The Best One Yet - 🍑 “Peach Fuzz of the Year” — Pantone’s color biz. SpaceX’s galactic valuation. Nuuly’s wardrobe test drive.

Episode Date: December 11, 2023

Pantone named Peach Fuzz the color of the year… for 2024 — So we’re looking at the strategy of PreTRENDing: If you predict a trend, does that make it more likely to become a trend?Elon Musk’s SpaceX just hit at a $175B valuation — So we’re looking at how America’s most valuable startup found a space with zero competition (literally).And Rent The Runway was just eclipsed by Urban Outfitters’ clothing rental brand: Nuuly — Because Nuuly turned an outfit test drive into its entire business.$DHR $SHW $RTR $TSLASubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, December 11th. And today's pod, today's pod, it is the best one yet. This is a T-boy, Jack. The top three pop business stories you need to know today. Jack, we've got to talk.

Because did you notice it was kind of hard to get a Christmas tree this weekend? What are you talking about? I have two already. I know. It's because you took two Christmas trees. You can just take two Christmas trees? It's ridiculous. This year I have a nine-footer and a six-footer.

There's one for your house. One for your yacht? What's going on there, man? One's for the part of the living room that's just perfect for presents. The other is for the front, so you see it from the outside. I didn't know your tree could get its own tree, Jack. That is pretty impressive over there. Buy one, get one full price, apparently.

It's a little too much shoppy, shoppy until you dropy, dropy, and then you did some choppy, choppy, chopy. I'm actually just sending a signal to Santa and the elves. We want presents at our house. Must be nice. Jack, first story for today's show. What are we got, man? For our first story, it's Pandan. Pantone. Pantone just announced the color of the year. Here it is. Peach Fuzz.

But peach fuzz isn't the color of this year. Peach Fuzz is the color of next year. So we need to talk about trends, pre-trends, and just pretends. For our second story, we're looking at SpaceX. SpaceX is now worth $175 billion. It's the most valuable startup in America. Because SpaceX found a space with no competition. Literally. And our third and final story. It's the time of the year when you might be renting a gown. So Jack and I are looking at Rent the Runway versus Newly. And we, ding, ding, ding, have a winner.

But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What, a mix of stories for the holiday week, Jack? I need a third Christmas tree for this episode. Just don't tell your second Christmas tree. Yeties, it's not just the end of the year right now. It's the end of the semester. Yeah, you might be taking final exams right now. You'd probably have a midnight breakfast at the dining hall to break up studying.

Or you might be back from school already waiting for those final grades to get posted and arrive on in. Here's the thing. We know what grade you got already. In fact, Jack and I, we're pretty sure that you got an A. Because odds are, you got an A. That was your final grade. Statistically speaking, you probably got an A. Jack, could you whip up the numbers for us over there? A new report just found that the average final grade handed out at Yale University the past 12 years. It's an A. Get this 80% of the grades this year at Yale are A's or A minuses.

The average grade handed out at Yale is an A. Apparently to get straight A's at Yale. You just have to go to Yale. You're right. You're naming your date on a paper over a Yale Jack. Boom. That's a 4.0 GPA right there. 90% of life is showing up.

Apparently, so was Polly Sci 101. Yeah, and it's not just at Yale in New Haven where this is happening. No, it is not. Over at Harvard, 80% of the grades in 2020 were A's. And at Brown, the number of A's has doubled in the past decade. So, Jack and I have got to ask, dear professor, I got a question. What is the reason that everyone, everyone is getting A's? Jack, can you take out the whiteboard and tell us the answer over there?

Yeah, Econ 101. It's inflation. This is grade inflation. Yeties, as one economist so nicely put it, grades are a form of currency. And just like every other currency, over time, grades get inflated. And the economy, inflation up the price of your age. eggs, your avocados, and your oil. But over time, inflation affects your GPA, too. So besties, if you just got an A, celebrate that win. But if you got a C, celebrate that win, too.

Because based on this trend, pretty soon that C student is going to be getting A's. Because an A is the new C. Or is C, the future A? I think it's both. Hey, Dean Janine, let's in our three stories. Which are all A pluses, by the way. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dawn. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm.

It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. 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.

For our first story, Pantone, just declared the color of the year. But they did it for next year. And when Pantone chooses a color, it changes entire industries. All right, Jack. Before we tell this story, I'm just going to read off some words. Let's do a little word association here. All right. Viva magenta.

Emerald orchid. That's the color of my Christmas tree. Okay. Oh, which one? And tangerine tango. Do those words mean anything to you, man? Those are all former Pantone colors of the year. Yeah, it is for 25 straight years.

Pantone, the color corporation, has chosen a color for the year. And here's the news. You've probably seen it on Instagram. The color of the year was just chosen. Peach fuzz. And Jack, how do they describe peach fuzz as the color of the year? What does this look like, man? Just by looking at it, I'll describe it as light, warm, and kind of buttery orange.

It looks a lot like our dusty pink T-boy sweatshirts. It does. It's like two shades removed from millennial pink. Could we call it like a pastel cantalope? Sure. And according to Pantone, it's a color that signals a feeling. Peach fuzz as a color is nurturing, is inspiring. It is a peaceful sense of warmth.

It sends self-care vibes. Yeah, like Jack loves pineapple smoothies, and it kind of reminds him of pineapple smoothies, doesn't it, man? Are you manifesting me loving pineapple smoothies? I'm just saying you once told me you love those smoothies, Jack. But, ladies, here's the funny thing. Pantone's color of the year isn't for this past year. It's actually a prediction for next year.

And when Pantone predicts a color for next year, it causes sales of those colors to surge. Yeties, this Pantone color of the year isn't just a color. This is an entire economy. The color of the year drives double-digit sales growth for that shade. In the food industry, the fashion industry, the film industry, real estate, cars, all of these industries like change and pivot their plans based on this Pantone color of the year. Yeah, the color of money is not green. It's whatever color Pantone chooses every December.

And next year, the color of money, cha-ching, is peach fuzz. But here's the wildest part, Yetis. Pantone isn't making stuff in peach fuzz and selling it now. No, yeties, this is what Jack and I found shocking. Pantone doesn't sell paint, doesn't sell ink, and doesn't even sell anything. That's those colors. According to the Wall Street Journal, Pantone sells something uniquely abstract. Yes.

They sell uniformity. Yeties, Pantone is in the business of selling color consistency. It doesn't actually sell colors. Pantone is the authority in color matching services. Yeah, they're matching colors as a service because colors change depending on the surface on which you put that color. And that's where they make their money. So about half the money they make is on color guides that they sell.

For example, Coca-Cola pays $10,000 for a physical book made by Pantone that shows every color available, including Coca-Cola's signature red. The other half of their business is color consulting. Pantone makes money telling Coca-Cola the specific recipe to get their one single shade of red. And here's a wild example of how Pantone makes money with these color services. Yet is you know the movie Minions like Minions? Like that movie? Yeah, they're yellow. Yeah, they're yellow.

Pantone got paid to invent that specific color of Minion yellow. But this is the wild thing. Pantone didn't just get paid to come up with that one color of yellow, did it, Jack? They got paid to ensure that that color yellow was the same on the minions movies on the screen, on the minions billboards on the highway, and on minions plush toys that you bought for Christmas. So yet is the team at Pantone isn't like Sherwin Williams like mixing paint in the corner with like a more. order and pestle to get you that minions yellow. They're more like the maesters in Game of Thrones.

They're the source of truth when it comes to color purity. Yeah, Pantone knows the signature recipe to our slam and salmon T-boy pink, but only they know it. All right, we got it. Pantone knows more about colors than any other company. But how do they know next year's color? That's got Jack and I curious. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our colorful buddies over at Pantone? Is this trend predicting?

or is it trend pretending? Yeah, it's like we told you, Pantone's color prediction for next year, it has a huge impact on multiple industries. But how does Pantone know that the color of next year is going to be peach fuzz? This is the funny thing.

Um, they don't. Pantone just chose peach fuzz based on some general themes and vibes that they're feeling right now. Yeah, and yet sales of peach fuzz paint and ink and images are all going to jump next year because Pantone chose it. Which brings up an existential question.

Did Pantone predict the trend or did Pantone create the trend? Trend forecasting is a legitimate industry. There are companies that get paid money to predict a trend based on data. But Pantone's 25 years of being right on colors might just be a case of self-fulfilling prophecy. Pantone proves that some trends can be created simply by predicting them and announcing them. Yeties, that isn't trend predicting. That is trend pretending. That is pretrending.

For our second story, SpaceX's valuation just hit, get this, $175 billion. SpaceX's strength is that it's a monopoly, but we all have a monopoly in something. All right, Yeties, we're going to start by sprinkling on some context. Back in 2002, when Elon Musk founded SpaceX, everyone thought he was crazy. Everyone thought he was crazy for a different reason than today. They thought he was financially crazy because he was investing. money in a rocket company like when the internet had just begun. Yeah, but that investment worked. 21 years later, today, his rockets take cargo up into space and then they come back down

and gracefully land on the earth. SpaceX is like a young Han Solo. What was science fiction two decades ago is a space company today. And that leads to the news. SpaceX is reportedly selling shares in the private market at a $175 billion valuation. Yeti, SpaceX is now by-fifference. Yiddish, SpaceX is now by far the most valuable private company in the United States of America. We'd love to sprinkle on a little more context. Nick, how does that valuation compare to publicly traded companies? First, I feel honored I'm sprinkling on the context right now. I'm like Chef Boy R.D. SpaceX is now worth as much as Nike. SpaceX's valuation is larger than Disney. SpaceX is now worth 43 lifts. So yet, he's, SpaceX is still a private company. But we're going to jump in

T-boy style anyway. Because Yetis, the largest space company on Earth is actually an entire space economy. The only thing SpaceX isn't doing up there is alien tours. Yeah, so here are the three different business models of SpaceX. First, SpaceX offers rocket launching as a service. NASA, the European Union, a bunch of telecom companies, they all need rides for humans or equipment to get up into orbit. Well, how convenient. SpaceX takes them up into orbit. Their ability to reuse rockets, it's what gives SpaceX a huge competitive advantage. Other rocket companies offer a way higher price because they can't reuse the rockets. Okay. Now, the second business that SpaceX offers is a satellite internet service. It's called Starlink. Who uses Starlink? A cabin in Montana.

An RV in Yosemite. A yacht off the coast of Capri. Yeah, it is. If you are in a far remote space, but you still want to use AOL instant messenger, then you're going to need a Starlink SpaceX. internet satellite dish. That SpaceX satellite Wi-Fi was even used by Ukraine's army still today because Russia cut off their internet cables during the war. And the final SpaceX business line, Jack, what is it exactly? We're calling it exploration. Yeah, this is the most science fictiony of all the SpaceX businesses.

SpaceX's biggest ship, the Starship, hopes to one day colonize Mars. And then you can go up to Mars and have as many Christmas trees as you want. and hopefully leaves them for the rest of us. Now, yeah, it's 2023. It's been a horrible year for Elon's personal brand. We should point that out. But that hasn't affected SpaceX's business because nobody else can offer a reliable trip up to space and back safely.

And that is why SpaceX just hit a $175 billion valuation. And we think there's a lesson there for both businesses and for people. That lesson is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the take? for all our buddies over at SpaceX. Find your monopoly within the workplace. Yeties, Jack and I have told you before. The best industry to be in is the industry with zero competition.

SpaceX has no competition. Can you name another company that builds reusable rockets to bring stuff into space and then use that rocket again a few months later? I can, but it's in a George Lucas movie. Yeti, SpaceX succeeds by having a monopoly in outer space. but there are much smaller monopolies all around us too. Yeah, at work, a monopoly can even be as small as you, an individual worker at a company. Okay, Jack, let's give an example here.

Maybe you're the only social media manager who also is a triathlete. Ironman would hire you for social media because you're the only one who knows both worlds. Or let's say you're a video editor who happens to live in Hawaii. You might be the only one willing to work while New York City is sleeping. Yetis, if you understand your skills, then you realize you're the only person that does that something. Having a monopoly on that combination of skills that no one else has, that is a monopoly mindset. And if you find your monopoly, then that is when you really find your value in the workplace. For our third and final story, newly, the clothing rental business from urban outfiters just beat Rent the runway.

And that tells us something critical about the entire, clothing rental industry. Yeties, about one year ago, Jack and I whipped up a takeaway for you. And Jack, what was the question we posed in that takeaway? We asked, can a first mover be beaten by a second shaker? Well, rent the runway is the first mover. They pioneered the wardrobe rental business 15 years ago. Yeah, you didn't have to buy a Gucci dress for that gala.

You could just rent it. You rent the Gucci dress. You look fantastic. You don't have to worry about it the next week. And of course, it costs a tent as much as buying. And you get to say you got to wear Gucci. You got to rent the runway. But four years ago, urban outfitters, they sucked that rent the runway concept.

Urban Outfitters, the Philadelphia-based company, launched Newly, a clothing rental subscription. Newly. It's basically a refreshable closet, isn't it, Jack? Yeah, for 100 bucks a month, you get six to eight items a month. Every month you send back the old stuff and you get six to eight new things. Yeties, newly, it is a clothing rental business. It's like a glorified drug. cleaner and they've got 198,000 active subscribers.

But here's the news. Newly has officially beaten Rent the Runway. Sit down, stand up, and don't stain that Gucci Jack. What do you just say? The second shaker has beaten the first mover. Because Newly's subscriber base jumped 68% last year. Now it has more subscribers than Rent the Runway does. And for the first time ever, Newly just turned a profit.

Something Rent the Runway has never done in their 15 years. But Yetis, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Newley's business has an ironic twist. Newly's secret weapon isn't clothing rental. It's clothing buying. Because Yetis, it may be hard to part with that cute top after you've been strutting it around all month as a clothing rental. Therein lies Newley's competitive advantage.

They let you buy that cute top at the end of the month if you can't separate from it. Honestly, that's the hidden upside to a clothing rental business. It can lead to clothing sales. And that's key because 95% of Urban Outfitters business is clothing sales. Yeah, Urban Outfitters, they depend on you buying that brawlet in order for them to stay in business. So if you think about it, Newley acts as like a test drive. Right. Basically, Urban Outfitters has monetized the test drive through this service called Newley. Think of Urban Outfitter as like a car dealership.

Primarily, they sell cars. But they also do a little car rental business over there. It's like after running that Camaro for the weekend, you say, hey, maybe I'll end up buying this thing in like a month or two. And you know what? Urban Outfitters loves that. Newley is a clothing rental business that also leads to clothing sales. And that is the surprise beauty of a clothing rental business.

So Jack, can you strap on that cute top and tell us the takeaway for our buddies over at Newley? I don't know how you put on a cute top. But what do you tell us to take away, Jack? Clothing rental is a product, not a company. Yeties, it's not just better execution that helped Newley beat Rent the Runway and the race to profitability. It's that Newly is just one product within a bigger company, Urban Outfitters. Newly is like a feature to the company. Newly benefits from Urban Outfitters' huge inventory of clothing that they can just stick in a box and send you to rent for a month or two.

And it also benefits from the free marketing that Newly gets on Urban Outfitters website and in urban stores. But on the other hand, Rent the Runway's rental business is, the entire company. Rent the runway doesn't get the scale, the savings, or the benefits of having a parent company like Newley does. So Yeties, when you add it all up, Rent the Runway pioneered the industry, but newly just beat Rent The Runway. Because clothing rental is a product.

It's not an entire company. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Pantone's color of the year for 2024 is peach fuzz. It kind of looks like a pastel twizzler. Can we say that, Jack? Sure we can. It's not trending. It's pre-trending. It's pretending. For our second story, SpaceX is reportedly now valued privately at $175 billion. Because SpaceX just found their monopoly, and you can find your monopoly in the workplace.

And our third and final story is newly. They're the second shaker to rent the runway, but they won the race to clothing rental profitability. Because clothing rental isn't a company, clothing rental is a product. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by DJ Andrew from lovely Baltimore, Maryland. Last week, we mentioned the Got Milk ad campaign. Remember that? Yeah, Jack and I were telling you about it was apricot milk or was an apricot juice. That's why we mentioned the Got Milk campaign.

Yeah, yeah. Or was it apricot oil? It was Apricot milk. It turns out that Got Milk ad campaign is one of the longest advertising campaigns in marketing history. Get this, Yeties. The Got Milk ad campaign went on for 20. whole years. It was funded by big milk. The milk industry wanted everyone to drink more dairy. Okay, but Jack, what's the funny thing about the Got Milk ad campaign we learned?

That campaign did increase the recognition of milk. But milk sales actually decreased during all 20 years of the Got Milk campaign. So the answer to the Got Milk campaign really is... We have less milk. No, we don't got milk. Yeties, you look fantastic. And if you got an A, congratulations. If you got a C, congratulations. But Jack and I, we don't get grades. What do we get, Jack?

We get reviews. We get ratings and reviews. And how do you give an A to a podcast rating a review, Jack? You drop down and give us five. Yates, when you give us five stars, that's how we grow the show. Nick and I read every single review. And we'd love to see yours today. If we get a hundred new five-star review,

Jeff is going to buy a third Christmas tree. Allegedly. I can tell Jack wants to wrap up, but if we get 200 five-star reviews, he's going to buy a fourth Christmas tree and six minoras. Big, it's time to wrap up. Stop making promises you can't keep. Make it 10 minors and 15 Christmas trees. Yeties, have a fantastic Monday.

Jack and I will see you tomorrow. And before we go, a shout out to Nick and Wait Tong Polgini, because those two opened up a Chick-fil-A in Wrigleyville, Chicago, and they are crushing it right now. They took a risk, and they just had their biggest month yet. They should be celebrating hard right now. The whole team is vibing, yet. And yet, check out the Wrigleyville Chick-fil-A.

Celebrate that win. Congratulations to Neva Emmy, who just ran her first half marathon in Dallas, Texas. And Ethan S. just made his first stock investment. He bought Amazon and Apple, and he did it in the Robin Hood app, Jack. Congratulations to Lara Fox, who just had a new baby boy named Gabriel. in Coral Gables, Florida.

And congratulations to Nico and Grace Maeda, who just celebrated their third anniversary and are now expecting a baby. Happy birthday to John Pierre Maraldon, down in Honduras. And Yasser Modiwala is eating a steak for his birthday and celebrating that steak

and that birthday down in Dallas. Happy ninth birthday to Tegan Barber in Charlottesville, Virginia. And Hollis Holt is having a shark-themed chomp-chop birthday down in Austin, Texas. Happy 25th birthday to Kelsey Odom. in St. Louis, Missouri.

And a happy birthday to Tiffany Chang, who's celebrating in Rose Meade, California. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a tea boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon, Disney, and Krispy Cream. Nick and I both own stock of Robin Hood and Apple. And Nick's son, Maxie, owns stock of Nike. Pre-trending kind of works because it's pre-trending, but also pretending.

I got it. It's pretending. I got it, man. I'm glad you're excited, though. Pre-trending, pretending.