The Best One Yet - 💨 “Gone in 60 tariffs” — Trade War Pause. The Masters’ menu strategy. Harry’s mammoth IPO.

Episode Date: April 10, 2025

Trump paused most tariffs, except for 1: USA vs China… Who will win the isolation game?The Masters golf tourney begins today… but the real strategy is in the $1.50 sandwiches.Harry’s Razors filed to IPO as “Mammoth”... because Harry’s is really a startup studio.Plus, scammers moved from email, to text, to… job apps? 25% of interviewees will be fake humans.$SPY $PG $EPCWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of…Peeps 🐣 Listen to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock sandal to Nintendo’s Super 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 Thursday, the new Friday, April 10. 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. I'm so hungry right now, Jack. I forgot. You're prepping for your colonoscopy. They make you fast for 24 hours. And they didn't even tell me about that when I said at the appointment. And they're also making to drink some serum every few hours. Jack, I started hallucinating. I thought my Uber driver was a pickle. I tried to lick them. But Nick, you're making a good long-term investment for your health, and I'm proud of you. Yeah, the stock market cleansed itself out, the colonoscopy. I'm doing the same. Which leads to our three stories of the day. Jack, what have we got on the T-boy? For our first story, the Dow surged by the most points in one day ever after Trump paused the trade war with every country in the world except for one.

China. China. What remains is Cold War II. It's USA versus China. For our second story. The Masters begins today. It's the most exclusive golf tournament in the world. So we were curious, why does the Masters have the cheapest food of any sports venue in the world?

And our third and final story. Harry's Razors, the Disruptor of Shaving, is renaming, rebranding, and IPOing. So we'll tell you why Harry's Razors is actually the most successful millennial startup. But yet ease, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, what a mix! Is that a hamburger? Oh, never mind, never mind. It's not a hamburger.

Okay, Jack, fantastic mix of stories, Jack. The next time you're interviewing someone for a job, we have a warning for you. Yeah, that job applicant could be 100% fake. Now, we don't mean fake like a phony kind of person who's not bringing their true selves to the interview. No, no, no, no, no. Jack and I mean fake as in fake human being. Because get this. According to Gartner, by 2028, 25% of job applicants will be fake.

We repeat one out of four job interviews will be with a deep fake. robot and you didn't even realize it. Fake resume, fake referral letters. Deep fake digital avatars pretending that they're real in a remote interview. Tell me about a time you faced adversity. Ha, ha, ha, sure, I can do that. Tell me your greatest strength and weakness.

No problem. Oh, here's a perfect example. Tell me about a team project. Cannot compute. Cannot compute. Reset. Okay. In fact, it's not just a future issue. Sneaky deep fake interviews are already being reported. Yeah, there's one San Francisco tech company that just He just interviewed a candidate named Ivan X.

He looked real on the Zoom, but his face didn't sync up with the words, so the interviewer was suspicious. True story, turns out he was actually a fake human created by a real scammer. Here's the scammer's goal. Get the job, snag the signing bonus, and then hack into the company with the credentials you just got on your first day. But besties, Jack and I got your back. We know the best way to figure out if your job candidate is real or is fake. Ask the person to eat a bowl of Cheerios right now. Yeah.

And drink the milk at the end of the bowl. We call it the Cheerio test because they probably have some Cheerios in their house and no bot is going to pass that test. Save us, Captcha. You're our only hope. Because Yeti's one out of four interviews is about to accidentally be with a bot. And if their name is ReCAPTCHA, that's a red flag. Jack, let's hit our three stories, stories, stories, stories. That's not a deep pig.

Deep pigs are way better than that. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, yesterday, President Trump de-escalated the trade war. A 90-day pause on most tariffs except for one country, China. Stocks rose 10% in a tremendous relief rally. They surged. You should check your 401k today. Greg, congratulations. Strong to quite strong. But what remains is the USA versus China.

Yet is Trade War Almanac Day 8. How tariffs are messing with the economy, we're keeping track for you from the tariff trenches. Yesterday stocks rocketed 10%. The biggest point gain ever on Wall Street. and it was all on news that Trump is standing down. That's right, eight days after causing the biggest financial scare in five years, President Trump partially undid almost all of it. He realized he went too far with punishing tariffs to everywhere in the world. So here's the news. For every country on earth, including those ones that had more penguins than people,

they are now getting just 10% baseline tariffs. Whether you're Cambodia or Wakanda, there's a 90-day pause on all those punitive tariffs so that everyone can negotiate. Now, investors, they were relieved. Wall Street, it was pumped. Except we should point out there is one exception here. And who is that exception, Jack? China.

For China, Trump did the opposite. He jacked up tariffs on China to 125% after China retaliated on the U.S. So, Jack, let's put that new tariff into context we understand. If an iPhone is made in China and costs $600 to manufacture, it now faces a brand new, $750 tax. on top of that. Add it all up, Yetis, and President Trump put the rest of the trade war on ice, but now he's playing a game of chicken with China's President Xi. Because earlier in the day,

China raised tariffs on the United States to 84%. So China versus the USA is a hotter trade war than ever. The U.S. versus China cold trade war is heating up. Now, Yetis, Nick and I personally believe that trade is good, unless the country you're trading with is cheating. And to be For decades, China has cheated on trade, sometimes brazenly hurting American companies. We got three big examples, and none of them include tariffs, actually, but all of them hurt American companies. So, Jack, the first way that China would hurt America on trade was good old-fashioned IP theft. To operate in China, American companies were required to share all of their company trade secrets

with a local Chinese partner. Oh, and if you refuse to do that, well, China is a notorious hacker of American companies, so they would just kind of go in and steal your ideas. The second thing China did to hurt American companies is currency devaluation. Oh, yeah, China's central bank. They actually kept the price of China's currency artificially low. Which keeps the price for made-in-China goods artificially low, and it's harder for American companies to compete.

Now, this third one is so wild. Jack actually read a book on this. China even would give out government bonoes. for hurting American companies. We're talking a bully bonus here. Here's how it went down. If a Chinese furniture company cut the prices of their dressers

to be so crazy low that it put the U.S. rival company out of business, and then China's government would step in and give that Chinese firm a bonus so that they would still profit. They incentivized Chinese companies if they put American companies out of business. That was a bully bonus,

kind of like a little financial pat on the back, if you will. Now, for decades, America did nothing. We hoped that China would eventually start following the rules of global trade. Well, Trump is finally doing something about that imbalance, but the impact, it hasn't just been on China. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies at American companies? Winning requires isolating China, but Trump's trade war is isolating the U.S. Yeties, we won the Cold War against Russia because of a massive alliance with Western democracies. The U.S. could win the trade war against China with the same strategy of alliances, but so far it has not.

And here's the evidence of that. On Wednesday, the European Union, our closest ally, basically sided with China and re-tariffed the United States. The optics of that are enormous. They're huge. On the same day that China attacked America with tariffs, Europe did too. Now, forcing China to stop breaking the rules of trade, that would be a worthy goal of a trade war. But to win that war, we would need the rest of the world on our side. So yesterday's de-escalation of trade war, too, it could help make that happen. It could bring back allies to our side.

Because winning this trade war requires isolating China. But so far, we've just isolated the U.S. For our second story. Gold jacket, green jacket, here it is. The Masters Golf Tournament begins today. No cell phones allowed for four full days. But the biggest rule that we love about the Masters, is their $1.50 sandwich strategy.

We'll explain. Now, yetis, some say the arrival of spring is announced by the flowers. Others say it's announced by the March Madness Basketball Tournament. But Jack and I say that spring officially begins when you pop your collar for the Masters golf tournament. The Masters, it's the golf tournament

that even non-golfers know about. That's why Jack and I wrote that poem. Azaleas are pink, the jackets are green. Time to put the Masters up on the screen. Nice. Yeah, it works, it works. The Masters tees off today in Augusta, Georgia, where Tiger Woods actually became Tiger Woods back in 1997. But besties, Jack and I are not interested in the golf, the merch, or the $20 million prize purse.

We are interested in the grub. Because the Masters is a blast from the past, both in cuisine and in cost. It's basically an inflation defier. We'll explain. My Nana would love the menu at the concession stand at the Masters. She would be all over it. And my Social Security check collecting grandfather would love the prices. Because get this, Yetis.

For the 23rd year in a row, an egg salad or a pimento cheese sandwich at the Masters is just $1.50. And all the other sandwiches, including like a honey fried chicken sandwich. A pork sandwich, an ice cream sandwich, a bunch of sandwiches. All the other sandwiches are just $3. Jack, can you sprinkle on some context, please, to what we're spending when you and I see a game over at Yankee Stadium? I don't think you can buy anything at Yankee Stadium for less than like seven bucks. I think they take your foot. You have to give a foot if you want to eat a dog.

So the Masters is this really interesting contrast. To join the club, you have to pay a $50,000 initiation fee, but there's no food at the entire course for more than $3. In this economy? Yeah, we'll take three of those sandwiches. Make it six. And this actually represents a trend. It's not just the Masters and Costco who are dedicated to underpricing their food

concessions. No, Jack and I have been following this for a few months now. Jack, what are the Phoenix Suns doing these days? They unveiled this year a $2 value menu for all their home games this season. Hot dogs, chips, and drinks are just two bucks in the arena. What about Coastal Carolina University? They took it one step further. Free food and drink at all their football games this fall. Okay, Jack, I didn't want to tell you this before, but it's a surprise. When I was at Madison Square Garden last time for a Rangers game, they sell a $35 hot dog. What? 35 bucks, and yet the master is selling a hot dog for 95% cheaper. What is the Madison Square Garden doing with this hot dog?

Apparently it is five pounds and it requires a whole family. But back to the Masters, back to the Masters. The Masters is a unique business because it's actually not a business. It's a country club. The Masters doesn't even charge for TV rights. Instead, they just require strict adherence to the rules of etiquette. It's a weird organization. It is.

They let CBS and ESPN broadcast the Masters for free with some rules. Like, they're only allowed to show four minutes of advertisements per hour. Basically, the Masters puts tradition over profit. But still, what's behind the surprising trend of cheap concessions at sporting events? So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Go into stadiums these days. Let your lost llama feed your profit puppies. Yeties, not every part of your business should be a profit center.

Because sometimes a cost center can drive customers to your profit centers. Here's the idea. Take that $1.50 sandwich. at the Masters. It boosts happiness, boosts attendance, and the big crowds, they look really cool on TV. And a pimento cheese sandwich was never going to make much profits in the first place. But on the other hand, Jack, merch, like t-shirts, hats, and jackets, that is really profitable compared to food. And people who go to the Masters are so pumped about the cheap food they get to eat, they're probably going to buy more of the expensive merch. In fact, that's exactly what

happens at the Masters. It turns out happy fans spend $10 million a day. today at the gift shop specifically. And that's where the Masters makes the most money. Exactly. It's the merch, not the food. Because not every part of your business should be a profit center. Let the loss llama feed the profit puppy. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Harry's, the shaving disruptor, is leading a razor renaissance. They're rebranding, renaming, and IPOing. Because Harry's isn't really a razor brand. is a startup studio. Jack, let's travel back in time a bit.

Set the scene for us, 2019, Harry's Razors, was a direct-to-consumer-shaving unicorn. When Nick asked me to be a groomsman at his wedding, he sent me a Harry's razor kit that said, groom yourself. Yeah, we do. He said all the groomsmen.

It's a very clever gift. I still use that, thanks, Jack. Well, back then, Harry's was about to sell their razor company to the owner of Schick. For $1.4 billion, life was good, grooming was hot. If you shaved a handle,

mustache and lived in Brooklyn in 2019, you were probably using a Harry's razor. But then a big negative surprise came for Harry's. The government blocked the deal. The FTC said that selling Harry's would kill competition in shaving. Even worse, one year later, the pandemic arrived, which caused men to stop shaving because they didn't see anyone in person. Shaving shut down. You grew out a lumberjack beard while you were working from home. So after their sale got blocked, COVID crushed the business, the shaving industry looked shattered. Harry should have gone bankrupt that point. They should have. Which leads to the shocking news. Harry's sales are up 20% since then to $835 million. Jack, that's an all-time high. Harry's is now the second biggest razor brand in America

behind only Gillette. It's a razor renaissance. Redemption. Oh, it never looks so good. Harris deserves one of those hot towel massages you sometimes get after a haircut. They need to give it to themselves. Actually, their VCs should give it to them. But yet is, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We'd argue that Harry's is the most successful direct-to-consumer startup of the millennial era. That's right. We just said it. They're the most successful. In fact, we're so confident in that argument, we will shave our legs if you prove us wrong. Candidate number one to prove us wrong, you might say Albirds is more successful. The iconic shoe brand is iconic. They went public a few years ago, but their stock, it's actually down 99%.

How about Casper mattress, who seemed to start this whole trend? Well, their mattress company nearly went bankrupt and they got bought by a private equity firm, so they're not in the running either. Warby Parker? Okay, interesting. Fair point there. That eyeglasses brand, you wore them to the latest Mumford and Sun's concert. They're arguably the most successful direct-to-consumer brand that's still standing. 800 million bucks in revenue, $2 billion valuation, they're publicly traded, they're doing well. But we think it's Harry's. They have higher sales than Warby Parker, probably a higher valuation. And Warby's didn't even seem coming. Oh, the ironic twist, by the way, Harry's co-founder, Jeff Rader also co-founded Warby Parker.

Isn't that wild? It is wild. Plus, Harry's just made an even bigger move than everything we just said. They confidentially filed to IPO. Ticker symbol R-A-Z-R. In fact, Harry's just looked in the mirror and is so confident right now, they just renamed their holding company to M-M-F. Oh, ticker symbol M-M-M-T-H.

I just like Triple M-Jack. Because like Google became alphabet, that Harry's is actually just one part of Harry's business. So now they're mammoth. And that's our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Harry's? Harry succeeded because it's actually a startup studio. Yeties, there is one tweak in Harry's business model

that made it different from every other DTC brand. Harry's isn't just one brand. They sell so much more than just razors. Through acquisition and the launch of new brands, Harry's has become a startup studio. They're basically a startup accelerator for completely unrelated businesses that all live under the mammoth brand now. For example, Harry's founded a cat food company internally called Cat Person. That's right, this Razor Company owns a cat food business.

They acquired the company Lume, which is chemical-free deodorant. They're now in the body odor business. And Harry's even launched another women's brand called Flamengo, and they launched that internally. Here's an interesting quote from Jeff Rader, that guy we mentioned earlier. We love the idea of having an ecosystem where a bunch of founders are running around building brands. This is running around building brands. And that's not your typical direct-to-consumer company, is it, Jack?

Harry's beat out all the rest of the millennial brands because it's really a startup studio. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? President Trump dropped tariffs to 10% for all countries except China. To win this trade war, we're going to need to isolate China. So far, Trump's trade war is isolating the U.S. For our second story, the master's sell sandwiches for just a dollar and 50 cents.

It's the trend of low-priced sports food. The Masters is letting food be the lost llama that feeds the profit puppy. For our third and final story, Harry's is forming a holding company called Mammoth, and now they're plotting an IPO. It's a razor renaissance, because their success lies in what they really are, a startup studio. Oh, and by the way, we interviewed Jeff Rader, the co-founder of Harry's like a year and a half ago. Search T-boy Jeff Rader in your podcast app, and you can find that. interview. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today from Trade War

Day number eight, because that was the only news yesterday. First, what a highlight of the relief rally was Apple. Apple stock jumped 15% yesterday. That was the biggest single day trading jump since 1998 for the owner of the iPhone. And by Jackson, my estimate, this was the biggest jump in value for a company in history. $400 billion in market cap games. The value of Apple stock gained one entire Netflix worth of value yesterday. And second, Delta Airlines and Walmart boasted something unusual. They polled their financial guidance. These companies tell Wall Street how much money they expect to make every year.

But there's so much uncertainty with the trade war still going on, they just don't know. They like simply don't know. Trump's stand down relieves uncertainty a bit, but we are still in a very uncertain place for the economy. Still trade war too. And finally, one more wild twist from yesterday's trade war drama. What do we got, Jack? In the morning, Trump tweeted in all caps that Americans should buy stocks. And then hours later, he actually paused the trade war.

So if you listen to his advice in the morning to buy stocks, you enjoyed a tremendous gain yesterday. Again, from all our research, this may be the first ever insider trading tip-off at a public level. It was an insider trading tip-off that the entire public had access to. Unprecedented. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one, a Spotify comment left by Yeti, Raphael Sarava. Yesterday, we mentioned that the Bezos Climate Fund is trying to breed cows who fart less in order to slow climate change.

However, Raphael points out that cows burp way more than they fart. Despite what cartoons might tell you, most of a cow's methane emissions comes out. the front end, not the back end. Yeah, about 95% of methane emissions from cows come from their burping. So that's what the Bezos Climate Fund wants to breathe. They want cows that burp less.

That's what they want. Don't we all, Jack? Don't we all? Speaking of burbs, Jack, you look fantastic. I'm about to lick this microphone. What are you doing? Why are you looking? Because I haven't eaten in 24 hours. I got 12 more to go before this colonoscopy, man. Wait, a 36-hour fast? It's a 36 hour fast, and I got to drink some liquid serum tonight.

I don't know what's in it, but it doesn't sound fun. Save your energy, dude. You've performed admirably in today's podcast. Oh, well, the podcast, that is energy priority number one right there, Jack. Shifting to low battery mode. Yeties, well, I am getting taken apart or whatever they're going to do tomorrow. Enjoy the latest episode of the best idea yet. We have a whole episode on The Peep, the Peep Marshmallow.

We got a link in the episode description, and Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. Enjoy dinner, baby. And before we go, a happy birthday. Tieti, Kyle Lynn, turn in 30, and Yangon, Burma. And Kyle's getting married on 420. Congratulations, Kyle. Happy birthday to Seth Bond from Carmel Maine.

This man loves his Legos. And Mary Grace, the legendary bestie over in New York City. Happy birthday on the Upper West. And a quick shout-out to my brothers. Tuck, Teddy, and Nick. Love you guys, because it's National Sibling Day. And Katie, happy Siblings Day. Thanks for visiting last weekend. This is Jack. I own stock in Netflix, Nickel and stock in Delta, and we both own stock in Apple, as well as ETFs of the S&P 500.