The Best One Yet - 🦣 “Mam & Eggs” — Vow’s lab-grown mammoth. Lululemon’s bad bet. Elon’s anti-AI letter.

Episode Date: March 30, 2023

How do you like your Mammoth cooked? Australian startup Vow just served lab-grown Mammoth Meatballs and raised $50M for it. Lululemon’s stock jumped 13% yesterday, but Lulu made the wrong bet on your workouts. And Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and 1,000 other tech leaders just signed a letter demanding that AI work stop immediately. Because AI could cure cancer, but it could also end civilization.$LULU $GOOG $TSLAFollow 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 Thursday, the new Friday, March 30th, and today's pod is the best one yet. Opening day is today for Major League Baseball. Jack, I'm checking the roster. All 30 baseball teams in America are playing today. One thing we noticed chatbots cannot do. What is that, Jack?

They can't hit a curveball, can they? And last time I checked Jack, they can't throw a fast ball either. Or whip up our three stories. I'm so glad you said it. Jack, what's our first story? Vow is an Australian startup that just served diners a woolly mammoth meatball sandwich. I'll take the mammoth, medium rare, extra aged. For our second story, Lulu Lemon Stock jumped 12% yesterday.

Lulu is living its best life, even though Lulu made a mistake. And our third and final story is Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, and a thousand other leaders just issued a proclamation. Here it is. Stop artificial intelligence immediately. They called for a ceasefire. They called ChachyPT to stop ASAP. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. This is a wild mix of stories today. I love this mix, man.

The biggest Hollywood mystery all year. Oh, Jack, it's the location of White Lotus Season 3. Well, it's now official. We got the news. White Lotus Season 3 will be in. Can we get a drum roll over here? Thailand. Thailand.

Hey, Thailand. Congratulations. You are getting a White Lotus luxury hotel murder mystery. Perfect timing for us now. Because we just dropped some wild vacation statistics on you this week. Yeah, Jack and I were just telling you that 52% of Zillennials travel based on the TV shows that they watch. On T-Boy Tuesday, we asked you, where would you go based on a show? We asked you, where would you vacate based on a movie?

Well, after watching Outlander, Yeti, Trisha and Christine went to Scotland. After Crazy Rich Asians, Bestie Brianna hit up Singapore. Oh, and Gilmore Girls? After watching that, Kay Adamski literally moved to Connecticut. Well, Jack, a Yeti named Vital went to Norway, literally just because of a single scene in the show's succession. One bestie switched her honeymoon after a Netflix documentary. One Yeti plants his entire itinerary based on the Real Housewife series of Bravo. Well, Nick, I'm so sorry that season three is taking place in a country you and Molly haven't recently visited.

The dink life, Jack, we got to catch up. Streak of White Lotus Hotels is over. Jack, we just booked a trip to Bangkok because we got to keep this streak alive, man. But the number one location for your TV-based vacation. Jack, the top destination for your streaming vacation. It's Montana. Montana, Jack, apparently the Yetis are binging on Yellowstone these days. Your lasso is packed.

Your beard is full. Your stirrups are saddled. Your hat is wool. Mr. Dutton, just show us your brand. And we'll show you to your room. Yehaw! Jack! Let's hit our three stories.

Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. A percent, 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, Vow, the lab-grown meat startup just created the first ever

Woolly Mammoth Meatball. you can't get comfortable with something new until you're uncomfortable with it first. I mean, Jack, let's just jump in T-boy style here. I've known you a long time, but what is the most exotic thing you've ever eaten? Olive Garden or otherwise. Yeah, at the Olive Garden, I tried my first seafood. This isn't a good start. I have not been very adventurous. You know what? I did canned rattlesake once on vacation. What? Yeah. Is there poison in there? Venom? I think the embarrassing thing is I ate it with a spork. It's pronounced spoon. But I'll let that slide. In the meantime, Jack, can I interest you in a mammoth burger by chance?

What about a mammoth bignon? I mean, is there any mammon eggs on the menu? That is. We're talking about vow. You can do that now because this Australian lab-grown meat startup raised $50 million in November. And Jack, what is the newest product from this lab-grown meat startup, Vow? Mammoth meatballs. Jack and I noticed the CEO said he's not sure what it's like to eat the mammoth meatballs.

Like our stomach can't process the extinct proteins kind of a thing. Is this going to trigger some like dormant enzymes? Nothing like an enzyme you don't see coming. We also know what you're thinking when we said the word mammoth. Why all the innovation recently from the venture community around mammoths? Like a few months ago, Jack and I did a story on Colossal, a startup that is trying to bring back the woolly mammoth into life for environmental reasons. Live animals. They want the real live, huge furry elephant walking around. Here's the fascinating reason. The mammoth happens to be the one and only one.

cool, extinct animal whose DNA is preserved by frozen tundra. Mammoths are simply convenient. Yeah, it's like mammoth meat is hanging out in a fridge and you just got to go like melt it over here. They're biologically available to the scientific community. Unlike the veloceraptor, mammoths have basically been in Tupperware for the last 10,000 years. All right, let's talk the lab grown meat industry. They're trying to apply the software business model to soft tissue. Yeah, the way Jack and I see it, the lab grown meat concept

is basically to scale protein. Investors in this company, Val, believe they can grow meat faster in a lab starting with DNA than a rancher can in a field starting with a calf. And if you look at the numbers here, it's actually more profitable and better for the environment to grow that meat in a lab than on a farm. But a strange thing we noticed. Vow has totally avoided like the meats we like the most. Vow isn't doing pork and beef, Jack. What kind of animals are they whipping up over at Vow? They're focused on mammoths and zebras. We repeat mammoths and their CEO mentioned potentially Galapagos tortoises. Instead of focusing on the four animals that dominate our menu.

Chicken, pig, cow, turkey. They're focused on zoo animals instead. Jack, they're basically turning zoo books in Jurassic Park into a menu. But without killing any animals. They're actually kind of bringing animals back to life. Faging Dr. Grant, Dr. Grant, you're needed in the kitchen. One problem, though. They still can't produce its scale.

Yeah, we should point out, they're only actually making... 10 ounces of mammoth meat per day. What is that, Jack? Sorry to break it to you, Val, but that's like half a portion of mammon eggs. And Jack, you know I like me, my mammon eggs. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies in the food industry? To make you comfortable, they started with the uncomfortable. Now, yet, there is a fundamental tension here that we recognize in eating, you know, 10,000-year-old expired mammoth extinct meatloaf. First of all, you might think to yourself, is this wrong? That's a fair question. Like, I know this mammoth was grown in a lab, so I shouldn't feel guilty. There was no slaughter, but should I feel guilty? Like, Jack, what's next? Lab-grown human

meat? Like, guilt-free cannibalism? Where do you stop on this thing? Yeah, it is. We don't think Vow is going to launch a mammoth burger chain or human chain anytime soon. In fact, when we think about their business plan, we think in five years, their main product is simply going to be lab-grown chicken. Yet he's, the main barrier to lab-based meat right now is skepticism. So Vow created an extreme product that throws taste buds into the deep end. So that in the future, when we try, try out lab-grown chicken, we'll be ready for it. Because compared to mammoth Bolognese, lab-grown chicken nuggets, they sound a lot less extreme. To make you comfortable with the new industry, they started with the uncomfortable.

For our second story, Lulu Lemon stock was just like maybe one of the best stocks yesterday. It was up 13% total shock. But Lulu Lemon still made the wrong bet on your daily fitness routine. Although we give them credit, they admitted it. Yeties, Jack and I have been keeping track of recession-proof products. Jack, can you whip out our whiteboard on recession-proof products? What do we got going now? Elf Beauty showed us that lipstick is a recession-proof product. And Krispy Cream showed us that donuts are also a recession-proof product. This is Jack. For some reason, I own stock of Krispy Kreme. This is Nick. And for some reason I eat it, but I don't own stock and Krispy Kreme.

But, Nick, now we have to add fancy ath leisure wear to the list of recession-proof products. I'm so glad you brought it up. I'm grabbing my marker. Here we go. Yeti's Lulu Lemon stock jumped yesterday because their sales rose 30% last year. This winter, flannel was out. Fanny packs were in. Fanny packs were in, baby. And that means that a athleisure, specifically Llemon, has become a surprisingly recession-resistant brand. It turns out, you'll buy a $100 laggings and a cute top two. In this economy? In this economy. But Nick and I jumped in T-boy style to the earnings report. And we did find two ripped seams in those leggings. Yeah, can you whip up the first rip seam for us? What do we find, man?

The profit margin at Lulu Lemon was squeezed by three percentage points last quarter. And it's not a good feeling when you're getting squeezed by your pants, man. Lulu simply made too many clothes in 2022, so they had to discount them heavily. 2020 became the year of the sales rack over a Lulu Lemon. This was off. That was off. Everything was off. So they made 3% less profit per pair of pants sold. because they just made too much stuff. You stuck the landing on all that peas. Well,

well done, Jack. Well, the second rip we noticed in the Lulu Lemon seams was something regarding an acquisition they made. During the pandemic, Lulu Lemon acquired at-home fitness company Mirror. Yes. But they just confessed that that acquisition has been a complete failure.

Get this, Yeties. Lulu Lemon quietly wrote down the value of the mirror company that they acquired big time. They wrote it down on their books by 90%. Well, Jack, Peloton is also an at-home fitness product, just like Mirror. And how much is Peloton stock down in that same period of time? Also by 90%.

Okay, so Mirror is down 90%. Peloton's down 90%. It feels like we have a takeaway here. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lulu Lemon? Lulu Lemon made the wrong bet on your fitness. So Yeti's Lulu Lemon acquired a mirror back in June of 2020 for $500 million. back when the at-home fitness trend was just blowing up. Back then, Dick's sporting goods was out of dumbbells.

Amazon had a shortage of squat racks and Peloton was out of Peloton. So Lulu Lemon bet on that at-home fitness trend with that mirror acquisition, but it turns out that bet was wrong. In fact, out-of-home fitness in gyms are now exceeding their pre-pandemic levels. So, Jack, let's add this up for a second. Peloton stock is down 90%. Mears valuation is down about 90%. Tonal's private valuation is down about 90%.

Instead of betting on at-home fitness, Lulu Lemon should have bet on gyms. A great call. Jack, during the pandemic, Lulu Lemon could have acquired Equinox or like Soul Cycle at a pretty cheap price too. And they could have merged retail with fitness at a whole bunch of locations by a whole bunch of Lulu Lemon shoppers. Could have had spin classes run by Lulu Lemon at your soul cycle. Hindsight's 2020. But gyms would have been the right bet.

for Lulu Lemon about your fitness. Lulu just happened to make the wrong bet. And now a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. Would you like more? More hand cream, more French fries. Jack, would you like more weekends? Would you like 18 times more of all those things? Well, if you sign up for Robin Hood gold for five bucks a month,

your uninvested cash grows by 4.15% per year. That's 18 times more than the average bank savings account rate, according to bank rate as of January 25th, 2023, terms apply. With 4.15% APY, your uninvested cash literally grows. Like, you can still use your cash anytime for anything. Then spend that extra cash on 18 times more French fries. To get started, go to robin hood.com slash T-boy and get your first stock for free. That's robinood.com slash TBOI.

Certain limitations apply. Rate is subject to change. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Robin Hood is not a bank. For our third and final story, 1,000 tech leaders just called for a six-month pause on all AI development now. Starting right now. Because artificial intelligence could cure cancer,

but it could also lead to our demise. Now Yetis, Jack and I track every story we cover for you. And since December, we've noticed that this pod has covered about one story every week on chat GPT and artificial intelligence. To answer you why we cover it so much, we're going to read the first sentence of a letter that 1,000 CEOs, founders, and PhDs signed. Here's the first sentence. AI systems with human competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity. Want more explanation for why we cover AI so much recently? Here's the second sentence of the letter.

AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on Earth. AI is humanity's sixth great invention. Jack, we got fire, we got the wheel, we got the printing press, industrialization, the internet, and now AI. That's why, here's the third sentence. of that letter. AI should be planned for and managed with commensurate care and resources. You want to know who wrote and signed that letter that Nick's been reciting for us? Jack and I were curious who actually wrote and crafted this letter that is so focused on stopping AI right now. It was Elon Musk, Apple's co-founder Steve Wozniak, and 998 other tech leaders,

politicians and policymakers who think AI is not being planned at all. And that group of like pretty legitimate tech people have called for an AI ceasefire. They've called for a six month pause. Everybody just stop all the AI you're working on. Put down your pencils. Step away from the ramen. No more AI coding. Give the government leaders six months to figure out if AI is worth it.

And if so, how we should do this. Now, there is more to the letter yet. But instead of quoting the rest of the letter, Jack and I think we can just channel, you know, Jeff Goldblum. The letter is basically saying, hey Microsoft, Google, and Open AI, you're so preoccupied with whether you could create AI. That you didn't stop to think if you should. If tech leaders don't voluntarily pause their AI work, this letter calls for the governments to force them to.

Because life finds a way. And we love how this letter finished with the coup de grace. Oh, it's totally a coup de grace. They said, let's enjoy a long artificial intelligence summer. and not rush unprepared into the fall. Elon Musk wants an AI summer break. And I think they meant to use the word fall. Let's not rush into the fall.

It was poetic. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the world? To imagine the potential problems of AI multiply the problems of social media by a hundred. Yeti, social media flooded society thanks to techs, move fast and break things mantra. Misinformation has flourished.

journalism has suffered and democracy has declined. Now, it seems social media has had a huge impact, but artificial intelligence's impact on society, that is going to dwarf it. Goldman Sachs just predicted that 18% of global work. Let me repeat that. 18% of global work. 18% could be done by artificial intelligence. If so a factor, one out of five jobs globally could be automated by AI pretty soon. Yet is, if well managed, AI could end the boring tasks we don't want to do. It could cure chronic diseases. It can even solve the climate crisis.

AI could do the most biggest things ever in human history. But if unmanaged, the signers think it could destroy democracy and even our civilization. So, besties, if you think social media has caused problems for society, multiply that by a hundred. That's the potential downside of artificial intelligence. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new frack? Vow is growing lab-grown mammoth meat for us to eat. To get consumers comfortable with the new industry, Vow's starting with the uncomfortable. For our second story, Lulu Lemon bet on at-home fitness with their acquisition of mirror.

But they should have bet on gyms. Lulu, it just made the wrong bet. And our third and final story, 1,000 leaders just called on the world to pause artificial intelligence for six months. Yeties, to imagine the potential problems of AI, multiply social media, by a hundred. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by John Jung from lovely Seoul, South Korea. Push and play.

Here we go. Hey, Yeties. Have you ever noticed that the word cream in cookies and cream is sometimes spelled C-R-E-A-M and other times C-R-E-M-E? When it comes to FDA regulations, cream spelled C-R-E-A-M implies there's dairy in it. And that's exactly why when you look at Oreos packaging, the cream is spelled C-R-E-M-E, because there's actually no dairy in Oreo fillings. The more you know, Yiddies. So, Kraft.

Talk to me, Jack. You know, they're American cheese singles. Instead of calling it cheese product, they should just spell cheese with the Z. It makes so much sense. Oh, and then, Jack, we got to bring up the big, big concern that we haven't even considered yet. What's that? If you order a mammoth meatball and it's only got one M and 9. mammoth, it's probably cow.

Probably elephant, actually. Either way, I'll take an extra portion of mammon eggs. Either way, I just want some mammon eggs. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And by the way, if you haven't yet, you should click to follow us so you get us every time you open whatever app you're listening to us on. And if you've already followed, go ahead and give us a review. We'd love that.

I do like green eggs and ma'am. I do like them slamming Sam. Yetis, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know. And before we go, a thank you to Yeti's Oliver, Wendy Cosmack, Shelby Holden, and a bunch more who sent us fantastic pictures of that dull pineapple maze. That is on my bucket list. And a happy anniversary to Yeti's Andres and Kristen,

who both swiped right on Bumble two years ago and never looked back in California. And congratulations to Bryant Bland, who just landed a new job at hawk.a.i in San Francisco. And Greg Vasilian just got promoted in a clean energy job in Chicago doing logistics. And big thanks to Pablo for recommending on Twitter that Nick and I invest in a travel laptop stand. He's right, we do need one. And a happy birthday to the legendary Fieldsson Eagle, Griffin Shwed from the Upper West Side who is pounding some Patsy's Pizza right now. Griffin is my namesake's father. He's a great guy.

And a happy birthday to Yeti Avista in Leesburg, Virginia. And happy birthday to Sasha and Stewart. Both turning 13 in California. Oh, and Jack, Eric Haas, is turning 30 on March 30th in New Orleans and hoping for a Dalmatian puppy. Happy birthday to Andrew the New Dad Jones in Hermosa Beach, California. And a happy birthday to Camille, who's celebrating in Nairit, Mexico. Happy birthday to Paige Basconcelo in Oakland, California. And Alicia Tishav in San Francisco just turned six months old, but already knows that guac is always extra.

And to anyone else, celebrating something today. make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Netflix, and Nick and I both own stock of Peloton, Apple, Lou Lemon, and Robin Hood. And now, a word from our sponsor, Robin Hood. 1934, great year for our nerves. That's the year the FDIC got into the deposit insurance business.

Since 1934, no depositor has lost a single penny of insured funds due to bank failure, according to the FDIC. That's why Robin Hood has partnered with FDIC insured banks to ease your insurance. nerd. Robin Hood's cash suite program protects your cash up to one and a half million bucks at FDIC insured program banks. The same cash that could generate 4.15% APY with Robin Hood Gold is also insured by Uncle Sam. Terms apply. To get started, go to Robinhood.com slash T-Boy and get your first stock for free. That's Robinhood.com slash TBOI. Certain limitations apply. All investments involve risk. Robin Hood Financial LLC, member SIPC. Robin Hood is not a bank.

You know, a Yeehaw Jack is just a cookie crisp, but from south of the border.