The Best One Yet - 👸 “How Poppi got Pepsi’d” — Poppi’s $2B Cinderella deal. Apple’s SuperSiri delay. Law Schools’ app surge.

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Tuesday, Tea Boy, Tuesday, March 18th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a tea boy. The top three stories at the intersection of business and pop culture. Mark gets closed up for the second day in a row. No news is good news on Wall Street. Not too shabby Jack. There's even rumors that egg prices could be coming down soon. Eggs going down. Stock's going up for Todd is tasting. Fantastic, Jack. Feels like a tea boy. What do we got on the pod today? Poppy, the buzzy prebiotic soda, was once on Shark Tank asking for a $2 million valuation. But Poppy just sold for $2 billion to Pepsi, thanks to Cinderella. For our second story, Apple's big AI upgrade for your iPhone, it just got epically delayed. Because Apple's foot is in Siri's mouth. And our third and final story, applications to law school surged by 21% this year, and we found three reasons why. One of them? A JD teaches you had to think.

Starting point is 00:00:58 think and thinking is AI proof. We think. But yet he's, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories today, Jack. You may still be stretching out on a beach with some banana boat. You may still be kicking it down in Cabo, besties. But when it comes to spring break, there's one brand most associated to it. In fact, this brand basically invented, scaled, and turned spring break into a business. They turned spring break into, yeah, spring break. That company is MTV Music Television. MTV transformed Spring Break into a national phenomenon. Into a profit puppy.

Starting point is 00:01:40 In fact, we think MTV is the most impactful TV channel in the history of TV. Fact, no TV channel has influenced culture more than MTV has. Without MTV, we wouldn't have music videos. Without MTV, we wouldn't have reality TV. But did you know that MTV initially refused to play music from Michael Jackson? They only did it reluctantly because David Bowie intervened. It's a wild story and so is MTV's transformation from music TV to reality TV. From Total Request Live to the Jersey Shore. We did a whole episode on MTV and you can check it out on the best idea yet.

Starting point is 00:02:16 So besties if you are on a beach, if you're in a bikini or if you're just stuck on a flight down to Fort Lauderdale, listen to this episode this week. To quote exhibit, we pimped out this episode. Oh, there are bells and whistles on it. It's 45 minutes, and we dropped a link in the episode description. Because MTV is simply the best idea yet. But today's T-boy is also fantastic. Oh, this is fantastic. I love these three stories, Jack.

Starting point is 00:02:41 Should we head on Spring Break! Woo! Hey, Carson Daily, let's in. 15 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 an norm. Even think they need to practice.

Starting point is 00:02:58 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, it's official. Pepsi is acquiring Poppy for $1.95 billion to get into the prebiotic soda craze. It's a really nice exit for Poppy, which actually pulled off the biggest brand pivot in the history of liquid.

Starting point is 00:03:39 Trivia, Jack, what do soda stream, Tropicana, Gatorade, Quaker Oats, and Poppy all have in common. They've all been acquired by Pepsi Cup. Yeah, Pepsi! You got some taste buds over there. They're Gatorade bathing themselves, right? Because Pepsi just confirmed rumors on Monday that they're buying Poppy, the prebiotic soda, for $1.95 billion.

Starting point is 00:04:03 Prebiotic soda, Yetis, we've got to drop some definitions on you over here. Jack, probiotic soda. Probiotic soda, exactly. Probiotic is something like kombucha, which adds new bacteria into your gut. Okay, if that's probiotic, what is prebiotic soda? Prebiotic is when the drink includes fiber, which feeds the existing bacteria that's already in your gut. So add it all up, and Poppy's prebiotic soda is kind of like a yogurt but liquidified in your gut. Like if Dr. Pepper and Tums had a soda baby.

Starting point is 00:04:35 In fact, when we jumped into the numbers, T-boy style, Poppy is number two in sales, behind Olipop with $100 million in revenue. But Poppy is growing fast. Meanwhile, big Pepsi, their soda sales have been shrinking or flat for years. And you know what Jack and I say? When you talk to a CFO, growth is good for your financial gut. So Pepsi is buying Poppy. But it's funny timing because just last week, Coca-Cola, they didn't buy a prebiotic soda.

Starting point is 00:05:02 They launched one called Simply Pop. But Pepsi knows the age-old rule. If you can't beat them, buy them. So Coca-Cola is trying to beat them. Pepsi's just buying them. Looks like that vending machine drama really paid off. Now, few know. But Poppy was actually called something else recently until it pulled off a huge rebrand. Poppy pulled off what Jack and I call a Cinderella rebrand.

Starting point is 00:05:25 Because they changed every detail about the company except the underlying product. Yeah, we call it Cinderella because this is a full body makeover. That's going to require a whole lot of magic to pull off. In 2018, a husband and wife, team went on to Shark Tank to pitch their drink and ask for investment. And guess what? They got a deal from Shark Tank. And Jack, what was that drink exactly? It was called Mother, an apple cider vinegar-based sparkling soda. It was great for your gut health. Mother, it was served in a bottle. The logo looked like script written in the Victorian era. It was basically giving

Starting point is 00:05:59 co-op farmer vibes, one could say. But in 2020, after just two years in the business, sales were slowing. Right. So they gave Mother a major makeover. They changed four specific details. The name, the logo, the container, and the category. Here's what happened. Mother changed Poppy. They went from an old school script to bright fun colors. They switched the container from a bottle to a can, and they changed the product description from apple cider vinegar beverage to probiotic sour. Yeah, it rolls off the tongue a little bit better. Add it all up, and Mother transformed into Poppy completely different look in every way and yet the same underlying product. And Poppy's dressing itself up like Cinderella paid off big time. Like a fairy godmother

Starting point is 00:06:42 waved a magic wand. Jack, this was such a magical makeover. Poppy should start delivering the soda in a pumpkin carriage. Not a fairy tale guy? So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Poppy? Sometimes to go to the ball, you need to go full Cinderella. Jack, can we talk about the financial result after Poppy pulled off that epic pivot. The year after the makeover, sales grew by 100% and they've doubled every year since that rename and rebrand. And it's changed everything about the company. First, they changed the customers. They went from niche remedy in your mom's medicine cabinet to a teen trend center. They also changed the use case from an infrequent health product for your gut to a daily soda alternative. You can literally see Poppy's inflection point

Starting point is 00:07:33 tied to that one exact moment when they went through the Cinderella makeover. Many founders are afraid to cut deep into their brand or to change the brand. Oftentimes, if you do change the brand, you just tinker with the name or the logo. But Poppy is proof that sometimes the products can be perfect, but it might not succeed because of the wrong marketing. So Poppy just kissed the Pepsi Prince with a $2 billion deal because of that brave Cinderella pivot five years ago. For our second story, Apple just made it.

Starting point is 00:08:05 an embarrassing confession. AI Siri just got delayed indefinitely. Apple stock has fallen by 17% since Christmas because of all of big tech, Apple's doing the least with AI down to its core. But yeties, let's check the calendar here. Jack, last June, 18 months into the AI frenzy, what did Apple tell us? They finally announced something with AI. It was called Apple Intelligence. Apple intelligence, AI. But nearly a year later, Jack, I'm looking at my iPhone over here, and I feel like I'm looking at an iPod. Here's the only AI I see on my Apple products.

Starting point is 00:08:44 Nick will send me a five-word text message. And then instead of seeing the five-word text message, I'll see Siri's attempt at an AI summary of his five-word text message. Which is also five-words long. It's like Siri, do less, man. Now, we thought that by now, Siri would be fluent in chat GPT, because that's what Apple told us what happened. We thought that by now the future of Apple would be here,

Starting point is 00:09:08 we called it Super Siri. Super Siri. The ultimate personal assistant built into your iPhone, synced with your MacBook, in your AirPods too. So basically a Siri that you'd say, Hey, Siri, what was the name of that guy I got coffee with last week at Starbucks? Siri would check your calendar and tell you the name into your AirPods. Or you'd be like, hey, Siri, can you go on Rezi and book me a dinner reservation at that

Starting point is 00:09:31 place that Alex just texted me about? It would go to iMessage, find the restaurant, and then book you the reservation on resigning. Or like, hey, Siri, what is this thing on my side? And who should I be seeing about this? Siri would figure that out. Apple said that Siri would be able to move across apps to do tasks for you, which would be the ultimate personal assistant. They said that last June.

Starting point is 00:09:53 But two weeks ago, they made a low-key, super disappointing announcement that AI Super Siri is delayed indefinitely. Or as Apple put it, we anticipate rolling out a more personalized Siri in the coming year. Anticipating launching something in the coming year is as non-committal as it gets. Siri, she's 14 years old, but she still doesn't speak artificial intelligence. Now, in the headline, we said that Apple's confession was embarrassing. Yes, we did. Because delays is something that Apple just doesn't do. They don't do that. Like, maybe you bought the iPhone 16 because of Apple's AI announcement last year? You thought it was the first AI iPhone, but now you're sitting here with your Apple 16 and it still doesn't do AI. Yeah, those AI features are probably going to come out in

Starting point is 00:10:37 the next iPhone. iPhone 17. Sorry, no backsies. Apple's got a great reputation of only launching stuff when it's ready, but they jump the gun with AI. Side note here, Jack, what is Warren Buffett doing about Apple stock these days? Warren Buffett, the 93-year-old investor, is no AI expert, but he sold most of his Apple stock last year. Did you catch that? Didn't notice that, but now we're sharing this. Yeties, Berkshire Hathaway sold two-thirds of their 900 million shares of Apple last year. And since Christmas, since Warren got done selling, Apple stock has fallen by 17%. Hey, Siri, can you tell us what the heck is going on right now? Sorry, I don't understand.

Starting point is 00:11:20 Of course she doesn't understand. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Apple? Voice is the next revolutionary interface, but Apple has its foot in its mouth. Yiddies, here's what Steve Jobs said at the 2007 iPhone unveil. We've been very lucky to have brought a few revolutionary user interfaces to the market in our time. First was the mouse. The second was the click wheel. And now we're going to bring multi-touch to the market. and each of these revolutionary user interfaces has made possible a revolutionary product,

Starting point is 00:12:02 the Mac, the iPod, and now the iPhone. The mouse, the click wheel, and the multi-touch screen made the Mac, the iPod, and the iPhone possible. Those physical innovations, that's what brought Apple the most profit of any company in history. But those revolutionary user interfaces, as Steve Jobs called them, they're all going obsolete. Because the way we see it, the future of tech will be controlled by voice, completely hands-free computing. My iPhone's amazing. Yeah. But an iPhone I never have to pull out of my pocket or tap around on, that's even better. Amazinger. Amazinger. Apple, they had a 10-year head

Starting point is 00:12:39 start with the voice of Siri, but she still can't speak AI. Which means that chat GPT, Amazon's Alexa, or meta or Google's chatbots could win the voice race. Yeties, listen to our epic podcast host voices right now. Whoever wins with voice wins the next era of consumer tech. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, hold on to your MBAs because applications to law school surge 21% higher this year. We'll tell you why your buddy is getting a JD instead of an NBA. But yet he's first, full disclosure, Jack and I are both. the sons of lawyers. My dad's a lawyer. Nick's dad's a lawyer. Yeah, my mom's a lawyer too.

Starting point is 00:13:30 And actually, the reason we do disclosures in the podcast is because our legal parents told us that they're lawyers and we should do disclosures. Yeah, we're not lawyers. We actually went to business school. We did. But at business school, we were more impressed with our JD classmates. Our law school classmates, they're doing three years of school and they're doing way more reading than we were. Law school. It's what smart people do when they don't know what to do. And here's the news. more people want to do that. Applications at America's top 200 law schools rose by 21% this current application season.

Starting point is 00:14:03 At the University of Michigan, applications are up 30% the most in their 166-year history. And the University of Michigan's Law Library is one of the great architectural feats of the Midwest, Nick. Over at Georgetown, 14,000 applications to the law school for just 650 spots. That's less than 5% application rate.

Starting point is 00:14:22 This is a bar exam boom. It's an Esquire search. May I approach the bench? No, there's too many of you. You may not approach the bench. I heard there are so many law school applications. L. Woods got waitlisted at Harvard. That's not true.

Starting point is 00:14:39 It is true. Now, Yeties, the wait lists for this application season are so deep. The law schools are doing something they've never done before. Stand by lists like airplanes do. They're giving people a sense of where they are on the wait list. so they can either write off their chances of getting into Michigan or still hold out hope that they'll get in. Now, Jack and I got fascinated with this story, and we discovered there are three interesting reasons that explain the law school boom. One economic, one political, and one tech.

Starting point is 00:15:08 All right, Jack, let's start with the economic. What's the economic reason for the bar exam boom? The hiring pullback, starting with the tech industry, has continued. So white-collar workers are looking for alternatives. Yeah, the tech session. Zuck started it with his year of efficiency, and then Amazon. and continued it by calling mid-manager white-collar jobs. According to the Wall Street Journal, the percent of MBA students still looking for a job

Starting point is 00:15:30 one year after graduating is up to 23%. That's why your buddy over at Stanford, GSB, is still thinking about starting his own thing. There's a political reason for the surge in law school applications too. Yes, there is. Historically, law school applications actually jump during election years. Which we just finished. Yes.

Starting point is 00:15:48 High-profile battles on immigration, civil rights, basically law schools get a Trump bump from all the controversial topics. Because for some reason, like every famous politician of all time is a lawyer. Oh, totally. And we actually call this the Atticus Finch effect, don't we, Jack? You think you can impact positive change on the world through politics, especially when politics are in the news. So you pull a Harvey Dent and you go full Aaron Brockovich on law school. You mentioned Harvey Dent, Aaron Brockovich, and Elle Woods. What other fictional? Oh, you haven't mentioned my cousin Vinnie.

Starting point is 00:16:19 I plead the fifth, Jack. the fit. So Jack, do you pledge to tell the takeaway the whole takeaway and nothing but the takeaway you can't handle the takeaway? Law school teaches you how to think. And we think that is AI proof. Now, Yeti's, of course, a third reason for the law school surge is artificial intelligence. Everyone wants to know which career paths are safest from AI. Now, there is no data fully out there yet, but we think the ones that require critical thinking are the safest from AI. Medical degrees, law degrees, creative degrees.

Starting point is 00:16:58 We don't think you can program any of those professions into code. Yeah, to get more detailed, our thought is that no industry is immune from AI. In fact, many basic associate work that's now done at law firms, it's done by AI. But the most important way to job-proof yourself is a role where you have to think. And the power of law school is that it equips you with a new way of thinking. as opposed to a skill that's more functional, like writing code, because functional means automatable. Bestie's law school, it teaches you how to think.

Starting point is 00:17:28 And we think that thinking is AI-proof. We think. All right, approach the bench. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Tea Boy Tuesday? Pepsi is buying Poppy. Five years after Poppy changed its name, its look, its container, and its category. Everything but the drink. Because Yet he's sometimes to go.

Starting point is 00:17:52 to the ball, you need to go full Cinderella. For our second story, Apple's AI enhanced Siri is delayed indefinitely. She still can't speak AI. Voice. It is the next revolutionary interface, but Apple, they got their foot in their mouths. And our third and final story, law school applications jumped 21% this year for political, economic, and technology reasons. AI is still best at doing, humans are best at thinking. Or Jack, another way I've heard this the other day is, you want to telling the machine what to do, not the machine telling you what to do. Thinking is more AI proof than doing. But Yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Forever 21, home of the $1 cute top just filed for bankruptcy again, but this time for good.

Starting point is 00:18:43 It's planning to close all 350 remaining stores. Forever is ending. Now, interestingly, Forever 21 blamed Sheehan and Timu for all their problems, the fast-fashioned disruptors from China. Specifically, they're complaining about the de minimis loophole, the $800 loophole that lets those Chinese exports come into America for free. And second, the fate of Ukraine could hinge on a phone call that happens today. Donald Trump has a phone call scheduled with Vladimir Putin to discuss the ceasefire in Ukraine. A lot hangs in the balance of this call between these two strongmen. And finally, Robin Hood is letting users buy contracts on prediction markets related to March Madness Basketball Games. Translation, you can bet on March Madness Basketball games.

Starting point is 00:19:30 They didn't say bet. Okay, okay, okay, okay. They said you could purchase contracts on prediction markets related to the outcomes of the March Madness basketball games. Your move, SEC, your move. This is a backdoor move by Robin Hood to effectively let you sports bet, but without the sports betting regulation. Say sports betting. We didn't say sports, Maddie. Now, time for the best fact yet.

Starting point is 00:19:54 This one sent in by Scott Schiller over in lovely Vancouver, Canuck, Canada. Last week, we compared that famous Skype incoming phone call sound effect to the sound effects of Slack. Well, Scott wanted to share a little bit more about the sound of Slack. Push and play. Here we go. This sound is known because of Slack, but it was created for an online game. The game called a glitch didn't work out.

Starting point is 00:20:18 So the company behind it pivoted to focus on their in-house communication tool. That became known as Slack. Slack needed some notification sounds, and they happened to know exactly where to look. So what's the takeaway? Don't throw away old ideas. They may find a new life in your next best idea yet. Wow. Okay, first of all, great background history on the sound of Slack.

Starting point is 00:20:42 Second, one of the greatest voices we've ever heard was that Yeti, Scott. He's got a voice for podcast. podcasting for sure. He's got a voice. We just said earlier in the takeaway, voice is the future. You're AI proof, Scott. You're AI proof. By the way, Yeti, send in your best fact yet by tapping the link in the show notes. We want your voice on the pod. Jettys, you look fantastic over there. Jack, what do you think? Is this tankini going to work for me? Is this one, is this good for the beach? Are you talking spring break? I'm talking spring break over here. Spring break. If you want to hear about MTV, the company that invented Spankini, the company that invented

Starting point is 00:21:18 Spring break, reality TV, and the music video, as we know it, we've got the perfect episode for you. This episode is dripping with nostalgia. Also, when Michael Jackson dropped the thriller, it almost broke MTV. True story. All of that is on the best idea yet. Our weekly show, go listen right now. We also drop the link in the episode description. And Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Jackson Baker, turned 18 in skinny at least in skinny attley is New York, shredding his axe, and TV. going away in while it does. And happy 30th birthday to Zach Steinfeld in lovely Atlanta, Georgia. We're wishing you a

Starting point is 00:21:58 perfect 300 bowling game. If you know, you know. And Christina Smoloski down in Centennial, Colorado, is buying a house today, huge milestone on the birthday. And happy 28th birthday to Meredith Johnson in South Lake, Texas, who cannot wait to

Starting point is 00:22:14 celebrate with the besties in Houston. Let's go. And to the USC Annenberg School of Communications, thanks for stopping by. They just jumped into the T-Boy Studio while they're visiting San Francisco. Great to see you guys. And finally, a shout out to some boring business-owning Yetis who are crushing it with their unsexy businesses. Matt Bouser owns a golf court rental business called Joyride. Fred bought a 37-year-old asphalt company in Orlando. And Danny Goals launched in High Bar, a cleaning solutions business

Starting point is 00:22:43 over in Oregon. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Robin Hood, and we both own ETFs of the S&P 500, and I own stock in Amazon and Berkshire Hathaway. Thank you.

The Best One Yet - 👸 “How Poppi got Pepsi’d” — Poppi’s $2B Cinderella deal. Apple’s SuperSiri delay. Law Schools’ app surge.

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