The Best One Yet - 👙👙 “#Dupe” — Lululemon’s knockoff embrace. Jack Dorsey’s Bluesky. Warren Buffett’s succession.

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

Lululemon just had a “Dupe Swap”: You show up with a knockoff, walk out with the real thing. Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey just ripped on Twitter and launched a rival: Bluesky — because right now we’re all Social Media nomads. And Warren Buffett just hosted the biggest weekend in finance of the year, but the only word on everyone’s mind was… succession.$LULU $BRK.A $METAWant 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 YoutubeLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, Maynard. And today's pod is the best one yet. It is T-boy, baby. Nick, are you still wearing the stirrups and the cowboy hat from this weekend? We're wearing chaps under my boxers, Jack. That's how I'm rolling from this weekend.

Only a few more weeks of dink life for that. Yeeh-ha, Jack. First story. What do we got in this show, man? Lulu Lemon has a new strategy for the knock-off versions of their leggings. They're embracing the knockoff. It is all about the dupes. For our second story, Warren Buffett, just hosted an annual investor meeting, the Coachella for capitalism.

But everyone was thinking about one word, and what's that word, Jack? Succession. Succession. And our third and final story is Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. He just launched an invite-only Twitter rival called Blue Sky. Blue Sky, because right now we're all social media nomads. But Yeties, before we hit that fantastic memes. Just a wonderful mix that we are building in real time, baby.

We've diagnosed many types of flation. Oh, there are so many inflations. Jack and I have found that inflation can take many forms. For example, there's eggflation. Yes, when you pay more specifically for eggs. And then there's shrinkflation. When you pay the same price for cookies, but you get a smaller box of cookies. And then there's suckflation.

This one's the worst. It's when you pay more for a hotel room, but then you get worse service at the hotel. You pay more, but you get less. It just sucks. It just sucks. But last week we introduced a whole new flation to the glossary. Yes, we did, Jack. Love flation.

Love flation. When you like a brand so much, you'll pay any price. They keep raising the price, but you keep paying for it. It doesn't even matter. You're just gonna buy that thing. For example, Chipotle raised prices for their burritos and everything else on the menu by another 10% in the past year. And yet, you paid more for that poyo, not less. You paid for more.

poyo, not less pollo. I know the guac's extra. Put it on the air mat. So for Teapoy Tuesday, we want to know. What's your loveflation product? What's your loveflation brand? Jack, I know what yours is. Your love flation brand, you're wearing it right now.

It's like under the seat. I'm standing on Birkenstocks, and if they doubled the prices, I'd still be standing on Birkenstocks. Full disclosure, ready. Jack will sell his soul literally for a pair of Birkenstocks. For Nick, he's in Loveflation with Frost. and cake. I mean, Susie cakes, cupcakes, Jack, I am willing to pay any price for a slice of that cake. Yetis, we want to know what product or brand would you easily pay double for rather than

live without? For what product do you have? Loveflation. If Costco doubled the membership price, would you still pay? If Darlene doubled the price of your Duncan, would you still do it? Loveflation. Let us know at T-boyPod on Instagram and Twitter. We want to know with what are you in loveflation. Let's hit our three-stop. 15 years before this song Two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn 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

Start the show For our first story The number one trend on TikTok right now is also the number one threat to Lulu Lemon. We're talking about doops. Doops. Doops aren't about the price, though. Doops are about being in a club.

Yetis look around you right now. You don't even realize it. You're not even aware of it, but you are surrounded by doaps. Those pants, it's a dupe. That shirt, it's a dupe. That cooler, it's a Yeti dupe. Yeti's doaps. The hashtag doaps has gotten 4 billion views on TikTok.

And doaps, think of it as duplicate. That's what it stands for. It's a duplicate. We're not talking about a knockoff product. Like, this isn't the counterfeit Louis Vuitton handbag that some guy is trying to hawk you on Canal Street, New York City. Goiard, schmoyard. This isn't a pair of Focles in the Caribbean you bought for like $12.

As our friend Kim Britsiller explains in her newsletter, doaps are products that try to be just like another premium product, but at a lower price. And a dupe is not illegal. It's a legitimate brand. It's not trying to trick you into buying it. by pretending to be Oakley. It's the same quality product.

It's just a different brand at a lower price. We actually covered a dupe on our pod once, those Trader Joe's facial sunscreen products. Yeah, and they were duping Supergoop's facial sunscreen. Right. Both Trader Joe's version and Supergoop's version were effective, legitimate products that worked. But Jack, what were the prices of those two different sunscreens?

Trader Joe's made a $9 version of Supergoop's $36 original. Yet is that. is a dupe. And Jack, why are you and I noticing more and more doaps around doping around these days? In this economy? Yeah, in this economy. Yeties, when times get tough or prices rise, so do the doaps. You get the fooyard, not the goyard. You get the Fuji, not the Gucci. You're looking for the RITC cooler, not the Yeti cooler. But here's why Jack and I wanted to cover this story.

Lulu Lemon just became the first big brand to take on dupes. And they're taking on dupes by embroidery. bracing dupes. By hugging the dopes. Yeti's Lululemon knows that dupes are a problem. They say that videos with the hashtag Lululemon dupe have 180 million views on TikTok with a link on where to buy a cheaper pair of Lulmon pants. Honestly, as far as we can tell, Lulu, maybe the most duped brand we could find out there.

The classic product getting duped is the Align leggings, those classic $98 tight leggings that Lulu sells. However, if you go on Amazon, you may notice a very similar dupe leaging that will cost you just 32 bucks. Nick, I see it blatantly on Instagram. I'm seeing ads that say Lulu, but half the price. That is a dupe that I saw an ad for. Definitely a dupe. So on Sunday, Lulu finally did something about it. They're launching what they call a dupe swap. It was a dupe swap. Yaddies, if you were in Los Angeles, you could go to a Lulu lemon, bring your dopes, and they would swap them for the real Lulu leggings. You hand over the product you bought for half price,

and they hand you the real product in exchange for free. It's like one of those amnesty programs you see around. You know what I'm talking about? It's like you voluntarily bring in the contraband. And instead of punishing you, they're like, thank you. Here's your reward. Thank you for the counterfeits. Here's the real thing.

Lulu's trying to turn lemons into Lulu lemons. Yeah, it'll cost them in the short run. But these dup swaps, they think in the long term, will pay off. They think after you wear the real Lulu leggings for the first time, you'll never buy a dupe again. Oh, Jack's still going to be. try to slip into some aligned leggings. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lulu Lemon? Dupes aren't a scarlet letter. They're a badge of honor. Here's the surprise about dupes,

yetis. One of the few forces that transcends socioeconomic differences, it's being an insider. Whether you're wealthy, middle class, or lower income, everyone wants in on a secret deal. That's the real power of the dupe. wearing a dupe doesn't signal cheapness. It signals that you're part of a club in the no. That's why you don't just wear the dupe. You share the dupe. And that is why Lulu Lemon isn't fighting the dupe. It's embracing the dupe. Because dupes aren't a scarlet letter.

They're a badge of honor. Dupes aren't just about the price. They're about being in the no. If you know, you know. For our second story, the newest rival to Twitter is from the co-founder of Twitter. Jack Dorsey just launched Blue Sky to rival Twitter. Because right now we're all social media nomads.

Okay, Jack. buyer's remorse. We've talked about buyer's remorse. Yes, we have. But if we ever talked about sellers' remorse? It's a thing. It's definitely a thing. And Jack Dorsey seems to have it. Because his latest regret with Twitter is that he sold it to Elon Musk. Awkward. At first, Jack Dorsey was a devout Elon believer. He was

really excited that Elon was buying the Twitter social media company that he co-founded. But in a recent interview, it's clear. He's turned sour on Elon buying Twitter. Jack, what was the quote he said? Specifically, there were a few things he said. He said, Everything has turned south since Elon took over. Not exactly an endorsement of what's happened. No.

And you don't need to know the metrics of Twitter to know that Twitter has become a mess. And so, Jack Dorsey, Twitter, co-founder, and two-time former CEO has an idea. And here it is a new Twitter. He's going to build a new Twitter. That's what he's going to do. He's calling it Blue Sky. It's an app that you can download on the App Store right now. Now, you don't tweet on Blue Sky instead of tweeting.

You skeet on Blue Sky. Yeah, there's nudes everywhere. It's chaos. There's some growing pains. Yeah, they're not trying working through all the things yet, but the kinks are getting worked out. But it's exciting. And tech reporters are really excited about it. Now, of course, Jack and I, we wanted to jump in T-boy style, but then we couldn't. We downloaded the app, and then they said, enter your invite code. And we said, about that.

Who's running this, Anna Wintour? Oh, my. There's under 100,000 people who have been invited to the app. Even President Joe Biden is on a wait list behind 2 million people. It's invite only. It's highly exclusive. And that's how they're also getting a lot of press. Nice.

But yet is even though Jack and I couldn't jump in T-boy style, we did find out what you need to know about Blue Sky. This Twitter competitor is actually just like Twitter. Like you can post text and images and videos and share it with the world. Yeah, apparently Jack Dorsey, who hasn't eaten breakfast in 14 years, rebuilt this whole app from memory of Twitter. Yeah, he's like code here, code there. He was working at Twitter for a while.

But there is one key difference between Blue Sky and Twitter. At Blue Sky, nobody's in charge. Yeah, it's like Jack Dorsey came up with this idea on a darkness retreat. Yeah. And in that sense, since nobody's in charge, Blue Sky is a social media network that's more like email than it is like Twitter. Like Besties, consider your Gmail. It's the dominant email provider.

But anyone can create an email account and send emails using Gmail. Because email is decentralized and open source. And so is Blue Sky. Okay, so like Blue Sky can't ban any accounts, that person can just open up a new account on a new server just like you can with your Gmail. And since it's open source, you can also choose your own algorithm because nobody is in charge of what you see except you. It is a choose your own adventure. Choose your own algorithm, not too shabby. You could focus your news feed on friends posts or news posts or just posts about the real housewives of Rhode Island. It's just something about those real housewives of Rhode Island.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Blue Sky? Right now, we're all kind of social media nomads. Ladies, think about this. For the first decade of social media, we all coalesced around four core social media platforms. And because of that, we all reflexively swipe open our phone and open the same three or four social media apps. We've been doing it for years. But today, Twitter is now a wild Elon world. TikTok might get banned.

And Facebook is for your grandparents. So for many of us, for the first time in years, we're social media nomads. We're wandering around looking for an app to use. Or as Neely Patel put it, we're all just shopping around, looking for the right app to post that pick on. So developers are working on those new apps. They are. Just looking at Twitter alternatives, we now have artifact, mastodon, substack notes, and blue sky. Because right now, we're all social media nomads.

For our third and final story, Berkshire, Hathaway just celebrated another year of beating the stock market. So let's talk about Warren Buffett's one-liners. Because Warren Buffett's one-liners could be books. They probably are books. Jack, if there were a stock of the century, what would you say it is? What would you say this stock of it? It'd be Berkshire Hathaway. No question about it. Yeah, he's Jack and I. We looked at the 10 most valuable companies in the United States. And guess what? Only one of them was actually older than us. Only one of them existed before Nick and I were born. That non-millennial stock is Berkshire Hathaway.

Berkshire Hathaway became the Berkshire that we know when Warren Buffett took over as CEO in 1965. And basically there are two things you got to know about Berkshire Hathaway. They do two really simple things. Number one, Berkshire buys stocks of companies that they think are undervalued. Or number two, they buy entire companies and then they install managers to run those companies. better. Those are the two ways that Berkshire makes money. Stock gains and profits from the companies they own. Well, over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway held their annual shareholder meeting in lovely Omaha, Nebraska. Jack and I like to think of it as the Coachella of Capitalism. The Coachella

of capitalism, because this is a weekend-long outdoor event where people stripped down into just cash flow statements. You get high on the hedge ratios, don't you, Jack? Oh, and since the 92-year-old Warren Buffett has taken over, Berkshire stock has given them something to celebrate. Get this. Warren Buffett has beaten the S&P 500 39 out of the last 58 years. If you own Berkshire stock instead of the S&P 500, you do better than the S&P 500, two-thirds at the time. But, Jack, what would you say the highlight is of this Coachella of Capitalism Weekend? It was the one-liners, because these two guys, Warren Buffett, who's 92, and Warren's right-hand man, Charlie Munger, who's 99? Wow.

They're old. They're wise. They've got wisdom. They're kind of crazy. For example, those two have been skeptical of artificial intelligence because, as they put it, old-fashioned human intelligence is working just fine. But these guys do invest in tech. Berkshire is worth $700 billion. $150 billion of that is the Apple stock that Warren bought years ago. And as Warren Buffett put it, the reason he invested in Apple is because people would sooner give up their second car than they'd give up their iPhone. But the best one-liners were the pieces of life advice. Yes, Jack and I noticed this one from Warren Buffett.

This is just, this is fantastic. Do you want to whip it up, Jeff? He advises young people to write their own obituaries. Right, now, this isn't a dark thing. This is actually a pretty bright thing when you write your own obituary. Because after you write your obituary, you write how you hope to be remembered. Well, each year, you can read the obituary you wrote and see if you're living up to your own standards. Honestly, fantastic first aid conversation starter.

But Jack, there was one thing that Warren didn't say. and what was that? He didn't say when he was going to retire. Good point. Again, this man is 92 years old. His right-hand man is 99 years old. And they're kicking like they're 33 and loving every minute of it. They're kicking butt.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Berkshire Hathaway? The number one question right now is succession. Yet he's Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger. We repeat, they are 92 and 99 years old. And they are legends. And they're still at the top of their game. Get this. Warren has been officially retirement age for 28 years, according to the Social Security Administration. And he's investing better than all of us.

But for the first time, a third person took a leading role in this past weekend shareholder meeting. And this guy's name, it's Greg Able. And he's expected to take over when Warren and Charlie move on. He's 30 years of their junior, but he does know the business. This guy, Greg, he already runs a large portion of the portfolio. This guy, Greg, he's got skin in the game. He owns $105 million of Berkshire Hathaway stock. Now, of course, we would all like Warren Buffett to live forever and continue dominating all of us at investing.

But the biggest risk to Berkshire is succession. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Lulu Lemon will give you a free pair of their leggings if you turn in a pair of dupes. Doops aren't about the price. They're about being an insider. They're a badge of honor. For our second story, Blue Scott is Jack Dorsey's Twitter rival. invite only, but it's buzzing. Because right now, we're all social media nomads. And our third and final

story is Berkshire Hathaway. It beat the S&P 500 again last year, thanks to the 92-year-old Warren Buffett. But the number one question on Kendall Roy's mind, succession. Same with Berkshire investors, by the way. Yeah, it is. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in from Jesse Schwartz from lovely white slamming salmon, Sam in Washington. Is that a real place? Kind of. I kind of added the slamming. Yet these last week we mentioned supertasters when we talked about olipop. Supertasters are people who have an extreme sensitivity to taste. It's a real thing. Supertasters can smell cilantro from six blocks away.

Is that cilantro? I gotta get out of this city. It turns out they're more common than you might think, though. Turns out 25% of Americans are actually supertasters. And women are 50% more likely to be supertasters than men are. So when she complies about your cooking, she's right. It's not your fault. It's just her taste buds. I think it's your fault.

You can't blame the bok choy anymore, Yetis. Yetis, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday. And remember, Jack and I want to know, what's your lovelation brand? What's your loveflation product? What product or what brand, if they jacked up the price, would you have no choice but to just keep paying for it?

Because you love it so much. Jack's missing a tooth because he gave it to Birkenstock for some clogs. Hit us up at T-Boy Pod, your loveflation brands we want to know. Jack and I, we'll see you there. Can't wait. And before we go, congratulations to Yeti's Ben and Grace Fulon, who are having a baby girl. It is official in October. Happy second anniversary to Tamar and John in Washington, D.C.

And Eddie and Jeanette Hines got their five-year anniversary over in Marietta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. Congratulations to Farhan and Anderli, who are celebrating eight years together. St. Louis. Jack, this couple goes to bed every night and discusses how many lifts an olive garden is worth before they go to bed. And congratulations to Kate McCarthy, graduating from high school in Worcester Mass. Just outside, Boston. And Kate and Vincent Chamba are a couple of Zambians living in America who are commuting together right now listening to T-Boy. Happy 25th birthday to Megan Gray in Houston, Texas. And Vicente de Friedas, happy ninth birthday in lovely Coral Springs, Florida. Happy 36th birthday to Sarah Rudolph in Oxnard, California.

And Brian San Jermaine, enjoy that 60th birthday in Grand Rapids, Michigan. And happy birthday to Ramon in Fayetteville, Georgia. This is Jack. I own stock of Berkshire Hathaway and Nick and I both own stock of Apple, Lulu Lemon, and Chipotle. Great job, dude. Thanks, man. You crushed the light, dude. Thank you.

Yeah, I've rid one in the week. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding.