The Best One Yet - 🍼 “Breast Milk Ice Cream” — Frida’s lactation gelato. Robinhood’s mail-order-cash. America’s “Car Bloat.”

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

Frida’s breast milk-flavored ice cream is due in 9 months… It’s not April Fool’s, it’s a “product-tizement.”Robinhood launched big bank products this week… but we think it’s the Airbnb of Finance.American cars are now so big it’s affecting traffic… So we’ll explain “Car Bloat” and “The Panamax Effect."Plus, Jeff Bezos just sent out invites to his wedding (we got the financial deets)...Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Goldfish Crackers 🧀Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Susper Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Friday the real Friday, March 28th. 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. Apparently the only thing we got to do to get five-star reviews as a business news show is Jack to do a cookie crisp in the cookie monster voice. I did a nice little crossover between cookie monster and cookie crust.

The people like it, Jack. The people like it. We got a lot of love. But Jack, today's stories, we got three fantastic ones. is on today's tea boy. For our first stories, mark your calendars. Breast milk ice cream is due in nine months. Real thing, Frida Baby is launching that wild product and it's not an April Fool's joke. For our second story, Robin Hood just launched Robin Hood banking, wealth management, overnight cash delivery, and Formula One tickets. So we'll explain how Robin Hood is actually the Airbnb of banking. And our third and final story is

car bloat. Car bloat. This is the trend of trucks and SUVs getting bigger, taller, and heavier than ever. And it is all part of the Panamax effect. We want things as huge as possible. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories to end the week. That is a mix of stories. Elmo liked this mix of stories, Jack. Check your mailbox, Yeties.

Because the biggest wedding invitation of the year just got sent. You may have been invited to the Jeff Bezos wedding. The Jeff Bezos wedding. The world's second richest person is hosting his second ever wedding. And the fiancé, Lauren Sanchez, is the Emmy-winning journalist. Yeah, invites were just sent out this week. We're very excited. We haven't our SVPed yet?

No, we haven't. But we got the details, and these nuptials are unprecedented. Okay, first, the location. Venice, Italy. At the Amman Hotel, the most expensive hotel in the city. Which goes for up to $32,000 per night per suite. So how are the guests going to be getting around those Venetian canals, Nick? Well, Jack, actually, Jeff's $500 million super yacht,

The largest yacht in the world is reportedly the wedding water taxi. I think that's too big for the canals, isn't it? I think the yacht just squeezes in really tight, Jack. Now, we haven't confirmed it, but we assume guests get free one-day luggage shipping. And if your suitcase is lost, there will, of course, be 24-7 customer wedding support. By the way, the bride is going to be wearing her $2 million engagement ring. Although Jack and I did the math on that, and what have we discovered, Jack? That's only 0.00093% of Jeff's net worth.

It's like 12 bucks for him. You could have gotten bigger on those carrots, Jeff. And she'll be wearing an Oscar DeLorenta dress. That's DeLorenta, not rental, dress. Oh, and Lauren's engagement gift? She's actually flying into outer space on Jeff Bezos' own blue origin rocket. The wedding will be so big it's going to need its own fulfillment center. But here's the best part check.

If Lauren doesn't like Jeff, she can just return him in 30 days for free. Free returns if she drops him off at a UPS store or $7.99. for front porch pickup. Here's to QR coat. I don't want it anymore. One click shopping. One knee dropping. Jack, let's hit our three stories.

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 is a 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, would you eat breast milk ice cream? Because the mother and baby brand Frida is launching exactly that. Breast milk flavored ice cream, and it represents a new thing we call a productizement. All right, Jack, no free samples here.

But let's talk controversial ice cream flavors, because this is a long list, man. What do we got? What we got? Avocado ice cream? Soy sauce ice cream? Corn on the cob. ice cream? Look, I still put extra version olive oil in my ice cream, and I think it's a great,

it's a great, great win. Salt and Straw did bone marrow ice cream. But the most attention-grabbing flavor we've ever seen is breast milk ice cream, which just got launched by Frida Baby. We're talking lactation gelato. No extra scoop of colostrum necessary. Now, if your family recently had a new baby,

then you know the Frida brand, which, like, you guys had a baby like three weeks ago, Jack, so this is exactly you, man. Frida makes products to help the baby and the mom go through bodily transitions and recover postpartum. Now we know what you're thinking, besties. April Fool's joke? No. The Frida Company confirmed this is not an early April Fool's joke. But they also confirmed it's breast milk flavored, not actually made up breast milk instead of dairy. Although the key here is that according to surveys, people might secretly be into this. Studies show that 70% of women have

sampled breast milk and 29% of men are curious how it tastes themselves. Full disclosure. Oh, wait a second. Are you sure you want to go to right now? Let's just say it's 100% of people are curious. Yeah, maybe it's 29% who've actually acted on that curiosity. A little bit gets on the bottle, and then it gets on your hands. You take a little... Everyone's done it, Jack. Everyone's done it.

Happy! By the way, Yeties, this company announced the news today, but the breast milk ice cream arrives in nine months. This baby is due in late December. Now, Besties, the reason we were fascinated with the story is, we actually did a recent story about boring businesses that a lot of you liked. entrepreneurial opportunities that have reliable cash flows but are overlooked because they're not sexy. Like the plumbing industry.

Well, similarly, we think there's entrepreneurial opportunity in gross businesses as well. Businesses that are too icky for others, which ironically, it's kind of plumbing, actually. Well, Chelsea Hirshorn launched the Frida company back in 2014, and in her words, here's how she describes her brand. I focus on gross. And this is her insight. In an Instagram world, founder, often ignore what's not aesthetic, what's not beautiful to the eyes. What won't get likes on Instagram?

So if you think about it, there is upside in what's gross, because the competition is honestly afraid to go there. For example, Frida sells a product called the Snotsucker. As someone with a four-week-old baby, you should explain what a snot sucker is, Jack. It's basically like a four-foot-long plastic tube, and this is why it's key. When my son Oakley had a stuff he knows, which he's had like three nights in a row, he can barely breathe. So we removed the snout from his snout from his nose.

by sucking one end of the tube and getting the snod out of there. Now, don't suck too far. You don't want it coming out the other end. Well, Frida has sold 4.7 million of these snots suckers in the last year, so they now control 54% of the gross nasal straw market. There's no love like sucking the snod out of a newborn's nose. This company's got a gross monopoly. Basically, they're targeting customers, new families who don't think it's gross,

and so they're thrilled that this is being offered. But when Frida plans advertising campaigns, they're often rejected. because they say the copy is too graphic. For example, Frida filmed a TV commercial for the Oscars about mom's bodies after they've had a baby. But ABC refused to air it. Or how about the time Frida designed a billboard in Times Square? But it got blocked because a postpartum body was deemed too graphic. Add it all up.

And how does all of this lead to breast milk ice cream? Breast milk flavored ice cream. The answer is our takeaways. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Freedom? It's a new form of marketing, a product-tileged. Yeties, the reality of advertising is that you can't fully control it. You're always going to deal with a middleman. Either the TV network, which must improve it, or the FCC, which can reject it.

But you know what you can control? For the most part, you can control what you sell. You can control your product. So after multiple rejections, because their ads were considered not safe for TV, well, free to create a product that is kind of wild, but can't be blocked by others. Breast milk flavored ice cream. There you go. product, it's an ad for the entire brand, an ad without the risk of rejection. That, my friends,

is a product tisement. For our second story, on its 10th birthday, Robin Hood, as a gift to other people, launched its biggest suite of financial products yet. The wildest part about Robin Hood banking, Robin Hood is still not a bank. Besties, 10 years ago, Robin Hood was the first company to let you trade stocks with no commission fee. That free stock trading innovation was both a strength and a weakness for Robin Hood. Yeah, because, Jack, here's the weakness part. How do you make money if the main thing you offer, stock trading, is free? Well, this week, 10 years after being created, Robin Hood answered that question more robustly than ever.

Ironically, with a product they're calling checking and savings. Now, we say ironic because Nick and I sold our first company, Market Snacks, to Robin Hood in 2018. And the first month we started at Robin Hood after the acquisition. Jack, do you remember what they launched? They launched checking and savings. A product of the same name they're launching today. But then here's the wild part. The day after they launched it years ago, they had to cancel it immediately because that product, checking and savings, broke so many rules. So seven years after initially botching checking and savings, Robin Hood has now relaunched it. Robin Hood is now basically a bank. And here's Robin Hood's new strategy by launching checking and savings. They're embracing midlife millennial adulthood.

Robin Hood banking will give you a checking account, a high-yield savings account, just like JPMorgan Chase. But they'll also deliver cash to your mailbox on demand if you ask for it. Because Robin Hood has no physical branches, they will send cash to your mailbox. Like they will literally drop off five Ben Franklin's in your mailbox before you go on vacation. Robin Hood also launched wealth management this week. You can access portfolios or ETFs managed by pros and pay a 0.2.5. percent management fee. They're also giving away premium tickets like American Express perks. You can go to the Oscars, Coachella, the MetGala Formula One races with these Robin Hood benefits. So why is Robin Hood launching

all of these big bank style products? Well, because Robin Hood accounts are not big products, Jack. Robin Hood is still a baby compared to all the other financial companies. That's right. The average account at Fidelity is 50 times bigger than the average account at Robin Hood. Because Charles, Schwab, Fidelity, Morgan Stanley, they all got those boomer lifetime savings in their accounts. So, they got a lot more money per account. Because that's how the finance industry makes the real money. Yes, it is. They take a small percentage of a really big dollar amount. Small percentage on a huge dollar amount. So Robin Hood's hope is to make their accounts bigger by being a little mature, like a big bank. Well, over the last 10 years, Robin Hood got 40 million people to sign up with free

stock and crypto trading. Now, with a bank, they can start making some real money off those customers. And interestingly, we just got data that show that it's working. The median age of a Robin Hood customer has risen from 31 years old to 35 in just the last four years. So for Robin Hood, with free stock trading, they made memes with 20-somethings. But with a bank, Robin Hood can make money on 30-somethings. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Robin Hood, embracing mid-life millennials? The best analogy to Describe Robin Hood? It's the Airbnb of banking. Yeties, for years, Robin Hood liked to compare itself to Amazon.

They would say, we're the Amazon of finance. Their pitch is that the $5 a month gold subscription is the financial equivalent of Amazon Prime. Now, some prefer to compare Robin Hood to Costco, because Robin Hood finds a way to offer everything financial at the lowest possible price. But we think the most important part is that Robin Hood is asset light, like Airbnb. like Airbnb. Airbnb is the biggest hotel company in the world, even though they don't own a single hotel. And that lets Airbnb enjoy profit margins twice as thick as Marriott. It's a profit puppy. Guess what? Robin Hood's offering all those banking services, even though it's not a bank.

They're partnering with FDIC insured banks instead to do all the bank stuff. So Robin Hood gets bank-like products without the costs and regulations of being an actual bank. It's asset life. And that is why Jack and I The best analogy to describe Robin Hood and its rise is that it's the Airbnb of banking. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story before the weekend. SUVs and trucks are suffering from car bloat. Their size is now literally causing traffic. That's part of a bigger trend called the Panamax effect.

Americans want the biggest thing as long as it still fits. You know, Yeti's Jack. I were talking before the pod, and the way we see it, the car industry is in many ways the most chaotic, uncertain, and wild industry in business right now. Will electric cars take off, or will they go away? Will automation kill driving as we know it? Automotive is also the top victim of the trade war. Twenty-five percent tariffs just hit the whole industry this week. But there is one thing that car companies do know, and what is that, Jack? The bigger, the better. Ah, welcome to the concept of car bloat. Every single year for the last three decades, the length, the width, the height, the cubic feet of cars that we buy gets larger and larger and larger.

I think you just said height, but let's roll with it, Jack. Here's a macro stat to back up the car bloat observation. 80% of new cars bought today are trucks or SUVs. That's up from just 25% in the 1970s. We also found a micro-statt. to explain car bloat. Today's Ford F-150, the most selling car in America, is 800 pounds heavier than the F-150 of 1999. It's gained 32% more weight, a single car. So not only are we buying more big cars, but the bigger cars that we're buying are bigger. Another way you could describe

car blow-chack, there is junk in the trunk. So much so that the Detroit big three car makers have stopped producing coups, sedans, and station wagons. Because Americans don't want them. If you're single, you want an SUV. If you're a dink, you also want an SUV. If you have kids, you want a huge SUV with a third row of seats and 14 cup holders. Now, Vesties, car bloat has been great for car company profits. But interestingly, it's been really bad for traffic in a surprising way.

If you buy a Honda Civic, you are signaling that you are cost-conscious. But if you buy a huge Denali SUV, you are signaling that you have high willingness to pay. Car companies know that, and prices for SUVs are simply higher than prices for sedans. That's why virtually all profits for Ford, General Motors, and Jeep, are from their trucks and SUVs, not from the small little civics. But these huge cars have societal costs we should tell you about as well. Yeah, they do. Like, you know the big Chevy Suburans are worse for the environment and they're worse for safety. You feel safer driving in that tank, but everyone around you feels less safe. Which leads to the fascinating news.

These bloated cars are actually making traffic 10% worse. That's according to Bloomberg. Now, there's a lot of reasons that today's traffic on the roads is worse than 30 years ago. But 10% of the blame is that our cars are now taken up 10% more of the road because of this car bloat. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the car industry? It's the Panamax principle. Americans want the biggest thing, as long as it's still full. fits. Yet he's Steve Jobs was wrong. Steve Jobs always thought people would not want a bigger phone,

but that was wrong. The iPhone 16 is 76% larger in square inches than the original iPhone was. The only reason we don't want a bigger iPhone is simply the limiting size of our hands in our pockets. And that reveals a truth about consumer and business preferences overall in America. The reality is we always prefer the bigger product. The only limit to size. is the infrastructure. The perfect way to explain this is cargo ships. Yeah, it is. Cargo ships will never be longer than 1,200 feet because 1,200 feet is the maximum size you can still fit in the Panama Canal. That phenomenon is called Panama Canal. No cargo ships can be bigger than the width of the Panama Canal. So that's the limit. Now, some products have no limiting size

factor, like houses. That's why you see records being set all the time. People buy as big a house as they can afford. But other products, like cars, do have limits. The Chevy Suburban, it can't have four seats across because it literally won't fit in the lanes. It's the Panamax principle, and it applies to more than just ships. Americans want the biggest thing as long as it still fits.

Jack, could you whip up the takeaways force for the real Friday? Frida Baby just announced breast milk ice cream. It's not an April Fool's joke. It'll be here in nine months. Because her advertisements got rejected, this is a product tisement. For our second story, Robin Hood just launched banking,

wealth management, credit card perks, and cash delivery by mail. The way we see it, the best way to think about Robin Hood, it's the Airbnb of banking. And our third and final story is car bloat. Car bloat. It's got us buying more big cars, and those bigger cars are getting bigger.

It's the perfect example of the Panamax effect. The bigger, the better, as long as it still fits. But Yeties, this. This pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. Okay, first, get this. Open AI expects their revenue to triple to $12.7 billion this year. Jack, that is more revenue than Snapchat and X combined.

Now, you probably use ChatGPT for free, but every person in consulting finance or tech, they're paying for the premium version. Because Chat ChpT Plus, that's a write-off, baby. And second, your buddy in finance better pay for dinner tonight because Wall Street bonuses just hit a record high. The city of New York tracks financial bonus payouts, and this year it hit $47.5 billion,

which is $244,000 per banker, and that's just the bonus, not the salary. By the way, the financial industry employs 200,000 people in New York City, so odds are you are or you are going to have dinner with someone tonight who works and got that bonus. Also, fun fact, the banker bonus payouts in New York, is bigger than the entire economy in Vermont. And finally, the Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder, Colorado.

After 40 years in Park City, Utah, the Sundance Film Fest has outgrown that venue. Boulder offers some nice charm, legalized marijuana, and more space to smoke that legalized marijuana after you see a Sundance movie. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by our Turkish buddies Anisa and Joanna Benedrati, from lovely New York City. When Nick announced publicly that he was zero to four percent Turkish, according to his 23 and me, Anisa and Joanna reached out.

Okay, well, Anisa and Joanna first, they said my pronunciation of Gutarmac was perfect, Jack. I just think I should mention that. And then they said that a famous variety of baklava comes from southern Turkey, and it's made with their famous locally grown pistachios. Yeah, that town is actually UNESCO recognized for those pistachios, and that baklava has received U.N. status of protection. And the largest baklava ever baked, weighed 1,131 pounds, and it was baked by some Turks. A great Turkish accomplishment.

I got to say, Jack, to Anise and Joanna, te secur Ideram, and te secur Iderum. Yes, you look fantastic today. So many wins to celebrate this week. Jack, I'm seeing you in Chicago in just a few days. We got the awards ceremony. Very excited. We're going to the awards. The Ambies, baby. Can't wait. We're going to get the tuxes. But yet he's before you go, Jack and I have the perfect thing for you to listen to this weekend.

In the latest episode of The Best Idea Yet, I tell the wild story how I snuck into a Mets game, not just to watch baseball. No, how did you sneak in and why do you sneak in, Jack? I snuck in to find my future wife. And that story of how Jack found his wife is connected to goldfish crackers. The wild untold origin story of the gold. So when you have a second, click the link in the episode description and check out the best idea yet. It's our weekly show. You're going to love it.

This one's on goldfish crackers. Jack and I will see you on it. Before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Middlebury Manther, Mike Panzer Esquire, from Down and lovely Washington, D.C. Mike, our 15 year anniversary is this summer. I'll see you there. And Larry Heduka, the Brown Bear Baller, is celebrating a birthday down also in Washington, D.C. And happy birthday to Sharon You, aka

A. Sharando from Los Angeles, this birthday request is one year late because her husband forgot to request one last year. But that also means it's right on time. And Nate Messas celebrating a birthday down in Nashville, Tennessee. Happy birthday. Happy birthday to Justin Chapman in Marblehead, Ohio. And Nick Goodner, legendary Yeti, celebrating a birthday down in Orlando. Happy 42nd birthday to Michael Contini in Brooklyn, New York. And Lizette Ortiz, also turning 42 with a big birthday in Alpast of Texas.

Happy birthday to Jessica Carpio in Colorado Springs, Colorado. And Tomas Ramirez, happy eighth birthday. Celebrating the big one down in Costa Rica. Happy birthday to Lola Lake Hey in Greenwich, London. And Sharon you from Rancho Palos Verdez, California is a dog hater, but we love her because she's celebrating a birthday. Wow, she's a dog hater?

Yeah, it's a story for another podcast. That's an unpopular position in today's world. She may be a cat person. You know, we didn't consider that. And happy ninth anniversary to Ben and Kara Inos in Franklin, Tennessee. And Liz DeHourne is Hutted in Charleston, South Carolina. Have a blast, guys. And a big good luck and congratulations to Jackson Durham,

who's doing bagpipes at the talent show this weekend.