check. Yeties, you are looking fantastic, especially if you want to buy one of the final 20 tickets we just dropped for our live show tonight in D.C. Snatch those tickets, link in episode description.

The show is at 7.30 in the Arlington Draft House. Okay, in the meantime, Jack, we got to go crush some crafty. cakes and go on voice rest? Yes. Yeah, to both. Yeties, we'll see you at this show tonight. And before we go, a happy 150th birthday to AT&T. This is the 150th anniversary of the first ever phone call with Alexander Graham Bell.

Watson and Kim down in Hoboken, she is celebrating the best birthday yet, and Jack, she'd like a cookie crisp. Go! A few crisp. And a happy 30th birthday to Colin down in O'Clair, Wisconsin, who is in good. to the best fiance yet. Happy birthday to Irwin, the Florida Gator in Guatemala. Go Gators. And Samira down in Greenville, South Carolina, is turning seven on March 12th, but listens on

the way to school every day, and we are so pumped for your birthday, Samara. Happy 35th birthday to Krista O'Connell, who's celebrating tonight at our live show. I see you over there, Krista. And Joe Buckheight, the best dad yet is from Naples, Florida, but is going to our live show next month in New York City. We can't wait to see you there, Joe. Happy anniversary to Denise and Cesar. years together since meeting in Pacifica, they're now married.

And happy one year anniversary to our buddy, Nick Marino, one year since he was on Jeopardy. What is the one-year anniversary of that? I'd like to buy an out. And finally, a congratulations to the Ford and Women in Business who have their 27th annual big business conference. And to anyone else, celebrate something today. Make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

And voice. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix Ford and Amazon. Nick owned stock of Lula Lemon and Nike. and we both own stock of Spotify.