The Best One Yet - 🦤 “Jurassic Park… but make it real” — Colossal’s de-extinction biz. Starwood glamping Hotel. J&J’s Texas-Two-Step.

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

Colossal Biosciences is trying to bring back extinct species like the Wholly Mammoth — and that wild startup just hit a $1.5B valuation. Starwood is launching a glamping hotel brand because glampers tip well. And Johnson & Johnson tried to pull off the ol’ “Texas Two-Step”... but it failed.$MAR $JNJFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on YoutubeWant a Shoutout on the pod? Fill out this formGot the Best Fact Yet? We got a form for that tooLearn 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 Wednesday, February 1st, and today's pod is just the best one yet. It's a T-boy. Do not ask anybody how their year has gotten off to. I was about to say, let's circle back in the new year. Happy New Year. Jack, what's our first story for today's pod?

Colossal is a startup trying to bring back the woolly mammoth and the dodo bird from extinction. Yiddies, we got ourselves a venture-backed Jurassic Park. For our second story, Johnson & Johnson has 30. $41 billion in cash. Not too shabby. So why did it declare bankruptcy? Jack, it's because of the old Texas Two Step. Yeah.

And our third and final story is Starwood. Starwood just launched a new hotel concept entirely focused on glamping. Because sometimes you want a bonfire, but you also want that bidet too. Excuse me, my electric wool comforter isn't working. It is not fair. That's not fair. It was really cold that night, man. I was so cold.

But yeah, it is before we hit that one. Wonderful mix now that Nick is back from the electric yurt. Oh, man, this is just a fantastic, cozy mix of stories, Jack. Yesterday, for T-Boy Tuesday, we told you about fiscy, fake whiskey. Apparently some fireball whiskey may actually be fisky. Pay attention to the label. We also told you about funa, which is fake tuna. Fake tuna, Funa, Subway's tuna is allegedly funa.

Well, Yeti Tiffany Schmidt hit us up on Twitter and just updated us that your sushi may be fushi. Yeties, that crab cake is actually a crab fake. Get this, Yeties. Over 38% of seafood in the United States is mislabeled. Uh-huh. That's according to an analysis from Guardian. We're talking 38% of fish dishes that are a different fish than what is on your dish. That means one out of three salmon isn't actually slamming.

That means one out of three cod is actually a fraud. Yeti's fish fraud is real and it's a pervasive thing. It is not fantastic, by the way. But you don't want to blame Neptune. You're going to want to blame the opaque supply chain. Turns out sushi is the biggest culprit of this fake fish fiasco. Because we don't want to sound weird here, but all white fish kind of looks alike. So restaurants may swap out an expensive sea bass for a cheap tilap you.

Oh, you're going to feel that one the next day. And the restaurant hopes you didn't notice that sneaky sashimi swap. Heck a maki. Oh my God. Good evening. Tonight we have one fish, two fish, red fish, bluefish. Did you say bluefish? What was that a bluefish?

Black fish, bluefish, old fish, new fish. Wait, is this actually a bluefish? because I'm looking at this. Say, what a lot of fish there are. Seriously, this does not taste like a blue fish, man. Enjoy your meal. Let's hit our three stories. What kind of a place is this? Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural 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. For our first story, colossal biosciences, just hit a one and a half billion dollar valuation, to bring back the dodo. But this isn't about Jurassic Park. It's actually about the moon.

Yetis, it was about one year ago that Jack and I covered a new startup called colossal biosciences and what did they do, Jack? Their goal was to resurrect the extinct woolly mammoth. Well, it's been a year. So Jack and I got an update for you. They're expecting their first woolly mammoth calf to be born in 2028. All right. Congratulations.

What are you going to get this thing? What do you put on a registry? for a woolly mammoth, Jack. I don't know, but in the meantime, they're working on their next species to bring back from extinction. And what is that, Jack? The dodo. The dodo. Great name, wonderful bird.

It was actually a flightless African bird with a beak like a veliciraptor. You don't want to get in front of this thing. A velociraptor? Yeah, a velociraptor. It's so funny that we say that different. Exactly, a veliceraptor. And this bird, the dodo, went extinct 400 years ago because of human beings. Sounds like this company is trying to play God, which is impressing the venture community.

Yeah, which loves when you play God. In fact, this company just raised $225 million yesterday at a unicorn valuation of $1.5 billion. This is the only unicorn startup in the extremely niche de-extinction space. Now, yet is, if you think this story sounds like Jurassic Park, get this. Okay, we read the cap table. The investors in colossal biosciences include Paris Hilton, the CIA, and the CIA. and the producer of Jurassic Park. It actually does.

Seriously, no joke. Also, paging Dr. Grant, they're going to do this by taking Dodo DNA out of a skull that's in a museum where there's Dodo remains and then clone the animal. Jack, I'm looking at their balance sheet right now, and one of the line items is life finds a way.

So, yeah, this is obviously an exciting business model, but what is the business model? This is what fascinated Jack and me, because it's not clear what the business model. is, but that's exactly the point. We don't know how they're going to make money, but we don't think it's through entertainment. Yeah, we're not expecting like a dodo world or like a mammoth ride. Like we're not seeing that in the future.

You're not going to take your grandkids to feed a brontosaurus at the theme park that these guys built. You're going to have to sign a lot of paperwork before you indulge in that. Now, we did jump in T-Bois style to the website of colossal bio sciences, and they talk a lot about trying to solve climate change. Yeah, it seems like a lot of the business focus is bringing back extinct. animals to fix the planet. For example, they say if mammoths stomp around in Siberia, that could prevent permafrost from melting, which would be good for business and good for the planet.

Yeah, it's a good combination. So it appears from what Jack and I have seen, that the business model is not having a business model right now. And one investor quoted in the news yesterday said, they don't care that there isn't a business model yet. The fact that there's no business model right now is actually appealing. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy? over at Colossal. Colossal is the perfect case study in moonshoting. Okay, Yeti. So one of the largest investments in history, it's the $30 billion space race that put a man on the moon. But since 1969, when we did it the first time, we've only put people on the moon 12 times. That's it. That's it. Because the goal was to put a man on the moon, but that was never really about the moon.

The real benefit to the space race we achieved was the valuable breakthroughs and ventures. it along the way. For example, the temper foam mattress, lightweight artificial limbs, the dustbuster. How about solar panels or water filters or LASIC eye surgery? Besties, all of those daily technologies we love were the collateral creations of going to the moon. Achieving a breakthrough innovation requires lots of sequential smaller innovations first. And that's exactly what colossal is really doing here. It's moonshoting. It's not about bringing back the Dodo. It's about the invention. It's about the along the way. For our second story, Johnson & Johnson is the largest health company in America, and it's one of the most profitable companies on earth. So why did Johnson and Johnson just pretend to be

bankrupt? Are we going to talk about the old Texas two-step, Jack? I think we will. But before we get there, Johnson and Johnson, Yeties. Are we talking New Jersey? Let's go back to New Jersey, Jack, if we're talking Johnson and Johnson. Johnson and Johnson is the best thing to come out of the Garden state since Queen Latifah. Great Yeti, by the way, happy early birthday. Johnson and Johnson is worth half a billion dollars because the health industry is a profit puppy. Johnson and Johnson owns Band-Aid brand, Tylenol, Motrin. And thanks to those brands, Johnson and Johnson is a dividend dynasty. Actually, Jack, the last time you and I covered Johnson and Johnson on this podcast, we had noticed that their stock paid a dividend for 60 straight years. And their stock increased the

dividend for 60 straight years. Like we said, Yeti's the health industry, it's a profit puppy. But despite Johnson & Johnson's incredible pill-popping profit prowess, this company declared bankruptcy in 2021. But there is one catch we noticed

to the Johnson & Johnson bankruptcy and what is it, Jack? Yeah, it wasn't Johnson & Johnson, Inc. That declared bankruptcy? Interesting. It was one of its subsidiary companies that declared bankruptcy. Ladies and gentlemen,

what you just witnessed was the old Texas two-step. It's a sneaky money scheme. That random Johnson & Johnson subsidiary that was created in 2021, it was created for one reason to end the baby powder lawsuits. Yeah, because yet he's Johnson and Johnson is being sued in over 40,000 lawsuits right now with damages estimated at $10 billion. The lawsuits allege that Johnson and Johnson branded baby powder are causing cancer.

Well, Johnson & Johnson denies that its baby powder causes cancer, but it's lost some of those lawsuits, and it wants to get rid of the rest of them. So Johnson and Johnson tried to pull the old Texas two-stab, giddy-up, giddy-up. Johnson and Johnson created a new company in 2021 and gave that company one thing, Johnson and Johnson's old baby powder business. Ipso facto, instead of suing Johnson and Johnson, the victims now had to sue the new company based in Texas, which isn't really Johnson and Johnson. And the new company had next to no assets, so it declared bankruptcy.

And that's how they pulled off the old Texas two-step. But Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Johnson and Johnson? Judges just called BS on Johnson and Johnson and the whole Texas two-step. Yeti's bankruptcy. It's how a struggling company can deal with a sad financial situation. There's nothing wrong with bankruptcy. But the Texas two-step is a loophole for rich companies to avoid taking responsibility. Well, the three judges on this Johnson and Johnson case just said, if you want to declare bankruptcy, you got to be broke.

And Johnson and Johnson is not broke. Far from it. Johnson and Johnson has $31 billion in cash, which grows every quarter with their profits. That's like six lifts. So this week, the judge is called BS on Johnson and Johnson and their Texas Two-Step. Now Johnson-Johnson-Johnson is appealing because they like that Texas Two-Step and they don't like lawsuits. But this week's ruling made it official in federal court. To declare bankruptcy, you must actually be broke.

Now, a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. You can do just about anything from your phone, but some industries, they've just been slow to move. The finance industry was slow to move from phone to computer and then from computer to app. Robin Hood wasn't. It's the Silicon Valley-based brokerage that's been updating app since it was born in 2015. Using the Robin Hood app for your stocks and crypto is almost as easy as downloading. it. So you can invest to your pace on your terms by downloading the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash T-B-O-Y limitation supply. Stocks are offered by Robin Hood Financial LLC,

member SIPC. Crypto offered through Robin Hood. All investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood, and we are not employees of Robin Hood. For our third and final story, Starwood just launched a new hotel brand, Field and Stream Lodge. You know, the market for glampers isn't huge. It's not. No, it's not. But they tip well.

Oh, yes, they do. $5 a badge. Should we do a little early trivia on this thing? The mountains are calling and I must go. Who said that? That was conservationist John Yer. Yeah, it's a quote from conservationist John Murr, whose name no one pronounce as well the first time.

He said it in the late 1800s. And Jack and I, and all of you, you probably heard it in 2020 as well. We finally heard it in 2020 because we were all avoiding germs as we embraced our inner Henry David Thoreau for a while. You headed down to the pond and you hung out there for a while. You borrowed your buddy's sleeping bag and you bought some used hiking boots from REI early in the pandemic. But here's the funny business challenge when it comes to the outdoor trend. That outdoor trend is all about not being indoors where money has made. So, Jack, how do you build an indoor business around the outdoors?

Enter Barry Sternlicht, the hotel, entrepreneur behind W hotels and Starwood thinks he's found a solution. Here's the solution. Scale glamping. Barry Sternlicht is trying to scale glamping with field and stream lodge. Glamping, like glamorous camping. That's what he's working on. Field and stream lodge is snatching up land near fields and streams to build lodges.

We're talking Joshua Tree, Lake Placid, Yosemite. If there is some old timber near that place, they're probably going to get a field and stream lodge soon. They're actually hoping to build a hundred of these hotels. And Nick, how will these hotels feel? Well, that's the key jack, because it's something in the middle. It's upscale for camping, but it's downscale for a typical hotel. Correct. The first location is going to be in Colorado.

They're working on it now. There's going to be rooms, beds, heat, a restaurant. That's the glamour part. But there's also going to be a pond on site. So instead of taking a shower in the morning, you can just take a morning dip. That's the camping part. There's also a fire pit. So instead of watching HBO Max again, you can share some campfire stories around the fire.

toss in some s'mores, add that together, Jack, that glamour and that camping, that is glamping, and he's scaling it. So, Nick, this place would be perfect for you, because you would freeze. Well, first of all, you wouldn't know how to set up a tent. Second, you'd freeze in that sleeping back. No, I would not be ready for anybody. But in this hotel, you'd still feel rugged because it would feel vaguely outdoors. I wouldn't shave for a few days. That'd feel great.

We actually did some glamping in Japan, Jack, and we had a wonderful fire. Have you shaved since, Nick? I had to call a guy to set up the fire, but it was a wonderful fire. It was amazing. There was a fire boy. I pressed zero on the phone and then we had a fire. That's how you build a fire. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Field and Stream Lodge? A niche market may be small, but niche enthusiasm is huge. Yet he's funny thing, Jack, and I noticed when we jumped in T-boy style here. One hotel analyst said that this lodge chain will always be niche.

What they were trying to say is this business will only be. the interest of a small market of a specific group of people. Now, that's kind of a problem because that's not the goal of business, right? Like you're trying to reach as many people as possible to have as many sales as possible. But what niche lacks in size, it makes up for an intensity of demand. Yes, this glamping concept may only apply to your upscale millennial Patagonia pullover crowd. No judgments out there. But since this concept didn't exist, they're excited to pay to stay there.

Yeties, a niche market may be small, but niche in three. enthusiasm is big. Jack, can you pass me some starter wood and whip up the takeaways for us over there? Colossal biosciences is expecting. They're expecting a woolly man. And they're doubt out. Yeah, colossal. It is the perfect case study in moonshotting.

For our second story, Johnson and Johnson tried to pull off the Texas two step to avoid all those baby powder losses. But the judge is just called BS because you have to be broke to be bankrupt. And our third and final story is field and stream lodge. It's the new hotel where you'll taste the outdoors, but you'll feel the downcomforter. A niche market is small, but its enthusiasm is big. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Serge Aino in Bear, Delaware. Push and play.

Here we go. Hello, Yeties and besties. Did you know that the strongest muscle in the body based on its size is the misseater? It's a muscle in your jaw that can close your teeth with a force as great as 200 pounds on your millers. I think this is the muscle that bulges when you're not. you press your jaw together. You know that one on both sides? The only muscle you can show off at the beach and at work.

And at the buffet. And at the buffet. Yeah, you work out by eating, actually. You work out. It's the best muscle ever. It's the best muscle. You'll lose weight and you get more toned by chow and out of the oven. By having a burrito.

Two more. I'm working out, Brian. Yeties, you look fantastic today. And if you haven't yet, you should follow us on Instagram and Twitter. At T-Boy Pod. We're whipping up stuff there all the time. You know, we hired that social media manager we mentioned. She's doing a great job. You got to check out at T-BoyPod.

And we also tease every story every day at T-Boy Pod. It's like a tickle more than a tease. It's a T-Boy Tickle. Jack and I'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, happy 21st birthday to Yeti, Andrew Hartono, who's been listening to this pod

since 2020 in Jakarta, Indonesia. And happy birthday to Betsy, the needle pointer man in New York City. And Troy Fawcett, happy birthday over in Salt Lake City. And happy birthday to Poto, the rescue dog down in Brooklyn. And a happy birthday to Jeannie Casey over in Modesto, California. We gave Jeannie a shout out two years ago when she quit her job as a lawyer. And where is she now, Jack?

The C-O-O of his software company. Not too shabby. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack Nick and I both own Stock of Robin. Now a word about our sponsor, Robin Hood. Jack, rule number one about a kitchen renovation. Tell your friends about your kitchen renovation.

We know the cabinets are expensive. Well, in the pandemic, a lot of companies renovated their businesses, focusing on apps and digital. Robin Hood didn't have to. It was built digital from the start. Robin Hood's mobile first and intuitive design makes investing a little easier for every stage of your investing journey. Whether you want to trade options, ETFs, or stocks through Robin Hood Financial, or buy some Bitcoin on Robin Hood, you can do all that right on the Robin Hood app. If you're not investing on Robin Hood yet, to get started, go to robin hood.com slash

t-boy and choose your free stock. That's Robinhood.com slash TBOI. Limitations apply. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. All investments involve risk. By the way, this podcast is not owned by or part of Robin Hood. And we are not employees of Robin Hood. I feel like our whole audience is going to be like, how is the same laws or after? Just kind of just like I did.

Or maybe the audience feels like you. And it was like, how did he say a loss or a charming imperfection. And then at the end we'll be like, a velicerifter.