The Best One Yet - 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 “Bank It Like Beckham” — David Beckham’s biz empire. Dirty Soda’s surge. McKinsey’s CEO secret. +Co-CEO Olsen Twins.

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

Swig started the Dirty Soda trend that’s taking over America… and now it’s overtaking alcohol.David Beckham’s financials leaked… He makes more $$$ today than as a star soccer player.McKinsey breeds more Fortune500 CEOs than any other org… because their young spar with elders.Plus, Co-CEOs make stocks go up… just look at the Olsen Twins.Vote for The Best Idea Yet to win “Best Business Podcast”: ​​https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/business$PEP $MCD $SPYNEWSLETTER: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 Thursday, the new Friday, October 2nd. 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. Yet is government shutdown day two. The saga continues. Wall Street seems to be shrugging the whole thing off. Yeah. Stocks just hit another record high yesterday. So Besties, Jack and I'll keep an eye on the shutdown updates and the stock market record highs. But in the meantime, Jack, three fantastic stories for today's pod. For our first story, the hottest food and beverage trend in America is dirty soda. Dirty. It's soda with cream and a splash of syrup.

But that dirty soda trend was invented by Swig in Utah, and it can all be explained by high school physics. For our second story, details just leaked on David Beckham's $500 million business empire. So we dove in T-boy style, and David Beckham, he now has more cash flow than he has hair flow. And our third and final story is McKinsey. The King of Consulting has a spree. special talent. It is a pipeline for corporate CEOs. So we'll tell you the McKinsey's secret sauce to CEO's success. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix for the new Friday. No one else is doing that mix, Jack. Speaking of CEOs, Nick, the coolest position

on Wall Street right now? It's co-CEOs. Who wants to be a solo CEO these days? I mean, when you're solo as a CEO, Jack, everything gets blamed on you. So the suits are finally going the way of tag team wrestlers and doubles tennis players. CEOs are sharing the burden. They're going havesies as co-CEOs. This week, Spotify's founder, Daniel Eck, said that he is stepping down as CEO of the company. His replacement, two co-CEOs. Last week, Oracle made a similar announcement.

Also two new co-CEOs. Netflix? They've been run by a couple of CE Bros for the last half decade. Those two dudes, yeah, they're the ones who greenlit season five of Stranger Things. Although full disclosure, Nick and Jack of this podcast, uh, yeah, Jack, we're co-hosts and co-ceeos. Co-fo show, C.E. Co-co-host. But to sprinkle on some context, according to the Wall Street Journal, co-CEOs are not common and they're not well-liked either. It turns out only 1% of public companies even do it, and they only last half as long as regular solo CEOs do. But financially,

co-ceeos are a profit-poppy powerhouse. Push that chiching button neck. Companies led by co-CEOs did 35% better than the rest of the stock market. Co-CEOs are basically the Olson twins of corporate America. Because they come in pairs and they are super trendy right now. Speaking of which, the Olson twins, they own a fashion brand together. And what about it, Jack? They're co-Ceos. Dibs on Mary Kate.

You're the other one. I'm blaking on her name right now. It's Ashley, if you know, you know, and apparently you don't. Jack, let's get our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the next. Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm.

Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. 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, dirty soda. It's jumped from Utah's secret treat to a national. trend worth billions. Why is dirty soda and the company behind it surging? Why, Jack? It's thanks to physics and a law from Sir Isaac Newton. Now, yet is to sprinkle on some stereotypical business judgments right now. Chicago does logistics. Miami does leisure and Salt Lake City does treats. In Utah, you always ask for the dessert menu. And you're not just going to take a look. You're ordering something. I mean, Jack, in Utah, it is socially acceptable to gift someone a donut. It is the capital of cavities, my friend. We double-checked this stat. In Utah,

the average person there buys twice as much candy as the rest of America. Oh, you enjoying the 50 grams of sugar in that crumble cookie? Well, crumble cookies is worth $2 billion, and they're based in Utah. And there's a cultural explanation for it, Mormonism. They tend to abstain from alcohol and coffee, so sweets are an acceptable treat. So if you watched secret lives of Mormon wives, then you would know about the latest sweet truth trend in the Mormon community, Dirty Soda. What is Dirty Soda? It's soda with cream added to it and some flavored syrup too.

Have you enjoyed Vanilla Coke as a kid? This is like the OG of Dirty Soda Today, right? But in 2010, one Utah Soda Shop. Yes, soda shops are a thing in Utah, by the way. They coined the term Dirty Soda. Even smarter than coining that term was that they got their lawyers to trademark that term, Dirty Soda. Mitt Romney is nodding his head in approval somewhere. And maybe getting a dividend check. Yetis, the company is Swig. And they're basically the Thomas Edison of Dirty Soda.

Swig has 140 locations. Sales rose 8% last year. And they're estimated to be worth $2 billion as a franchise. Yeah, worth $2 billion because they have scaled the soda pop shop. What Starbucks did for coffee, Swig is doing for Dirty Soda. And over the last 15 years, Dirty Soda has been drinking up market share or throat share as the industry actually refers to it. And as a result, this dirty soda trend has gone from regional fund to macroeconomic force. Here's the news. Pepsi just unveiled three new canned dirty sodas. We're talking dirty do. We're talking dirty Pepsi with cherry and cream. And then of course, a mug root beer float in a can. Not to be outdone, McDonald's is testing dirty sprite at 500 locations right now. Next, you're going to tell me

coffee mates doing something here, Jack. Coffee mate has added lime syrup, and you can just pour this thing into soda, and it's like a flavored dirty soda. Jack, do you remember we said Chick-fil-A is launching a beverage chain soon? Like half that menu is probably going to be dirty soda, I got to imagine. Probably. But we're pretty sure the whole country hasn't converted to Mormonism, right? Right, right, yeah. So what is driving this dirty soda surge, Jack?

Well, in this economy, dirty soda is seen as a lower-priced alternative to coffee. Yeah, your vanilla Coke with cream is cheaper than that double-digit latte pumped by, Hey, Don Lean, another pump. Another reason? Let's be honest, pouring cream into a glass of Coca-Cola on ice. Oh, it just kills on TikTok. Plus, besties, three out of four Gen Ziers are now trying a new beverage every single month, according to Dr. Pepper.

And their For You, Page, says that they should try it dirty. Our prediction, next up, they're going to start throwing protein in these dirty sodas, right, Jack? That would be the combining of trends. One second, one second, Jack. All the Dirty Shirley with creatine, please. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Dirty Soda? It's a lesson from Sir Isaac Newton. Energy is neither lost nor destroyed.

It's only transferred. Yet he's funny thing happening at the same time as this dirty soda spiking. Alcohol consumption is falling. A record low, 54% of American adults say they drink alcohol. And the least likely to drink alcohol is young people. So when Jack and I saw that stat, It seems fair to us to assume there's a causation to this reverse correlation. The youths are basically replacing alcoholic cocktails for dirty colas.

Or another way to put it, Jack, we're still drinking liquid treats. We've just changed what we're drinking. We still want a buzz. We're just changing what kind of buzz, from an alcoholic one to a sugary one. Basties, Sir Isaac Newton taught us that in physics, energy is not destroyed. It is just transferred. And it's the same with economic demand. alcohol consumption transferred to dirty soda consumption.

For our second story, David Beckham's business empire, it pays more dividends than his soccer salary did. The one common element in David Beckham's life that we can all learn from. What is it, Jack? Risk taking. Jack, this isn't on David Beckham's LinkedIn, but it should be. Signed with Manchester United when he was just 16 years old. He married a spice girl when he was 25.

had Elton John come to their wedding. He played in the top pro leagues of Britain, Spain, America, Italy, and France, not possible. And through it all, he tried out about two dozen different hairstyles and even tried to make a sarong work. The only man to ever achieve that. David Beckham's got so many tattoos, Jack, his Wi-Fi password is on his ankle. But who would have known that his retirement from soccer in 2013 was when he would really start making money. Let's dive in T-Boy style Yetis, because today, David Beckham has a company that manages his dozens of business ventures highly diversified across industries. And here's the news. The Guardian newspaper got a glimpse of those financials. Yeah. Profits for the David Beckham company

rose 25% last year to $45 million. Jack, I'm going to call a yellow flag here. Can you please sprinkle on some corporate context to David Beckham's money numbers here? That is more profit in one year than Snap, the owner of Snapchat, has ever made. Besties, posh and Bex, as the Beckams are known in the tabloids, are more profitable today than the music and soccer that made them famous. I'm yellow-carting myself right now. But yet, he's ears with Jack and I found fascinating about this story. How is David Beckham making more money off the pitch than on the pitch? He's not just leveraging his fame.

Yeah, David Beckham's not just in every commercial. Although his brand deal roster is longer than Manchester United's, we should point out. He's done commercials with Nispresso, Adidas, Stella Artois, Pepsi, Lays, and like a dozen others. Don't forget Shark Ninja. Also, of course, David Beckham has launched an eyewear brand, a kid snacks brand, a fragrance brand that we call Oda David. But he's really branched out with his own video studio called Studio 99, which did his Netflix documentary. And also, and this is Power and the Profits, produces the commercials that he stars in. But his equity deal with Major League Soccer in 2007, that's considered one of the most financially

unique and risky in sports history. Okay, this deal is wild, and this just says it all. Yet he's, in 2007, David Beckham took a pay cut to join Major League Soccer, the new soccer startup league in America, and he played for the Los Angeles Galaxy. Back then, only 2% of Americans said that soccer was their favorite sport. So nobody could believe that Beckham, a superstar, was going to the game. the states while still kind of in his prime. But here's the key. As part of the deal, David Beckham got a financial option in his contract. David Beckham had the option to purchase a future MLS team at a low,

fixed price of just $25 million. And when Beckham retired, he exercised that $25 million option. He bought the brand new Inter-M Miami MLS team for $25 million and eventually signed Lionel Messi. The valuation of that team today, Jack, what is it? billion dollars. I can't find my chiching button, Jack, but I would be pressing it right now. David Beckham is Britain's Ryan Reynolds. He's charming. He married a celebrity, and now he owns a soccer team.

But he's also England's Kim Kardashian, leveraging his fame into a dozen different brands. And the secret to it all is risk tolerance. And that one deal we mentioned earlier captures it all. So Jack, to quote the prime minister, David Beckham's left foot, David Beckham's

right foot, what's the takeaway for the business of David Beckham? At every turn, David Beckham took the risky route. You see, at he's on the pitch, and in his personal life, and in his business, David Beckham chose the riskier, higher, rewarding option. He's had to deal with some losses along the way. His risque lifestyle resulted in him, his wife, and his sons, and daughter, getting harassed constantly by the British tabloids. But interestingly, switching teams from Madrid to Los Angeles was a short-term loss as well, a 70% pay cut while he was still in his prime. But with all,

All of his risks often came huge reward. In the long term, that MLS move provided a path to equity in, like, basically becoming a king in the United States, owning a team, which became worth more than 40 times what he paid for it. So that short-term pay cut, moving to L.A., came with long-term equity, and that's a win that says it all. The working class kit from East London didn't play it safe in any aspect of his life. It cost him some stress, but oh, has it rewarded him.

Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the number one CEO factory in America is in Harvard, isn't Stanford, and ain't MIT. It's McKinsey. 18 of the Fortune 500 companies are led by McKinsey alums. Here's how the consulting king trains you to become CEO. Yet he's in the legendary novel, The Da Vinci Code, there is a secret society full of the most accomplished people of all time. Yeah, it's not just Da Vinci. Also, Sir Isaac Newton and Victor Hugo, the guy who wrote Les Mis. Hundreds of years apart, all part of the same intellectual cult. Well, Jack, the corporate

version of that cult happens to be a company called McKinsey. By the way, do you see Dan Brown just came out with a new book? Great Page Turner or greatest page Turner? McKinsey, one of the three blue chip firms that every MBA wants to work for. Fortune Magazine just revealed that no organization has produced more Fortune 500 CEOs than McKinsey has. Eighteen current CEOs have McKinsey on their resume. 18, Jack, let's show off the roster here. You got Google's Sundar Pichai. You got DoorDash's Tony's shoe.

You got Citibanks Jane Frazier. All of them did a few years after business goal charging companies $100,000 for a 100-page slide deck. Okay, but Jack, I'm not even done with the starting lineup. Wait till you get this. James Gorman, the savior of Morgan Stanley. Harold Sandberg, Zuck's former right-hand gal, also McKinsey. How about Pete Buttigieg and the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak? They all know the secret McKinsey handshake because they were all paid millions to

synthesize insights into robust playbooks that will leverage synergies. Jokes aside, consultants are actually a very irreverent group, by the way. McKinsey is finishing school for CEOs and for good reason. Because consultants typically work four days or. week away from home on the road. They're on site with the client for months at a time, typically. The first thing you should do if you get a job at McKinsey is get a frequent flyer number, because you're going to do a lot of travel and you better get status fast. So they rotate across companies, industries, geographies, and functions.

Your first project might be to go help a Brazilian telecom company. Your second project might be to fly over to Wisconsin for some metal tools company. And even if you don't like staying at the Radisson on the road, that is a key part of the experience. But what that changing project routine really teaches you is mastering the unfamiliar. And working in a range of industries, that exposes a McKinsey consultant to a powerful skill. Pattern recognition in any business environment. Exactly. Now, all of this happens, Basties, when you're in your 20s.

But that way, you build confidence that you'll use in your 30s. And then you'll get the promotions in your 40s to CEO. Yes, AI is considered a threat to consulting. You can just ask chat what I should do for my business to. turn it around. But McKinsey has a secret sauce advantage here, and it's why they got 18 Fortune 500 CEOs. So Jack, in one slide, can you please tell us what's the takeaway for our buddies over at McKinsey? How do they raise great CEOs by encouraging its youngest to spar with its oldest? You see, Eddie's one key to good decision-making is constructive dissent. McKinsey built a culture

of skeptics and contrarians when those employees are in their 20s. Like Abe Lincoln, team of rivals, McKinsey consultants make a decision only after an intellectual brawl of ideas. And here's the interesting part. At McKinsey, the veteran consultants, they got to defend their ideas to the younger consultants. Young consultants are encouraged to speak up and be skeptical, even to the higher-ups. They put ideas over hierarchy. And the result, well, McKinsey trains to consider multiple alternatives, present the best counterargument, and most importantly, be willing to admit when you're wrong. The other result is that it gives these 20, something's the confidence to speak like they're already CEOs.

So Bassey's a secret CEO sauce. How does McKinsey raise CEOs by encouraging its youngest to spar with its oldest? Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Dirty soda is the booming trend of food and beverage. Swig started it, Pepsi, McDonald's and Coffee Mate are now on the bandwagon. The Dirty Soda surge, as instructed by Sir Isaac Newton, alcohol consumption has shifted to Dirty Soda. For our second story, David Beckham's financials leaked. He makes more money today than he did as a soccer player.

And the key to Beckham's success in soccer and life and in business is that he took the risks. And our third and final story, McKinsey is the organization that's produced the most current Fortune 500 CEOs with 18. McKinsey's secret CEO training sauce encouraging the young to spar with the elders. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, government shutdown day two, no end in sight. Both sides are trying to win the blame game right now. Prediction markets are betting, sorry, predicting that this shutdown will last two weeks, but what do they know?

750,000 workers are furloughed right now. The rest are working without pay, although they usually do get back pay once the shutdown ends. In the meantime, the Vice President, J.D. Vance, says that the threatened government layoffs will start shortly. And second, Amazon had its big product day with two big announcements in just two days. First, a bunch of new Amazon echo speaker devices and new ring cameras and new fire TVs, all with Alexa plus AI. Shocker, they're splurling on the AI, just like it's salt. And then yesterday we got a new low-priced grocery brand, which is basically Amazon basics, but Amazon grocery for bread and butter. And finally, there is a new private jet that everyone is talking about because it's so fancy, it's wind.

I mean, I'd like some windows. Here's the deal check. Instead of windows, the cabin of this private jet is filled with screens that show you what the outside looks like if you did have windows. And like the whole wall is just the planet Earth. It's kind of cool. It's like an IMAX airplane, basically. Now, here's the interesting detail.

Without the windows, the aircraft is actually lighter. And therefore, it is more fuel efficient without the windows. One time I had to seat 17A on United because I'm a window guy. There was no window. It's just a big wall. You wish you had a screen probably, right? I would love a screen. Because the screen means you don't have to, like,

crank your neck the whole flight to look out the window. Let me make one phone call for you. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yetty, Savannah Westwood, on Slack in our pop biz news club. Jane Goodall passed away yesterday at the age of 91. By the way, you know you have got it made when Apple sends a notification about you.

Jane studied primates, and her big breakthrough was that she was the first. first person to observe that chimpanzees made and used tools just like humans do. Chimpanzees were stripping leaves off of twigs to catch termites. They were basically using a hammer or some kind of a tool that we would have used. Before her, scientists thought that only humans used tools, but now we know that other creatures can too. Now Jack's wife Alex told us that Tarzan falls in love with a woman named Jane who is named after Jane Goodall. Because Jane and Tarzan loved gorillas so much. Okay, but Jack's wife.

and I fact checked it. And sorry, Alex, we discovered that's not actually the case. It's a super bummer, but Tarzan was written in 1912, 20 years before Jane Goodall was even born. So we wish that could have been the fact, too, but unfortunately, it was not. Yadis, you look fantastic today. And Jack, we got a lot of submissions for your publicly traded poetry. The besties have some ideas for what you should write a poem on. Ready? So Jack, they want you to write it on Tesla or Costco. Palantir. a lot of likes. Why all the Palantir references? Jack, Jimmy Johns, that was another one. Oh! Mathnasium is another option for you to write a poem on. Mathnasium? Not much rhymes with

that, so that may be the biggest challenge. Tickr symbol, add ADD. So yes, he's, Jack and I got a lot of creative crafting to do on this publicly traded poetry. But in the meantime, Jack, H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Have you had the best one yet? Tell a buddy about the show. That's how we grow the pod. And Jack and I will see you Mark. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Alexa Marino from Shytown to San Francisco, Botox parties. They're on Alexa. And a happy birthday to Ferial Moss in Austin, Texas, the legendary Yeti who works at Poppy and hooked us up with their co-founder. Ferial celebrate the birthday wins. Happy first birthday to Archie Callahan, who's turning one in Northern Virginia. Kat and Troy, you have mastered the first year. Congrats to you, too. And Anna Schrader in Nevada, California,

last in the squad to turn 21 celebrating in a big way. And happy birthday to Ron Aurora Cap in Ontario, California. And Matthias Mahos is turning 30 years old in Austin, Texas celebrating, though, on the boats of Miami. And happy 16th birthday to Sophia Aguilar in California. And a happy birthday to Mike Wong celebrating down the street in San Francisco. And to anyone else celebrating something today, making a tea boy. Celebrate the Wits.

This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Amazon.