The Best One Yet - 🧠 “Pimple Popped” — Death of a Boy Genius Fund. Reformation’s Clueless IPO. Tesla’s rolling WiFi. +Hugo Spritz summer

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

Elon & Cybercabs can spit out Starlink wifi… it’s another reason SpaceX + Tesla will merge.Reformation IPO’d, but its secreet is smart dressing rooms… inspired by “Clueless.”Leopold is the 24-year-old boy genius hedge funder… But last week he crashed like Fast & The Furious.Plus, what’s outselling Aperol and up 2,200%?.. Hugo Spritz.$REF $TSLA $SPCXGrab your Tickets to the IPO Tour: Our In-Person OfferingSan Francisco 9/23: https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1C0064AFB5F688BDBoston 10/14: https://tickets.citywinery.com/event/tboy-the-ipo-tour-in-person-offering-8cdhupSeattle 11/4 (21+): https://www.axs.com/events/1446394/the-best-one-yet-ticketsNEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, August 3rd. And today's fun is the best one yet. This is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Oh, yeah.

What a lineup today. We actually have a story by popular demand. Yeah, about 2,200 of you requested our second story. It's back by popular demand. In the meantime, we got three fantastic stories for the coolest place in capitalism. Jack, what do we got in today's show? For our first story, we think Elon is going to merge Tesla and SpaceX. and there's a new wild reason why.

Elon wants to create a global Wi-Fi network of roaming robocabs. For our second story, Reformation just became the biggest fashion IPO in years. But its secret business isn't dresses, it's dressing rooms inspired by the movie Clueless. And our third and final story, a 24-year-old boy genius launched a $42 billion AI hedge fund. What could go wrong? Apparently everything, Jack, because this fund just popped like a puberty pimple. This story is called The Death of a Hedge fund. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

What a mix of stories. I love the mix to come back to Jack. We just finished July, which was one of the worst months for Wall Street in years. Stocks about 3% of the last 30 days, not too shabby. But one thing was up in July, spritzes. Yeah. Specifically the Hugo Spritz. Because the Hugo Spritz has officially replaced the Aparol Sprits.

And yes, I pronounce it in a creepy German way. Don't ask me to change it. But the inventor of that Hugo Sprits didn't get a dime. Here's the data yet. Last month, Google searches for how to make a Hugo Spritz at home popped by 2,200%. We double-checked. We fact-checked. Yeah, 2200% in 30 days, not too bad.

So how is Hugo now outselling the OG Approl Sprits in 15 U.S. states? We're talking Pennsylvania, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota. That is Hugo Spritz country, baby. From the West Village of New York to Kensington and London, it's Hugo Sprit Summer. It's Hugo in Aprol Out. Jack, we got a new king of cocktails. Why don't you sprinkle on some context? The Hugo Sprits was invented 21 years ago by a bartender, ironically. not named Hugo. His name was Roland Gruber and it happened in North Italy. Just outside,

150 miles from where Aparol was invented. And here was his remix. Roland traded the Aparol for elder flour liqueur. And then traded the orange slice for the mint leaves. And the result was another low alcohol refreshing cocktail, just like the Aparol Spritz. But Hugo's more floral, a little bit less funky. Hugo's more botanical, a little less bitter. However, we should point out, you can't copyright a cocktail recipe. Yeah, nobody got rich mixing gin with tonic. And Jack, so Roland, he couldn't cash in on his brand new concoction. This bartender got tips, but no trademark.

Okay, but spoiler, besties, because you didn't choose the Hugo, the Hugo chose you. Because Hugo Spritz summer, that we're all living right now, it's the result of a stealthy marketing campaign. Get this, San Jermaine is the world's biggest maker of elder flower liquor. Which happens to be the key ingredient of the Hugo Spritz. And in 2024, San Jermaine sent sales teams to hotels to introduce the recipe to bartenders. St. Germain's sales popped 20% that first year of Hugo Spritz being added to the cocktail lists. And TikTok took it from there with the Algo going alcoholic last month. So, besties, we hope you enjoyed your Hugo Spritz weekend.

But just remember, you didn't choose the Spritz life. Spritz life chose you. Although you did choose the Spritzin' life. That was a life choice you made, Jack. You seem to be the only one, but I fully supported. I think everyone's loving these hebe-geepsic. Jack, let's in that three stories. 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 a norm Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip T-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 First, a quick word from our sponsor For our first story, the biggest gossip from Wall Street to Silicon Valley is if Tesla will marry, I mean merge with SpaceX. Well, we just got the wildest new reason why it will happen. A global roaming fleet of Robotaxy Wi-Fi routers. But yet is to tell this love story, Tesla announced earnings back on July 22nd and Elon took questions from the investor community as part of that. Everyone's gossiping about the biggest flirtation in business.

Will SpaceX merge with Tesla? One analyst asked Elon on the call. Feels like a Bridgeton show, but Elon very much did not say no. In fact, he didn't have any objections to that idea. He did say that his two companies are collabing more than ever, but that he couldn't legally discuss the matter any further on that call. And then Elon handed the microphone over to his top lawyer,

and Jack, what does that mean? Which is exactly what you would do if you're planning to merge the companies, but don't want to get in trouble right now with the SEC. All right, Jack, let's call that sign number one. Sign number two, though. was exclusive reporting from the Wall Street Journal. That Tesla is preparing to separate off its China business into a separate company.

Yeah, can you sprinkle off some context as to why Tesla China has anything to do with merging with SpaceX? If SpaceX were to merge with Tesla, then Tesla's factories in China, those would be a problem. You see, because SpaceX is a huge U.S. government contractor, and America wouldn't be okay with SpaceX and China, and China wouldn't be okay with that either. Yeah, China doesn't want a U.S. contractor operating a factory in its home country. But Elon called the journal report fake news. However, a denial from Elon doesn't mean it's not true. And Nick, to sprinkle on some context from the TV show The Office, which I know you didn't watch,

Tesla and SpaceX are like Jim and Pam. Everyone knows they're meant for each other, even though it might take six seasons to happen. And even though I didn't watch The Office, I do know that those two are meant for each other. Although I did think you were going to go with Chandler and Monica for this one, Jack. I didn't expect the Jim and Pam. As you could tell, Nick and I think a merger of SpaceX and Tesla is inevitable. There's too many overlaps in the business models to count, and the synergies would be too lucrative. However, Jack and I found a new nugget from Tesla's earnings call that really makes us think they will consummate this corporate marriage.

Elon had just finished explaining that each cyber cab rolling out of the factory right now has a Starlink antenna built into the roof, built by SpaceX. Because a self-driving car can never be in a dead zone. That's a problem. Plus, the passengers in the back seat would love to be able to connect to Wi-Fi that's coming out of the car. Okay, but then interestingly, one analyst asked Elon, hey, can these cybercabs become remote hotspots for Starlink? mobile service? Well, Elon said yes, and that is the new news. But first, Yeti, to sprinkle on some, I don't know, physics context, Starlink is the internet coming from space satellites, but the signal from the sky, it cannot be interrupted by anything. See, Besty, SpaceX's Starlink Wi-Fi can't compete with Verizon and AT&T because there are trees and roofs that get in the way

that's space signal. But if each Tesla cybercab became a rolling Wi-Fi router for SpaceX's Starlink signal, then slowly but... Surely Starlink becomes a bigger and bigger wireless network, with signals coming from both space and from Earth. Thanks to a global fleet of roaming Tesla robotaxies, spitting out Wi-Fi for everyone's iPhones and laptops. That's the new news that convinces us that a SpaceX Tesla merger is inevitable. Check what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Tesla and SpaceX.

Every Elon story is worth two years of unlimited funding from Wall Street. Yeties, for seven years now, we've been hearing that Tesla will be able to be able to be able to turn your Tesla into an Uber one day. You'll be able to flip your car into Robotaxy mode so your car makes money for you while you sleep by hailing people to and from the bar. Oh, and for the last year, we've been hearing that SpaceX's rockets will launch data centers up in space. And now we're hearing that cybercabs made by Tesla will become rolling SpaceX Wi-Fi routers. You see, besties, every story like that is fuels investor excitement and drives the stock prices higher. But every story like that, none of those stories we just told you have happened yet.

No, they have a check. Still, the story. are so superlative, so beyond the imagination of any other company, that it gets people excited. But for Elon, they're synergistic. They require each part of his business empire working together, which is possible. Now, a fair critique of these synergies Nick and I have been talking about is that they're not synergies at all. They're self-dealing. Like when SpaceX bought a bunch of unsold Tesla cyber trucks, that was just kind of convenient. But these possible business lines that Elon keeps teasing us with, they're almost like campfire stories for Wall Street. And every time Elon tells those stories, he buys himself two more years of unlimited

funding. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, while Elon's story is worth a billion dollars. For our second story, Reformation, the sustainable fashion brand for the ladies only. IPOed on Thursday and the stock, it's up 8%. But Reformation's greatest asset isn't a dress. It's the dressing room from Clueless. As if. But Yeti's hot IPO summer continues. And last week, we asked you to comment crop top if you wanted us to cover the Reformation IPO. We've never seen We've got more crop tops in our lives. We got more crop top comments than the sales rack over at Abercrombie, Jack. So, we covered the story.

Reformation, it's the only clothing brand that calls their customers, the ladies, in their IPO paperwork. Reformation. It's like anthropology for celebs. Think of it like if the Gap and Captain Planet had a baby raised in Jennifer Aniston's guestroom. Actually, Nick, it's if Everlane and Jennifer Anderson had a baby, but gave that girl double the allowance of every other kid in school. Because in the age of fast fashion halls, a dress at Reformation is at least $200. And when Reformation filed to IPO last month, we covered that story and we told you about their Gilmore Girls strategy. Because every generation shop's there. Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, boomers,

they're all collectively the ladies. But the big question we asked when we first covered Reformation, will it end up like Patagonia or like Albers? Because Reformation is betting the whole house on sustainability. They are. They said the word sustainability a hundred ninety-two times in the S-1. And now sustainability has worked for Patagonia's brand for 53 years. counting. But sustainability only worked for all birds for less than 10, and now it's out of business. Well, here's the news. Reformation finally went public last week. The stock rose 7.6% in the first two trading days, and as of Monday morning, it's worth $866 million on Wall Street. But pause the pod, yetis, because what fascinates us about Reformation isn't the linen dress, it's the secret tech,

getting you to buy that dress. And that tech was inspired by the 1995 cult classic movie clueless with Alicia Silverstone, which Nick watched on the airplane on a recent flight back from one of our live shows. It's like you knew this story was coming. Honestly, it hits the same every time, Jack. Like, remember Cher's magic closet, like midway through the movie? Do you remember that same? The computer decides if the outfit she's thinking about putting on matches or not. And then it just brings it magically to her. Well, 49 of Reformation stores have a magic changing room technology. The technology is called Retail X, and here's how Reformation describes the tech. A quote, customers can interact with digital screens or use their mobile devices to build their dressing room the same way they would build a cart shopping online.

Each retail X store has just one of each item. Exactly. Because you don't bring them into the dressing room. You add them to your cart on your phone or on the tablets and they bring it to the dressing room for you. And that dressing room has customizable lighting like sunny day lighting or like, I don't know, a rave late night party lighting. I think every Reformation dress is designed for sunny day lighting, Nick. But you do get to customize the lighting according to. You never know where you're going to be at 2 a.m. Jack.

Oh, and that screen in the room, it's like Shares Magic Assistant. It tells you what pairs well with those baggy daddy jeans you're trying on right now. Which gives shoppers a confidence boost and upsell suggestions without you having to walk out into the middle of the dressing room area and become a public source of judgment. The result? 8.5% more spend per customer at Reformation's locations with this retail X concept. And 2.7% higher conversion from trying on. on something to actually buying it.

But, heck, 8.5%, 2.7%, those don't sound like huge numbers. But Nick, 8.5% percentage points of higher sales growth? Like, forever? That's the difference between a growth company and not. Oh, and since the average Reformation order is $315.15. Those extra $26 per order,

that adds millions in extra revenue every year. And in the year of the AI IPO, you want to tell Wall Street a story about growth. A growth story that all started with a 10-second scene from the 1995 Clueless. That was harsh, Ty. That was harsh. As if, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over on Rodeo Drive? I mean, our buddies over at Reformation.

Reformation's backup plan, replace sustainability with licensing. Yeah, one thing, interestingly, Reformation did not talk about licensing that technology to somebody else. Reformation sees the Retail-X smart dressing room technology as a core competitive differentiator and proprietary technology. and they're not given that secret to anybody else in the industry. But, Jack, given sustainability struggles and branding, licensing, that would be a very nice hedge. Four months ago, we covered Victoria's secret investment in smart dressing rooms. Victoria was working with a third party, and now every retailer is thinking about how to make a smart dressing room. While Reformation not only has the tech for smart dressing rooms, they have proof that it delivers a clear ROI.

So Reformation, here's our pitch to you. If you got it, flaunted. License out that Retail X model. Be a sustainable fashion brand and a tech provider to the rest of the fashion industry. Look, if Reformation wants to win as a publicly traded company, besties, it needs something proven to be more durable than fashion, which is subject to fats. Reformation's got it. It's the tech licensing.

It's time to flaunt it. Just like Sharewood. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, A Boy Genius's AI Hedge Fund disappeared in one week. Jack, what just happened? We can explain the biggest finance drama of the year using the fast and the furious. Now, yet he's, there's a new first name trending out there, and it's not on the baby list.

It's Leopold Aschenbrenner. He's Gen Z's Warner Von Braun. You should bring on some context, please, Jack. Warner Von Braun is the German-born genius who immigrated to the U.S. to help us win a U.S. arms race. You see, Besty, 60 years ago, Warner von Braun helped us get to the moon. Today, Leopold Ashenbrenner wanted to help us get to superintelligence. An intelligent, Leopold is Jack. He left Germany to enroll in Columbia University at the age of 15 and became valedictorian at the age of 19.

Then he did stint at FTX and OpenAI before his like 20th birthday. But two years ago, at the age of 22, he got fired from Open AI for raising AI safety concerns or for leaking confidential information. Depends on whose side of the story you actually believe. And after getting fired, Leopold launched a hedge fund in a life pivot. He wanted to use his genius to get rich people even richer. you know, raise millions to make billions. Yeah, I'm done pursuing superintelligence.

I'm going to pursue super richness now. Naturally, and here's his pitch. I'm the 22-year-old Nostradamus of AI. Give me your millions, and I'll turn it into billions. And billions, he did too. 2024, end of the month of May, Leopold's fund was up 1,000%.

Leopold led the hottest hedge fund on the street. It was called situational awareness, and it was worth $45 billion. $45 bill. That's more than Porsche, more than BMW, you more than Adidas, it is more than seven lifts. But then June and July came. Oh, boy. The stock market fell. And Nick, do you know what Aschenbrenner means in English? This guy's last name. Jack, nine spreckensy German. Don't know the Deutsche. It means ash and burn. Oh, boy. And

Ash and Byrne is what happened to his fund. Because the result was a Wall Street drama worthy of a Hulu documentary, baby. Last week, we told you that Google reported their first ever negative cash flow quarter. They spent more cash than they brought in. And then Google met his stock's tank last week. So did the chip companies that depend on orders from them. The biggest names in AI were down 50% in just one month. We covered it on this pot. Nvidia nose dive prompts plunged and chips ad dipped. But Leopold's hedge fund, which depended on the success of those AI companies, was down even worse. It fell from $45 billion to $10 billion on AI's midsummer panic, which presented an existential problem to the fund. I know where this is going,

Jack. His funds investments were collateral for a bunch of Wall Street loans he took out. And as And as the fund stocks dropped in value, his banks demanded more collateral to make up for it. So Leopold Aschenbrenner got a margin call. And in desperation, he had to sell the whole public stock fund to his rival, Hedge Fund Citadel. Okay, but Jack paused the pot because here's the wildest part. The very next day, after situational awareness sold all their stocks, the whole stock market rebounded. Microsoft pops 16% on a great earnings report. On Friday, Amazon jumped 15% after their profits more than true.

Yet he's the market panic. It was over in 24 hours. The AI trade looked great again. The chip stocks that were down so much rose enormously second half of last week. In fact, Leopold's biggest loser, the South Korean chip company, S.K. Heinex, fell 50% but then surged 18% the day after he sold it. It's like Leopold hosted a house party. Yeah, Jack? Ruin the whole house and then admitted to his parents the next morning, I destroyed the house. I'm so sorry. It's my fault. But then when Leopold went downstairs, he didn't realize that his friends had cleaned it all up, and he never had to tell his parents our first question. Yeah, I didn't have to confess anything here. If I had just gone one day longer, I would have been fine. So yet is the other hedge fund here, Citadel? They are the winner.

They bought the ultimate hedge fund dip in perfect timing that's already made huge gains. But 24-year-old boy genius Leopold, he is the loser. He had no choice. He was out of money. He had to sell all of the company stock in a fire sale. So, Jaggle, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Looking at the biggest finance drama. of the year. Leverage is like the nitrous oxide button in the fast and the furious. It's fun, but oh, is it dangerous? Oh, yes it is.

Yet is last week we covered news that the NASDAQ had fallen 10% in just the month of July. But Leopold's fund, which held a lot of those NASDAQ tech stocks, it fell way more than 10%. It fell 67% in July. Why? Well, because Leopold made risky bets only. He was long on AI infrastructure and short on software. But the other reason his fund fell, seven times more than the NASDAQ fell is because his fund was levered.

Leverage. He borrowed $5 for every $1 he actually had so that he could buy $6 worth of stocks. And at that 5x leverage, a 20% stock drop wipes out 100% of your money. Using loans to invest, which is called leverage, is how Leopold was up 1,000% in two years. But that leverage is also why two-thirds of those gains disappeared in just one month. Like in the Fast and the Furious movies, the Nause button in Dom's charger, it makes it go as fast as race car, but Nick the Knoss button, like leverage, is a very dangerous button. Pretty sure there are a couple crashes in those movies, Jack.

Leverage makes you go fast. It'll either take you further, or it will make you crash. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? There's a new story to excite SpaceX Tesla merger gossip, cybercabs used as Starlink routers. It's another campfire story that Elon tells Wall Street to get him a billion dollars in financing and buy him two more years. For our second story, Reformation IPOed at an almost one. billion dollar valuation. It's profitable and has magic dressing room technology. Just like clueless. Our thought, if you got it, flaunt it. License that retail X model to the rest of the fashion

industry. And our third and final story is Leopold Ashenbrenner. His hedge fund collapsed last week because leverage amplified losses. The boy genius was using leverage. It'll make you go faster and further in the markets, but it will make you crash if things go down. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, FIFA just had its wildest week ever. and that's after the World Cup ended. The 2026 World Cup smashed previous records for revenue by nearly 3x, but FIFA obviously wanted more. So they were going to sell part of the World Cup the commercial part to J.P. Morgan

and a Trump leaked venture capital firm for $20 billion. But after the European Soccer League threatened to boycott the whole thing, and fans got very angry across the world, FIFA scrapped the plan over the weekend. This is a Super League all over again. Once again, the money grab was squashed. because football's not for sale. Second, Spider-Man just set an opening day box office record. Not post-pandemic record, record, record.

We're talking 168 million bucks at the domestic box office, beating the 2019 Avengers End Games 157 mil. And Spider-Man brand-new day did it, while competing against The Odyssey, which is still in theaters and only a couple weeks old. Because with great power comes great responsibility. Nick, now that Travis and Taylor got married, Tom Dea is getting the money. We're going to make that term happen. And finally, the biggest drama in AI, it happened over the weekend between Sam Altman and parenting.

Over the weekend, Sam Altman shared an idea. He heard about how to use chat GPT to parent. He said it was cool to upload your kids' interests, activities, and friends' birthdays into chat GPT and have it create a podcast for them. Which is kind of like the podcast would be parenting, but you don't have to actually do the parenting yourself. An alternative idea? You just parent like an actual parent would instead of having ChatGPT replace you. Now time for the best fact yet, this one whipped up by Jack and me because we spent the whole weekend catching up on Shark Week. Shark Week is currently the longest running cable TV program doing 38 season strong. But Jack and I realize between all of these shark shows that no animal has influenced Wall Street and startup culture more than the shark. Sure, you got bull markets and bear markets and there's a whale in the market who's making huge trades.

But besties, when it comes to sharks, we have so many more references in business that Jack and I could create. another podcast on this. Let's rapid fire this thing, Nick. You have loan sharks. You got corporate sharks. You have shark tank. You got shark investors. And there's a lot of M&A happening. It's a feeding frenzy. Jack, before an IPO, the bankers chum the waters for the deal. When stocks crash, there's blood in the water. And besties, if you have a lot of competition, you're swimming with the sharks. Yeah, it is you look fantastic. What a job. What a show, Jack. Bestie's best way you can grow the show, drop down, give us five stars, a rating and review, and put us in your group chat. And if you want to see us live, we got

three shows this fall, starting in San Francisco, then Boston, then Seattle. Click on the episode description or grab tickets at T-Boypod.com, and Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Lee Yee, the King of Queens, and the Sultan of Spotify. Happy birthday to Bougars Haley and her horse Sierra celebrating in Las Vegas. And Tammy Oketore is turned 22 years old, Go Blue, up in Boston, just inside Boston. Happy three-year anniversary of Nathaniel Asher's Bar Mitzvah down in Florida.

And Annie Marsala, happy third. 33rd birthday down in Sin City, Cincinnati. Happy birthday to Lila Dwyer in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Who! And Ajay Baradva has got a birthday and anniversary of his startup, L.O. sunglasses, which were born out of a mishap at his wedding and now he's crushing it. Aj, can you comment on what that mishap was because I'm really curious. Oh, side note, Aj has listened to every episode of the best idea yet three times, Jack.

Not too shabby. That is wild. And happy wedding anniversary to Ed and Kathleen Whalen over in Chicago doing logistics. Congratulations to Cassie Parko, the best sourdough maker of Phoenix for getting a new job. And a three-year anniversary of Anthony Sarmiento's first ever hole in one on the golf course. Congratulations. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a seaboy. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Lyft. I own one share of SpaceX and Nick owns more than one.