The Best One Yet - 🐶 “Cute > Compute” — DoorDash’s delivery bot. Etsy’s ChatGPT website-killer. America’s 15th Shutdown. +Ford Poetry.

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

DoorDash’s 1st food delivery robot has as a strategic feature… Cuteness.Etsy stock jumped 16% on a shopping deal with ChatGPT… but AI agents are also a website-killer.The impact of the Government Shutdown?… Just look at Cava lunch bowls & soybeans.Plus, since it’s the 1st day of Q4, Nick wrote some publicly traded poetry.Vote for The Best Idea Yet to win “Best Business Podcast”: ​​https://vote.signalaward.com/PublicVoting#/2025/shows/genre/business$DASH $ETSY $CAVA 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, Subitia Wednesday, October 1st. And today's part is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Jack, I'm checking the calendar here. First day of the fourth quarter. You know what that means, my friend. Three months left to complete your New Year's resolution. Remember the one you made back in January? Yeah, no pressure, besties. Just Jack and Nick reminding you. But this isn't about your New Year's resolution. These last three months is your New Year's redemption. Couldn't have said it better, Jack. Three stories for today's Teaboy. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, DoorDash just unveiled their first food delivery robot.

It's called Dot, and it reminds us of a puppy. Because this robot proves the most underrated advantage in business. Cuteness. For our second story, as of this recording, the United States was on track for a federal government shutdown starting today. So Jack and I will tell you what to expect using hummus bowls and soybeans. And our third and final story. Why did Etsy's arts and craft stock jump 16% on Monday?

Why, Jack? Because of Chat GPT. Chat is officially now a personal shopper. And that could eventually kill the website. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a mix of stories. Love the mix for Svichay Wednesday, Jack. Happy Q4 to all who celebrates.

Thank you, Jack. Today, it's the first day of the final quarter of the year. Congratulations. The next three months of the fiscal year, they're going to be fantastic. Every CEO is popping champagne and celebrating today. You earned it. But as you know, Yetis, we have a T-Boy tradition.

On the first day of the new quarter, we share some publicly traded poetry. Some highly profitable poetry, Jack. Now, I'm actually not prepared. You go first, then. I got two poems for you here, Jack. One of them is a limerick about the Spotify CEO. Okay, the other one I kind of made inspired by you.

It's about one of the stocks that you own. All right, just kick it off. Here we go. Our heart revs for you at every turn. Engines of history, oh, do we yearn. From Model T to Mustangs roar, you built our country's factory floor. But Ford, oh, Ford, we speak to thee.

Your stock still trade so stubbornly. I know, because Jack still owns your shares, and he's the one who really cares. Yes. You promise EVs in every fleet, but the margins sputter on the street. Detroit's proud son, Blue Oval Strong, we've held your ticker all along.

Yes, a lot of debt may stall your pace while Tesla speeds up the EV race, but we still cheer for Broncos might and the F-150s sales each and every night. Is it too much to ask for a smoother ride? A Wall Street rally, Ford Worldwide. Wow. Not only was Ford the first stock I ever bought.

I went to the Ford School of Public Policy. Different Ford. That was Gerald Ford. And I got a Ford, scholarship while I was there from the Ford Motor Company. And you know what, Jack, I was channeling that Ford love in this poem as it got crafted. That was incredible. Is this an investment endorsement to buy the stock? Yetis, that wasn't financial advice, but it was poetic advice. Jack, what do you say? We hit our three stories. Let's do it, man. 15 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 50%. That's a fat. T-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, DoorDash just launched their first self-driving food delivery robot with one key detail. It's adorable.

If you want to know who will win the robot wars, look at who's cutest. We're not kidding. Oh, Yeties, it's the fall. are a change in apples are picking, pumpkins are a carving. And tech companies are launching products. Yes, they are. But besties, it's not just Apple and Amazon and meta who are launching big things right now. Jack and I noticed, DoorDash just launched their first ever hardware yesterday. DoorDash, we're talking about the Pure Play food delivery stock. It's been feasting on Wall Street

lately. DoorDash stock is up 104% so far year to date. It's a $15 billion dollar company that's more valuable than Nike or Nintendo. Besties DoorDash now does two out of three food deliveries in America. They're eating so much market share that the CEO needs a moist towel at. Hold the napkin, but until today, DoorDash was simply a software middleman, right? Like just an app that takes a cut with a fee. But not anymore. DoorDash yesterday unveiled Dot, their first autonomous delivery robot.

Dot, a delivery robot. Actually, shockingly developed in-house by DoorDash. Dot is kind of like a... How would you put it, Jack? It's like R2D2. But instead of a Jedi as its master, it's got a pad tie as its master. Well, put Jack. Well, why don't we sprinkle on some more context here, Jack?

It's 2025. We already have self-driving taxis. You got Waymo, you got Tesla, even Zooks just launched in Las Vegas. In some parts of the country, we also already have self-driving food delivery bots. Jack and I've seen him in California. The postmates bot named Serv. It's been roaming the streets of Santa Monica for like three years now. The best is, here's what we find fascinating.

DoorDash's robot has a strategic day. differentiator. Cuteness. This stroller-sized red bot is designed to look adorable. It's got this cartoonish style that would make Bambi blush. Now, the two big headlights,

they look like eyeballs and make it look like a Pixar character. I want to hug it. And the lid that you open up to grab your hot food when it gets delivered, the handle of that lid forms a perfect smile

with those eyeballs. The eyes light up with excitement if a child approach. And it makes puppy-like sounds to let a human know that it's standing right next to you in case you didn't see it. Now, Bassies, we jumped in T-boy style to the launch video, and this robot can dodge soccer balls, yield to pedestrians, and even make small talk on the street. It's testing right now in Arizona. It can hold up to 30 pounds and go

20 miles an hour, which is the speed of like a D3X athlete. Now we know what you're wondering, regulations. Well, this robot is legal on sidewalks and the side of the road and bike paths and can stroll up the path to your front door. And yet he's just like Uber and Lyft, DoorDash's business model becomes way more profitable if they can cut out the human driver. And practically speaking, it's kind of a waste to use a two-ton car just to deliver a couple tacos. So this thing's good for the planet and it's good for profits. Although one problem here, Jack, is, you know, the last 10 feet. They're going to lose out on some customers who want it to their door. It gets pretty close, man. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies with the food delivery robot over at DoorDash?

Cuteness is a competitive advantage because robotics is an emotional. industry. Yeah, it is Elon's Tesla humanoid robots, they're a little bit dystopian. Elon actually calls them his legion, which is pretty intense. Amazon's robots, they have screens instead of a face, which is just like the demigorgon in stranger things. Way more robot taxis feel soulless, and Boston Robotics's robot kind of looks like the Terminator. These are the things of nightmares, not the things of dreams. But instead of trying to replicate the human form like Elon, DoorDash's bot focuses on human emotion. You know, they say that Star Wars, prepared humankind to embrace technology by making R2D2 and C3PO so trustworthy and lovable.

I did not know they said that, Jack, but I'm glad they said that. Well, I'm saying it. So instead of making Dot like a human, DoorDash made Dot inspired like a puppy. In a world where people distrust and fear robotics and AI, cuteness and endearment, that may be the successful strategy. Besties, in the consumer robotics industry, adorableness is a competitive advantage. Beats compute. For our second story, today is day one of the federal government shutdown, the 15th shutdown in the last 45 years.

We'll provide the historical context who this is going to hurt and why this time it's different. Ah, Yeti's American exceptionalism. We're the only country that does government shutdowns and damn jack, do we do them well. Unfortunately, that's true. You know, everywhere else in the world, if politicians can't agree on, on how much to spend, then the existing spending levels just continue indefinitely. Ah, but not here, Jack, not, not, not here. And because our politicians cannot agree, we are getting our 15th federal government shutdown since 1980. How is this going to end? Well, eventually one party is going to concede based on which party the public is more angry at.

We've been through this before. We've been there. But yeah, can we please clarify what shut down and what's not shut down right now? All right, mandatory programs like Medicare and food stamps. and public safety departments like the TSA, ICE, and the military, they will not shut down. So don't worry, you'll still get that pat down at the airport this afternoon. And the post office and passport offices, they're going to stay open to because they're mostly funded by fees, not taxes. But bureaucrats, whom Americans don't depend on for their livelihood, they won't get paid, and they'll be asked to stay home right now.

And this is going to impact the private sector, too. Just one small example is Kava, because Kava normally feeds those federal workers who are now furloughed. Besties, remember, the fast casual Mediterranean restaurant, Kava, they're based in D.C. They got 21 locations in the capital district right now. But the Department of Interior isn't stopping by for a lunch meeting, bowl of hummus anytime soon. No, they are not, Jack. So Kava stock is down. But besties, this shutdown of the government, this time, it's different in a couple very interesting ways. Most importantly, the president dislikes much of the government and wants it to be smaller. Now, yet is the background here is that the Democrats, desperate to oppose Trump in their only moment of leverage, have refused to fund the government unless Republicans restore health care funding.

Because remember, like a trillion dollars of health care funding was cut in President Trump's big, beautiful bill. But in the last few days, Trump has seemed to welcome the shutdown. You see, for him, it could be a form of Doge 2.0 in a certain way. For the last couple of weeks, he's been threatening that he will use the shutdown to eliminate programs and layoff government workers, in departments he doesn't like. Plus, interestingly, the Department of Labor won't announce or publish economic data while the government is shut down. Including the jobs report, which is scheduled for this Friday, and tells us the unemployment

rate. So add it all up, Estes, and the president thinks that he has unusual leverage in this particular government shutdown against Democrats. But there is one exception, and that exception is working in the fields of Iowa right now. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone watching the shutdown? The Americans most in need of government right now are soybean farmers. Yeties, President Trump has made his most public punches in this trade war against China. It seems like China hasn't really punched back, but it has.

Yeah. They've retaliated in a powerful way that you probably haven't noticed. They have boycotted American soybeans, which is a big deal. You see, Yeti's last year, China bought $12.6 billion of soybeans from our American farmers. But, Jack, how many soybeans has China purchased? since May? Zero. They've switched their entire soybean consumption from American soybeans to Argentina. So our president wants to rescue soy farmers right now with a bailout because they're the top trade war victims these days. But it seems he can't help soybean farmers without congressional

action and a functioning department of agriculture. So yet he's this 15th government shut down. It's different because the president will use it to cut programs that he doesn't like. But he does like farmers who need a functioning government to get rescued from the trade war. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Etsy. The online arts and crafts marketplace, its stock jumps 16% on Monday

after a partnership with chat GPT. Because you can now shop directly on chat, which creates an entirely new business model. We call it B to A. B to A. But yeties, this story really begins last month, when we told you about the huge, surprise from ChatGPT. What was it, Jack? According to their data, a majority of users are now

women. And they've got 700 million monthly users right now on ChatGPT. Chat Chepti also just launched this week their first marketing campaign. And guess what? It features moms who use Chat as like a household assistant, basically. As mom would. But the newest move by Chat GPT may be their most mom approved one yet. Because Chat just launched a direct shopping service starting with Etsy. Etsy. And Jack, why are our buddies at Etsy? mom approved over there. Well, they're the online craft goods marketplace whose sellers are 86% female. Etsy, the home of that handcrafted in Mason Jar, you saw at every wedding rehearsal from 2016 to 2019. If it's Macrobey, it's Etsy. Yeti's the biggest surprise with ChatchipT

jumped up their stock 16% as OpenAI gave its first e-commerce rose to Etsy. But what is this news really? Nick and I are seeing that this is an AI shopping agent that will do your online shopping for you. Okay, but Jack, what does this really mean if we now live in a world with AI shopping agents? It means you might never visit Etsy.com again or eventually any website. This may kill the website. So let's like jump in T-boy style and explain how this would go down, Jack. Like a housewarming party. I went to Lucy and Peters the other day. They have a new house. I needed to bring a gift. I like to bring cake, but Molly said we needed to bring something permanent.

So you asked Chad GPT for a houseworm gift. Here was Chad's response. I found a selection of warm ceramic ideas just for you. So then Chat GPT in the chat will show you a bowl, a dish, hand-thrown vases, Etsy options that are like a crafty concierge. It knows your style already, and these warm beige bowls are perfect for Peter and Lucy. Okay, but here's the keyjack. To buy that pottery, you don't leave Chat GPT. Chat has built the pipes to handle the payment and process the transaction.

Now here's the business context. Open AI, they're getting in on the act. here, they're getting a commission if we purchase that vase from Etsy. Nice new revenue stream to pay for their trillions of dollars of data servers they're building. And the financial processing of my payment, that'll be done by a different company. That's actually handled by Stripe. Etsy gets a piece of the action too, and the rest of the money goes to the Minnesota mom who loves macromay, but is side hustling and hand-thrown ceramic bowls.

But besties, if AI chatbots can find out what you want to buy and sell it to you there in the chat, maybe you stop going to the sites. You'll stop visiting websites. If you need handcrafted stuff in the future, just use chat. Although I know you want it to say mac or may right there, Jack. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Etsy? We have B2B and B2C.

Prepare for B2A, business to AI. Yeties, as you learn in business school, there are two main types of business models. One is B2B and the other is B2C. B2B is business to business. You sell to other companies. B to C, is business to consumers you sell to regular people.

But Jack and I think a new form of business model is emerging, and we call it B to A, business to artificial intelligence. Because what Etsy is really doing here is selling to AI in order to sell to you. Yeah, Etsy now has an incentive, as Jack just described, to market online, not to human shoppers, but to AI shopping agents. And if AI bots control consumer decisions in the future, then AI bots are who you need to market to. That means a whole different business model

with a whole different focus. Not B2B, not B2C, B2A. Business to artificial chatbots. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Civeche Wednesday? DoorDash launched Dot, their autonomous delivery robot that looks like a Pixar movie.

Because in the consumer robotics industry, cuteness is a competitive advantage. Cute beats compute. For our second story, America's 15th government shutdown since 1980 begins today. Yeah. And willing to lay off workers, Trump has an advantage this time. But the Americans most in need of government right now, it's soybean farmers.

And our third and final story, you can buy Etsy products directly on chat GPT. There's no reason anymore to visit Etsy.com. And it's a whole new business model. Not B2B and not B2C, we call it BTAA. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the stock market, it's at an all-time high. And you know what that means?

More private companies want to go public with an IPO. Tap the market while it's hot. Jennifer Garner, the actress, also has a baby food company called Once Upon a Farm that just filed to IPO. Well, front, they're jumping on the fintech boom, and they also just filed to IPO. And beta technologies, an electric airplane startup based in Burlington, Vermont, filed to go public too. Everyone is going to IPO dibs on the ticker symbol T-boy, by the way. And second, President Trump announced a surprise deal with Pfizer to sell drugs to Medicaid at European prices.

Wouldn't that be nice? After all, American-developed drugs are priced three times higher in the United States than the same exact drugs are in Europe. Now, the administration is branding the website, Trump R-X, so that the president gets credit for it. And the pharmaceutical companies will now use this website to sell drugs direct to consumer. Because it's actually the middlemen in the pharmaceutical industry that cause some of the gigantic prices we have to pay. And finally, a record scratch moment on Wall Street. Spotify's CEO and founder, Daniel Eck, just announced he's stepping down out of nowhere. He's leaving the band. After 19 years of leading Spotify out of Sweden, the stock is near an all-time high worth $140 billion. Shares fell 7% on the surprise news, which is kind of just a

compliment to Daniel Eck. Although he's stepping, he's not really stepping down, he's stepping up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because he's now going to be the CEO's boss. He's the chairman of the board. Yeah, he's not the lead singer, but he's managing the band. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Deborah from lovely Seattle.

Yesterday we said, actually Nick said the word clout like four or five times. Yeah, I like saying clout. Which means, you know, having power or influence. But Debra points out that there is an Arabic word that is similar to clout called Wasta. It doesn't have a direct translation in English, but it basically means a lot of clout. Let's use it in sentence, Nick. How did you get that 7.30 restaurant on Friday night at La Bernadette? It's impossible. Well, Jack, I got the reservation because I got losta.

Not pasta. Lasta. If you know, now you know. Yiddies, you look fantastic for Cevice Wednesday. And happy Q4 to everyone listening right now, right? Oh, no, close your books before you buy you. All right. So, Jack still got a service. up some publicly traded poetry for us. If there is a company that you want to be his muse, please drop it in the comments. So Jack will be inspired by it. That's a great idea. I will write a poem

based on the most loved comment on Spotify. And it's going to be a great poem. I promise not to use AI. Jack's going to craft this one from the heart. So leave your comments, Yetis, and we'll see it tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Oliver Montia, celebrating 10 years in Orlando, Florida, is playing while coding. And congratulations to Sam Nangia in Houston, Texas, who just launched Value Genius evaluation business. And congratulations on the new job to Carol Lukasovich Danzi in Essex, the United Kingdom. Carol from accounting is moving on to financial controller.

And congratulations to my buddy Brett Benabatini in Rochester Hills, Michigan, who passed his fourth and final CPA exam and is now starting a new accounting job. You know what that means, Jack. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Kava, and Ford. Nick own stock of Nike, and we both own stock of Spotify and Apple. I hope it's enough Occidental Petroleum. Palantir. Good luck with that love poem to Palantir, Jack.