The Best One Yet - BONUS 🙋‍♀️ “The Girl Pod” — Our Best She-conomy stories of 2023

Episode Date: December 21, 2023

A bonus episode featuring 3 of our top pop-biz news stories about the She-conomy. The #1 force in the economy this year? It’s women. So we whipped up the 3 most interesting stories on the year that she ran the financial world…1) The She-conomy, from July 28th — We found the 3 female forces that turned the economy into the she-conomy.2) Natural Cycles, from Sept 20th: Our most commented-on story of the year? It was this one, “iOvulation” — The 1st ever hands-free birth control was a tech innovation of the year.3) Bumble, from Nov 7th: The founder of Bumble stepped down as CEO after disrupting dating — Bumble’s is the only business we know that turned a tiny feature into a big company.Subscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. And today's GirlPod is the best one yet. It's a T-Girl. T-Boy is the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. But this year-end bonus episode is our top three stories showing how women drove the economy this year. This year, we avoided a recession, largely thanks to women, their work, and their spending. This year, we were all part of the she economy.

So send this episode to your buddy Timmy. Send this episode to Dahlene from Duncan. Send this episode to Frank from finance. And if you do, show us your share, and you'll be entered to win a free kit of T-boy merch and two tickets to a live show next year. In the meantime, Jack, this is the best bonus pod we've ever whipped up. What do we got for our three stories? For our first story, it's the Sheeconomy, a story originally from July 28th.

Jack and I found the three female forces that turned the economy into the Shee Conno. For our second story, it's Natural Cycles from September 20th. Our most commented on story of the year was this one. Yeah, Jack and I called it eye ovulation. The first ever hands-free birth control was a tech innovation. And our third and final story is Bumble from November 7th. The founder stepped down as CEO after disrupting dating. Bumble, it's the only business we know that turned a feature into a company.

But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic, wild mix of stories, Jack. I love what we whipped up today. Going into this year, every economist expected a recession. It was the R-word. right, Jack? No one wanted to say it, the R word. But everyone was thinking of it. Instead, we're ending 2023 with stocks at record high levels. And these analysts are so bullish right now. They're growing horns. And we avoided the R word?

There was no recession in 2023. And the key reason the economy was so strong this year, it was women. And we've got the data to back that up. Yes, we do. Because yet he's during the pandemic, women suffered in particular by having to leave work. But the she session officially ended in 2023. Because women's workforce participation hit an all-time high this year. Yeah, women returned to the workforce this year with authority. Get this, 79% of women between 25 and 54 are in the workforce right now. That is a record high.

Just ask Carol from accounting. She'll confirm the numbers. Oh, and this year, women's spending literally boosted GDP. Call it the Barbie bump, the Beyonce bounce, or call it T-Swift Dynamics. But honestly, when you jump into the numbers T-boy style, you'll discover that it's even more than that. Women saved our economy this year. And today's pot has three stories showing how. So, yeah, it is.

Right after you finish today's show, there's one thing you got to do. Call your mother. Call your mom. She gave you life. Now let's hit our three stories. Mom, it's us. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm.

It's the best one yet, but the best. 50%. That's a fat. 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. For our first story, it's the Sheeconomy.

This story is from July 28th. There is one economic force above all others this year, and that force is girls. 2023 is the year of the Sheeconomy and the numbers proven. Yeties, we are halfway through the year. And Jack and I have noticed a huge trend that we just had to talk. about with you. Young women are splurging in this economy. The three biggest economic events of the year all broke records. And it's all thanks to ladies. Besties never have more X chromosomes run the economy than right now. Exhibit A, the Barbie movie. The Barbie movie. It powered the biggest box office

weekend of the year. And the reviews last weekend were so good that this past Tuesday was the biggest Tuesday of ticket sales for any movie ever. Jack, main character? Female. Director? Female. Seventy percent of the moviegoers? Female. Now let's turn to Exhibit B, the Taylor Swift concert tour. The T. Swift concert tour. Her heiress Torietis is going to hit $1 billion in sales this year, another record. The old Taylor can't come to the phone right now. She's too busy beating Elton John for the highest grossing tour of all time. And Jack, can we talk about the economic force of this thing? Her concerts caused such an economic splash that she added $5 billion to our economy as Swifties traveled to see her.

Glendale's the New Vegas. Exhibit C, the Women's World Cup. It just started, but already the Women's World Cup is setting economic records. It's the most attended women's sporting event in history, up 54% from 2019, World Cup. So, Yetis, let's add it all up. You got the biggest movie, the biggest musician, the biggest sporting event of the year? Barbie movie, Erez Tour, and ponytail-tailed midfielders have all converged to create a spending explosion.

All three created by women. All three targeting women consumers. All three funded by women investors and buyers. It's the Sheeconomy and we're all living in it. Oh, we're all in the middle of it. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the Sheeconomy? We found three reasons why young women are powering the economy right now. First reason for the she economy?

women are driving the labor market. There's more women making money in America than ever before. Last month, Jack and I told you, the women's workforce participation rate in America hit an all-time high. The second reason for this economy is an emotional catharsis. Women have just had a disproportionately harder time over the last three years. At the beginning of the pandemic, professions dominated by women were hit the hardest. You got remote schooling putting more child care burdens on women during the pandemic. And then women had to be a pandemic.

to suffer the emotional toll of Roe versus Wade getting overturned. Jack, you don't need a girl dinner right now. Women need an outlet right now. And the third reason for the Sheeconomy is the underserved market finally getting served. Look, Yeti's men in power tend to steer product development to their own preferences, male preferences. So this year's Barbie movie, Erez Tour and Women's World Cup tapped into a huge pent-up demand. And that is why 2023 is the year the she economy became the economy. For our second story, it's natural cycles. I ovulation. Take us back to September 20th, Nick. The FDA just approved birth control on the Apple Watch. That's right. Not condoms. No, not a pill. No. Just look at your wrist. Here's something no one really tells you, but like for years you try to

not have a baby, and then when you try to have a baby, it can actually be like really hard to have a baby. Right. So let's introduce some biological context to this story. Can you sprinkle it on for us, Jack? A woman is actually only fertile for six days of each cycle. That's it. That's it. It's only six days out of the whole month when you can actually get pregnant. So, if you could accurately know what six days it's going to be, then that would be good to know if you're trying to conceive.

And that would also be good to know if you're not trying to conceive. It's kind of just good to know for everybody. What are the six days that fertility is happening? That date is really valuable. In fact, it seems like it's worth about $150 million based on the startup's valuation. Yeah, because this story is about natural cycles, a Swedish fertility startup that helps you find those six days. And they hit a $150 million evaluation because they seem to have found those days. Natural cycles says that you can do birth control effectively with no hormones and no condoms either.

And here's how they do it. This is where it gets interesting. By measuring the temperature of your body, they can determine whether you're fertile. Because the body temperature rises as you're ovulating, so that's when you're fertile. But here's the interesting problem that they've faced. To measure your body temperature and figure out if you're ovulating, you have to take your temperature at the same time, every day the same way. Okay, so the app works, the software works, but that's kind of an interesting friction that's in it. Because you've got to wake up in the morning, grab the thermometer from your bedside table and put it in. That's a risk that you do it inconsistently or mess up.

It introduces human error risk. Which brings us to this big news from yesterday. The FDA just approved Natural Cycles Fertility software. for the Apple Watch. That's a big deal. It is. It means you don't have to use a thermometer in your bedside table.

You can just leave your Apple Watch on it night. It means we may have the first ever hands-free birth control. Because the Apple Watch can measure your body's temperature very accurately and catch the tiny changes that happen while you're sleeping.

And then the Natural Cycles app is going to analyze that data and give you a simple yes or no to tell you if you're fertile. That's right. With the Apple Watch and the Natural Cycles app, it'll be green if you're fertile, it'll be red if you're not.

And apparently this is 98% clinically effective with the perfect use. Or 93% effective if used the way that people typically use this. But Jack and I saw this story and we were like, we just haven't seen a technology developed like this. We just didn't expect this. Yeah, for the first time, it's software, not hardware or a physical thing, that manages your family planning. This is wearable birth control with wearable technology.

It lets you prevent or plan a pregnancy just by looking at your wrist every morning. Now, we should point out that the ORA ring, another startup wearable, is also FDA approved for use with natural cycles. But there's way more Apple watches on people's wrists than aura rings on people's fingers. They sold 50 million Apple watches just last year. So this FDA approval has a bigger potential impact. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over in tech? Platforms are all about their potential. Yet he's a funny thing. A few years ago, when the Apple watch first came out, its most powerful feature was text notification. Oh great, I got a text message. My phone already told me now. People weren't that

excited about it to be honest. And then you got the button on your Apple Watch that lets you skip songs. Which was kind of cool for your father-in-law. But now, the ability to plan your family as accurately as with a birth control pill? Let that sink in. Sit down, stand up and just sit down. Without having to take a pill or take your temperature or introduce hormones or use protection. These natural cycles brought the innovation with their software. But Apple brought the scale. with its hardware. Like the iPhone, the Apple Watch is a platform, and platforms are all about potential. For our third and final story, it's Bumble. This one's from November 7. Bumble, the female first dating app, is moving on from its legendary founder and CEO, Whitney Wulford.

Her leadership defied one of the key rules of business. And we'll tell you that rule in the takeaway. But in the meantime, Jack, can we go back to February 10th, 2020? set the scene for us, please. A young woman was walking around Times Square with her one-year-old toddler son. She made a right on 41st Street and walked into the NASDAQ exchange. She then went on to ring

the opening bell of trading with her baby on her hip. Yeties, that made her the youngest female CEO to IPO a company ever, and she did it while holding a toddler. That's Whitney Wolf heard. And that's also the day that she became the youngest self-made female billionaire ever.

31 years old when Bumble began trading publicly on NASDAQ at evaluation of $9 billion with a B dollars. But Nick, can we take the Yetis seven years earlier from that day when she founded Bumble at the young age of 24? I mean, Jack, if you're asking for us to set another scene, let's set another scene, man. Let's do it, baby. I'm here. Yeties, Bumble's motto is make the first move.

And Whitney Wulf heard did that literally after she left Tinder. Literally. Because before Bumble, she co-founded Tender. Tinder. So then she ends up suing Tinder, her former company and employer for sexual harassment. She settled that lawsuit against Tinder, but she didn't stop there. She went on to launch a competitor of Tinder, the only competitor of Tinder, and it was called Bumble. But yetis, we can fast forward to today now. Bumble isn't just Bumble anymore, is it Jack? It's a family of four different dating apps. Yeah, because Bumble also owns Badoo. A Russian dating app. And fruits. A dating app for Gen Zee.

And official. app, but a relationship app for couples. Oh, and that's not all. On this very podcast, Jack and I have covered Bumble launching physical clubs across the country. And even a restaurant in Soho. Yeah, Bumble had a restaurant where you could go on dates after you met on the Bumble dating app. But today, Bumble stock price is down 80% since that IPO two years ago because Gen Zee's just not that into swiping. Apparently, they would prefer just to meet at the restaurant, but not like on the dating app before the restaurant. So to steward the next leg of Bumble's Whitney Wolf Hurd is passing the baton on the first day of 2024.

And Jack, who is the new CEO of Bumble starting on January 1st? Lydia Ann Jones, a veteran techie who's currently the CEO of Slack. Job opening over at Slack. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Bumble? Bumble defied one of the most fundamental rules of business. Yet he's Jack and I want to make a distinction here. There is a difference between a feature, a product, and a company. You can't build a company simply because.

based off a feature because anyone can copy that feature. In fact, Jack and I did a story just last month about Blue Apron and how it failed because meal kits are just a feature. So when you think about Bumble, what is Bumble really? It's a dating app where women make the first move in the conversation. And that doesn't sound like a product. That, it sounds like a feature. And a feature can't be a company.

Tinder easily could have copied the feature that women make the first move. But Bumble made that feature, its defining feature. a statement. It built a brand off of that feature of being women first. And it wasn't just the dating app. They also have Bumble for business and Bumble BFF, a dating app for meeting friends. Because of that feature. Yeti's that is why Bumble bans body shaming and bans ghosting and bans unsolicited nudes. It's because of the feature. The feature that women make the first move. Yet is Whitney Wolf heard she defied a key rule of business. She built an entire company out of a feature. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me.

According to a report from Fidelity Investments this year, women do not invest as much money as men do. Okay, but here's the key. When they do invest, women invest better than men do. Yeah, your buddy Bobby is highly active in the stock market right now. But cautious, Kim's performing a lot better than your buddy Bobby. According to Fidelity, women make on average 0.4% higher returns each year than men do. And that is a meaningful difference, especially. Especially when you spread it out over years and decades. 0.4% over 30 years.

I'll take that, Jack. Talking millions of dollars, I'm pretty sure. How's your portfolio, Greg? Not as good as Gabrielle's. Yet is, you look fantastic today. And if you got a buddy who should hear this show, what should you do, Jack? Send it their way. And then, if you show us that you shared the show,

you'll be entered to win a free kit of T-boy merch and two tickets to a live show next year. H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Have you had the best one yet? If you know, you know. Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. With another bonus pod.