The Best One Yet - ⛳ “He’s a 10 but…” — Tea’s red flag dating app. Quince’s $4.5B cashmere. Our 1st Transcontinental Railroad. Happy Gilmore’s cameo strategy.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Wednesday, July 30th. And today's pod is the best one yet. And this is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Today's show has so much razzle-dazzle, so much sprinkled-dinkle. What do you say we hit the three stories, Jack? What do we got, man? For our first story, T isn't a dating app. It's an app women use while dating. And it lets you rate dudes. But this T-dating app, it got hacked. And that, is causing the real team. For our second story, the biggest business deal of 2025 was announced yesterday, an $85 billion railroad merger.

Starting point is 00:00:41 Besties forget what you learned in grade school. This is our first transcontinental railroad. And our third and final story. The fashion brand Quince just hit $4.5 billion valuation for cashmere, candles, and caviar. But we think Quince's real innovation, it's actually America's T-Moo. But yet he's before. before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories.

Starting point is 00:01:04 Love the mix, Jack. It's been 29 years since Happy Gilmore hit theaters in 1996. Just tap, tap, tap, tap, tap in that sequel, Jack. Tap, tap, tap, paparoo. Happy Gilmore 2 hit Netflix on Friday, and it's already Netflix's number one movie. Spoiler, don't expect it to be as good as Happy Gilmore number one. Happy Gilmore 2 is like a college reunion. It's fun, but it's not as fun as college was.

Starting point is 00:01:27 But, dude you know that this movie only had a budget of $30 million? $30 million. That's like one-tenth the budget of a Disney movie. But here's what Jack and I find fascinating Yetis. Happy Gilmore 2 specializes

Starting point is 00:01:39 in the greatest financial trick shot in the history of film. Happy Gilmore 2 specializes in the cameo. Ah, the cameo. Happy Gilmore 2 has more cameo appearances than any other movie we could find. And we triple-checked IMDB. 60 different celebrity cameos.

Starting point is 00:01:57 This is a marketing hack. Because the celebrities in the film they post on social. But it's also a cost saver. Because you don't have to pay Eminem for those 30 seconds he was on camera. No, you don't. In fact, Jack and I counted 14 different pro-golfers in this movie. From Leetchervino to John Daly to Scotty Shatler. In fact, there are more pro athletes in the cast than in the Olympics. Reggie Bush, Sean Avery, Taylor Swift's boyfriend. Ah, music, Happy Gilmore 2 stars enough singers to win a Grammy. Bad Bunny, Kid Cuddy, Post Malone. In fact, the Happy Gilmore

Starting point is 00:02:30 cameos are also kind of like a family reunion, right, Jack? Because Adam Sandler's wife and kids were in Happy Gilmore, too. But Ben Stiller's three kids are also in the movie. There were four influencers, including Alex Earle, two chefs including Guy Fierry. Even the host of Jeopardy somehow snuck into the cast. Who is Ken Jennings? Get this, Nick. The daughter of the CEO of Netflix, she made the movie too. Oh, but the wildest appearance of all, who is it, Jack? The real life, Happy Gilmore. That's right. Adam Sandler's character is based off a real childhood friend.

Starting point is 00:03:07 From the University of Vermont. Besties Happy Gilmore, too. It ain't just a movie. It's a case study and frugal filmmaking with 60 different cameos. The only one who didn't make Happy Gilmore too is that Mista Mista Lady. Remember her? Yeah, Jack, but I think they just killed her. I think we just killed her.

Starting point is 00:03:24 Chubbs be proud. Let's in our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the north. Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack, 50%. That's a fat tip.

Starting point is 00:03:43 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, T has hit number two in the app store, as women want the tea on the men they are dating. But tea has now been hacked. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:04:16 Twice. Leaving women feeling exposed. And this feels like a trend. Yeties, Bumble pioneered the women's first dating app. Women make the first move. While T is the successor to Bumble in some ways. It's kind of like the sequel, because it's basically borrowed the business model of Yelp,

Starting point is 00:04:34 and it's put it on dudes. Now, to be clear, T is not a dating app in the traditional sense. T is an app where women can go to give honest feedback about the guys that they've dated. Have you had a relationship with someone, you could give him a red flag, you can give him a green flag. So women on tea are hunting for green flags, because those are the guys you want. But then tea added more features, and unfortunately, yellow flag was not one of them. True. It's not just red flags and green flags as you scroll through guys.

Starting point is 00:05:04 You can enter a guy's phone number that you got in a first date and use the T app to find out if he's married. You can reverse photo lookup, see if he's catfishing you by using a picture of someone else. Basically, T has digitized the Whisper Network. It's techified the boyfriend T. Call this the gas business model. Yeah, why's that? Gossip as a service. So just like a Yelp review, as you scroll through dudes on the app, you would see comments reviewing what they're like.

Starting point is 00:05:31 For example, he sent me a Venmo request after our first date. That's probably a red flag at this point, Jack. True. But, Nick, there's like serious reviews. This is doing good work. There's one comment I saw on Instagram. I found the guy who assaulted me on this. app and was able to warn three other people about it thanks to T.

Starting point is 00:05:48 Yetis, this is powerful stuff. And that is why 4.7 million women have downloaded this app and it hit number two in the app store. Now, some people who download the app have been frustrated by the wait list. Yeah, human staff have to verify the app to ensure that real human women are using it. So you tried to download the app two weeks ago, but your application is still pending. But the T users are even more frustrated because T has been hacked. Twice. Women shared intimate information to this app,

Starting point is 00:06:18 including DMs among women who both dated the same guy. Now, we should point out the app claims that everything is secure and everyone is anonymous. But it's not hard to piece together a woman's ID based on the hack data that's now on the dark web. Yet he's had it all up and that's not T, that's a leak. And it comes at the worst time for this startup. T has entered the zeitgeist. Yeah, T, it was just taken off. It had momentum.

Starting point is 00:06:42 It was rocket shipping with PR buzz over the last week. And now the brand has been dented just as it was rising. And Jack, why is this so particularly painful for T? I mean, this app depends on you being vulnerable. If vulnerability is the product, security must be the foundation. Jack's spoken like Uncle Ben from Spider-Man. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at T? Problematic product, market fit.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Yeties, Jack and I have noticed a trend recently. Consumer surveillance is surging. In some cases, the surveillance is good. Good point. Because surveillance is accountability, which improves people's behavior. Yeah, like the astronomer CEO. He got outed for an affair at the Coldplay concert or Predators outed in the T-Ap. But Nick, does the T-Ap mean second chances are over?

Starting point is 00:07:34 Like if a guy gets caught picking his nose, is he never going to get a date again because of his red flags on the T-Ap? If you split the check, you may never get married, is what you're saying, Jack. No reformed bad boys are going to emerge from this T-Av. But besties, we've noticed there's even more surveillance happening right now. Like at our Chicago live show, we actually had an encounter hanging out with a Yeti who was wearing meta-rayband glasses. We didn't realize it at the time, but our entire interaction was recorded with video, and that guy posted it on Instagram.

Starting point is 00:08:03 I just saw it today. Well, how about AI listening devices? The ones we've said are going to come out from Sam Altman next year. People could have a listening device in their pocket recording you, and you'd have no idea what's happening. So Basties, each of these products has great market fit, but it introduces sticky new social issues because everything's being recorded. Potentially problematic product, great market fit. For our second story, Chew, Chew, America is finally getting its first transcontinental railroad. Nick, this is actually the biggest business deal of the year.

Starting point is 00:08:40 It's Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern. Yeties, 1869, America's West and East Coats were connected at Promontory Point, Utah. Two railroad companies met in Utah in a post-Civil War moment of unity for the country. We all learned about it in sixth grade. The famous Golden Spike was spiked into the ground. But in 2025, it's not railroad workers uniting the country. It's bankers. Yeah, and they're not smacking a golden spike.

Starting point is 00:09:10 Spike, they're grabbing a golden pen. Because Union Pacific Railroad is paying Norfolk Southern Railroad $320 a share and a combination of cash and stock to merge. Yeah, we did the multiplication math for you. That is an $85 billion with a B deal. And this combined massive coast-to-coast railroad company, it's going to be worth $250 billion. Sit down, stand up, and punch your ticket again. This is the biggest merger of 2025. And it's, oh, railroad deal. The numbers are bigger than a locomotive. After this deal is closed, we're talking 100 ports linked by 50,000 miles of rail across 43 American states. Everywhere but the six New England states in North Dakota can buy a ticket at this combined railroad and go anywhere in the country that they want. And yeties, this is huge because railroads carry 28% of U.S. freight and 40% of long haul cargo.

Starting point is 00:10:06 America doesn't run on Duncan. It runs on railroads. No, no, no, Jack, America doesn't run on Duncan. It runs on choochoo. We went over this. It's chucho. We promised our sons, we're going to say chucho. But besties, this deal, it is as big as a train, and yet it is as slow as Amtrak. The executives find this deal expect it won't close until 2027. That's how long it will take to get regulatory approval. So, Jack, I got to ask, why is this epic train deal going to take so long? Because it looks, smell. and sounds like a monopoly. Yeah, get this yetties. Back in the late 1800s, we created antitrust laws, ironically, because of railroad monopolies. So the suits behind this billion-dollar deal are already speaking in code that they think Trump will like. Yeah, these railroad execs have literally said, we are re-industrializing America.

Starting point is 00:11:02 They said they have guaranteed jobs for anybody that's unionized. They've said, we will transform the U.S. supply chain and unleash the industrializing America. strength of American manufacturing. Now, do these train execs really believe that? Or are they just trying to find ways to cut costs, boost profits, and make a bigger bonus? So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the railroad industry? It doesn't make sense to take two Ubers to get somewhere. And it doesn't make sense to take two trains either. Now, yet he's, Jack and I are not fans of consolidation. We are fans of competition. But we don't think this consolidation will hurt competition. No, we don't. Because the two railroads in question, they don't compete with each other.

Starting point is 00:11:42 Interestingly, the railroad industry is highly regional. Norfolk operates east of the Mississippi. Union Pacific operates west. They each have their own separate territory. So merging won't reduce competition, but it will reduce cumbersome. Combersome, because shipping something by rail from New York to L.A. requires a changeover in Chicago, Kansas City, or St. Louis. You literally got to put the stuff in a different train because you've reached the end of the Norfolk Railway and have to get on to the Union Pacific Railway. That is costly, both in time and money. Like, you know, when you switch from New Jersey Transit to Long Island Railroad just to get to the Hamptons. Getting from Jersey to Montauk would be a lot quicker and more efficient if those rail lines merged.

Starting point is 00:12:23 Besties in a rail, this is called single line shipping. And that's the money savings that this merger wants to achieve. Doesn't make sense to take two Uber's to get to dinner. Doesn't make sense to take two trains either. Chew-choo, Jack. Chew-choo. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Quince, the affordable luxury brand, just hit a $4.5 billion valuation by selling cashmere sweaters and cute dresses, but also caviar and gold bars. And like Sheein, Quince is really a tech company. This is America's Timo, but luxury. Now, Yeti's funny thing, last week when we were in Chicago, I gave Jack a gift for my half birthday. It's just the kind of guy I am.

Starting point is 00:13:11 I thought I was the people pleasing. You're giving me a gift for your half birthday? So I gave Jack a yak sweater because you said you wanted one, right? I did. Now, we didn't know it at the time. But Quince, the maker of that yak wool sweater that got me was about to make news. The $50 yak wool sweater. Yeti's Quince is a fashion startup that just raised $200 million at a $4.5 billion. valuation. That means this fashion brand is right up there with skims, Viore, and Christian Lubiton in valuation. On the public side, they're about half the size of the gap. They're almost as big as Levi's jeans, though. A seven-year-old disruptor is biting at fashion's heels.

Starting point is 00:13:51 Now, the name of the brand is quince, which is sort for quintessential, as opposed to Kinsenera, which Jack thought it was short for. I totally mispronounced it. I thought it was Kinse. But basically, this cashmere-covered unicorn is affordable luxury. It's kind of like at Everlane studied abroad in Milan. Exactly. The pandemic was big for Keen's. You mean Quince. Right, Quince. Revenue 15xed in 2021, and revenues are expected to half a billion dollars this year. How would you describe Quince, though, Jack, if you haven't seen your yak wool sweater? If Jenny Kane and J. Crew had a baby who was raised by Amazon. And went to boarding school in Ohio, California. But what Nick and I found fascinating about

Starting point is 00:14:32 Quince is that their business model is unprecedented in American apparel. In fact, the more we looked at their business model, Quince isn't really a fashion company. It's a tech company, a tech company ensconced in linen. First of all, Quince is based in San Francisco. Second of all, half of their employees are software engineers. I got to ask Jack, what does a brand-selling maxi dresses need so many coders for in San Francisco? They're DTF. That's why. More on that in a second.

Starting point is 00:15:02 Let's sprinkle on some context. A typical apparel business, like The Gap, plans for a season, orders from a factory, and then keeps those cute tops in a warehouse as inventory. But Quince doesn't do that at all. They're asset light. They only tell the factory to make a dress if someone has ordered it. So the way Jack and I see it, they're not a direct-to-consumer company like Casper Mattress. They're a direct-to-factory company.

Starting point is 00:15:27 They're DTF. Quince's technology cuts out an extra middleman to stay at. as lean as possible, which means there's no wasted clothes. No wasted waistbands being made at Quince. Only wastebands people have ordered online already. And that's how you get a cashmere sweater down to 50 bucks. A $50 luxury company. It sounds like an oxymoron. But it also sounds like something we've seen before, right, Jack? Yeah, China, Shian, and Timu, they pioneered this direct-to-factory concept. But Quince is doing it in America, and they're doing it with luxury. So Jack, what is the beige covered takeaway for our buddies over at Quince?

Starting point is 00:16:06 Quince's other innovation? The caviar strategy. Yet he's selling $50 cashmere and luxury dupes, that's also a risk for Quince. It's a risk to the brand because no matter how high quality they say that cashmere is, for just 50 bucks, you might think it's cheap cashmere. So here's the key. To preempt that risk, Quince makes a strategic move. limited luxury drops. For example, they're currently selling a $3,000 diamond ring on their website. Yeah, last month, Quinn sold $4,000 gold bars on their website.

Starting point is 00:16:42 And over the holidays, they sold a $300 tin of the highest grade caviar. I'm sorry, Jack, is that Royal Ocetra caviar? All of those luxury products sold out, and Quince doesn't plan to restock them, but that's not the point. That's right. The point is to have you associate quince with caviar, even if they don't. sell caviar year round. If you saw an article that said quince is selling caviar, you're going to associate quince with luxury and believe that that $50 sweater is in fact luxury. That is luxury by association, or as Jack and I call it, the caviar strategy. Jack, and you'll whip up the takeaways

Starting point is 00:17:20 for us for Saviche Wednesday. The T app helps women catch red flags about potential dates, but it also got hacked. The consumer surveillance industry. Potentially problematic products. market fit. For our second story, the number one and number four railroad companies announced their merging. It'll be the first ever transcontinental railroad. And the biggest deal of the year, because it doesn't make sense to take two Ubers to get to dinner, and it's the same with trains. And our third and final story is Quince. It's America's luxury she in. It comes direct from factory and has a four and a half billion dollar valuation. How do you equate Quince with luxury? Well, you do it with the caviar strategy.

Starting point is 00:18:03 But Yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, by now, you've seen the shooting in New York City and Midtown Manhattan on Park Avenue that sadly killed four people. Including a police officer, a security guard, and a top female executive at Blackstone, which is the tenant of the building. Now, the latest update is that the shooter was not targeting Blackstone, the financial firm. He was actually targeting the NFL.

Starting point is 00:18:27 That's according to a noody left behind after killing himself. The NFL headquarters are in that building, and the shooter had a history. of football brain injuries. Second, Waymo has chosen its next dancing partner. Their robotaxies are coming to Dallas. They're coming to Dallas. But interestingly, Waymo's doing it without Uber. Instead, Waymo is partnering with Avis car rental?

Starting point is 00:18:49 Yeah, Avis is going to handle the fleet management. Basically, cleaning the cars and charging them and making sure they're in tip-top shape. I mean, Jack, how did Waymo not partner with Enterprise? Enterprise comes pick you up. True. Missed opportunity. Either way, Uber is bummed. They thought they were Waymo's fleet manager. You never know who you're going to dance with. And finally, on Monday, we told you about the Sydney-Sweeney stock surge. Sydney did a denim collab with American Eagle, and American Eagle's stock jumped 15%.

Starting point is 00:19:19 Well, now that promotion's getting some pushback, because the good genes theme is a cute wordplay, but it does carry some racial baggage. It sparked claims of eugenics from one side and wokeness from the other. Now time for the best fact yet. This one is a correction sent in by Sam Barber from lovely Royal Oak, Michigan. Last week at our Chicago Live show, we interviewed Chris Barman, CEO of Slate Auto, and we sat on stage that Slate should be the first car company to launch a smoothie collab. Yeah, they got a cool electric car, they may as well have a cool smoothie to go with it. Well, it turns out Chevy had the same idea.

Starting point is 00:19:55 Because in September of last year, they did a smoothie collab with Arawad. Yeah, Chevrolet is actually the first car. company to launch a smoothie. I can't believe I'm saying those words. And yes, they did it with Arawan. And we're guilty here because we actually covered that Chevy electric Arawan smoothie on our pod. Yeah, I remember Jack, because I think we said it tasted like, is that chassis? I think that's a hint of chassis in there. Thanks for the hilarious correction, Sam. Yeah, the leather seats. That's vitamin C right there. That's vitamin C. Yettys, you look fantastic today. Jack, you are glowing. Do you want to share with them the news?

Starting point is 00:20:31 Are you excited about this? Should we let them know? I don't know if we're allowed to. What, that I wore the Yack sweater and I look really nice in it? What are you getting at? I was going to say that you and I are making a cameo in Happy Gilmore 3?

Starting point is 00:20:44 Revenge of Shooter McAvin? I can't believe we're going to wait to tell everybody. But Grizzly Adams did have a beard. If you know, you know, yet he's dropped down to give us a five-star review. That helps us grow the show. We love reading them. Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow.

Starting point is 00:21:06 And before we go, a happy birthday. Tieti, Sydney, down in Fayette, Phil, Arkansas, who also is in an insanely cool, awesome seven-year relationship. Happy birthday to Yashvi Shah in San Francisco, who is turning a sweet 16. Happy birthday, and Yana and Taylor Embry from New York City. Have a 10-year anniversary on the day a pigeon and four raccoons brought them together in Central Park.

Starting point is 00:21:29 Oh, my God. You got to send this to the New York Times as a metropolitan diary. That is an amazing story. It feels like it's a movie. And congratulations. to Natalie Chen, who completed the San Francisco Marathon with her best time yet. And Joanna and Andre from Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Happy anniversary.

Starting point is 00:21:45 Hope you're celebrating well. Happy 30th birthday to Eric Monaghan in Framingham Mass. And a belated 20th birthday to Aditi Shaw hanging out down the street in San Francisco. Happy anniversary to Yanna and Taylor in Denver, Colorado. And Lila Tran is turning seven years old all the way down in beautiful San Diego. Happy birthday to Brittany Chibi in Chicago, who is at our live show. Great to see you and Austin Stanius. Happy 37th birthday hanging out in Cali.

Starting point is 00:22:12 And happy second birthday. The big number two to Gia Wadia in Los Angeles. This is Jack. I own stock in Netflix, Levi, Disney, and Amazon.

The Best One Yet - ⛳ “He’s a 10 but…” — Tea’s red flag dating app. Quince’s $4.5B cashmere. Our 1st Transcontinental Railroad. Happy Gilmore’s cameo strategy.

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