The Best One Yet - 💋 “Rare Billionaire” — Selena Gomez’s $2B lipstick. Trumponomics 2.0. Founder Mode vs Manager Mode.

Episode Date: September 9, 2024

Selena Gomez is officially a billionaire… thanks to her booming makeup brand, Rare Beauty.Donald Trump outlined his economic plan last week… so we jumped into it.VC Twitter is debating Founder Mode vs. Manager Mode… but we found a 3rd way to run an operation. And one more thing… Mountain Dew will now pay you to move… because 1 time zone is happiest.$PEPKamalanomics episode: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kamala-nomics-the-vps-biz-plan-sabrina-carpenters-ice/id1386234384?i=1000662940254Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AeU8EuU1iItbsw8AxrwI7?si=fSABu1YFRrKj_omBeSqbNA—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, September night. And today's pod is the best one. Yeah, this is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Woof, Wall Street just had its worst week in a year. It fell 4%. But Jack, how was your weekend, my friend? Nick, Brooks is walking out. No, not too shabby. It's a tremendous relief, literally, because I don't have to carry this 30-pound monster anymore.

actually take his own steps. Your posture is better than ever, Jack. In the meantime, markets will hopefully recover, and Jack and I prepared three fantastic stories for you. For our first story, Selena Gomez is officially a billionaire, one of the youngest self-made billionaires ever. But it's not because of music and it's not because of acting. It's because she owns rare beauty. For our second story, former President Trump unveiled his sweeping plans for the economy last week. So Jack and I are dedicating a whole story to Trumpinomics 2.0. And President McKinley, and our third and final story, is the biggest debate in Silicon Valley rating.

Oh, true. Are you in founder mode or are you in manager mode? So we'll tell you what both mean, because whether you're running a company or running a wedding, you've got to choose one of them. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories to kick off the week, Jack. Love the mix. Sometimes a company sponsors an event.

And sometimes a company sponsors a stadium. But after 1,500 episodes of this show, We've never seen a sponsorship like this. Get this, a company sponsoring a time zone. Mountain Dew says they're the official, unofficial sponsor of Mountain Time Zone. But the wildest part is that they're giving away free Mountain Dew soda to anyone in the Mountain Time Zone. From Montana to New Mexico, Aspen to Santa Fe, if you are there, they'll hook you up with a free do. Oh, and Jack, it's not just Coloradoans and one quarter of North Dakota.

they're getting fed free soda with this thing. Anyone who visits the Mountain Time Zone gets a free soda if they register online. Even if you're just flying through Denver, Mountain Dew is going to send you a free Mountain Dew soda. The in-flight Wi-Fi fee pays for itself in due. Now Yetty's Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, and from a geographical perspective,

this is actually the largest marketing giveaway ever. It's a huge geofence. It's like eight states. But it has also led to some fascinating data about the Mountain Time Zone. Mountain Dew loves the Mountain Time Zone because it's the happiest of America's four time zones. It turns out the Mountain Time Zone has the fewest people and yet it has the highest happiness. According to Stat Social, the Mountain Time Zone has 6% more cheerful people than any other time zone.

I mean, Jack, maybe it's the hike and maybe it's the bike and maybe it's the bison burgers. Maybe it's the early legalization of marijuana. Or maybe just maybe it's the do on those Rocky Mountains. Literally. Jack, yeah, let's get our three stories. Fifteen 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. 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.

First, a quick word from our sponsor. Our first story, Selena Gomez is officially a billionaire, Queen Celine. But it's not because of her singing, her acting, or her songwriting. It's all thanks to her makeup, rare beauty. Jack, let's check the whiteboard over here. I'm looking now, and there are 1,000 billionaires living in America right now. Check that. Now there's 1,001.

Boom, because according to Bloomberg, Selina Gomez just joined the 3-coma club. she is officially worth $1 billion. Only billionaires in the building. Season three. When she was 10 years old, Selena Gomez starred in Barney and Friends. And then she did four seasons of Disney shows as a teenager. She also generates income from music and acting.

Which is how you've probably heard or seen her. But the majority of this 32-year-old's net worth isn't for many of that stuff we just mentioned. No, it's not. It's because she owns a majority of rare beauty. Rare beauty, the Glossier, of Gen Z, Rare Beauty is like if Fenty and Revlon had a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful baby. Rare Beauty is vegan, cruelty-free, makeup and skincare, all priced under 30 bucks.

But Jack and I jumped into the financials of this private company, and Selena Gomez actually owns 51% of Rare Beauty, which did $350 million in revenue last year. It's estimated to be worth $2 billion, and since she owns 51% of it, boom, she's a billionaire. Actually, Jack, Selena Gomez is a great example of a topic we've talked about lately. It's not income that typically gets people rich. It's owning things that will get you rich. Because, Yetis, just 20% of Selena's net worth actually comes from music and acting income. 80% comes from founding rare beauty.

But she started with income, which led to savings, and then savings let her found a company, and founding a company turned her into a billionaire. How people really get rich. But yet he's, Jack and I were also shocked when we saw these numbers about rare beauty, right, Jack? It's only three years old. And yet it's worth half a lift. So, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style, and we looked at the makeup industry right now, and we noticed an interesting trend. Overall, sales in the makeup industry in the U.S. are up 11% compared to last year. Checks out. But sales of celebrity-backed makeup brands, they're up 58% from last year.

It turns out when you get ready in the morning, you don't want lip gloss. You want lip gloss that won an Oscar. Yet the data shows that most celebrity-backed makeup brands struggle. It's an interesting contradiction. Yeah, Ariana Grande's brand. Lady Gaga's, Brad Pitt's, Jared Lettos, all of their makeup companies are all down, struggling, or just straight out out of business right now. Brad Pitt has a makeup brand? You know, I was surprised too, but then I looked at it, and honestly, the abs men, I couldn't look away, Jack. Oh, I'm seeing it here. It's called Bodomain. I think it's pronounced, Bo Domain. That's what I said. So it's kind of, ironic, but like many people trying to make it big in Hollywood, most celebrity makeup brands don't

actually make it big in the first place. But Selena did make it big. And her makeup's not just killing it because she's the most followed woman on Instagram. Rare Beauty is a $2 billion makeup brand because of our takeaway. So Jack, could you just hand over the eyeliner, a little bit of blush and a little bit, and just tell us the takeaway for our buddies over at Rare Beauty. The middle is making moves. Yeties, for the last decade, brands in the middle were, financially speaking, getting squeezed. Growing inequality in America meant that high-end brands were thriving and discount brands were thriving too. But brands in the middle price range, they were not thriving. For example, Apple was thriving, dollar stores were thriving, but urban outfitters in the middle, they were getting

crushed. That was the story for like 10 or 15 years. But now the middle appears to be making a financial We'll come back. Look at Abercrombie and Fitch, the Olive Garden, and Rare Beauty. They're all middle-priced products, and they're all enjoying record high sales right now. Like Rare Beauty, it's not too expensive, but it's also not too cheap. And that is where more consumers are settling right now. It's a nice little sign for the middle class, actually. Selina Gomez's rare beauty has made her a billionaire, because the middle is making moves. For our second story, Donald Trump just outlined his economic plans and they're inspired by a president from 100 years ago. It's Trumponomics 2.0 and it involves Elon Musk.

Now, Yeti six weeks ago, Jack and I covered Kamalaomics. What to expect business-wise if Kamala Harris wins the White House. We linked to that episode in the show notes. But now it is time for Trumponomics 2.0 because it's what to expect from Trump's second term. Trump spoke last week to the New York Economic Club. And he outlined, like, everything economics-wise he would do in the White House. So we jumped in T-boy style. Jack, you know what you got to do if you want to get into the economic club?

Show a supply-in-dumand-dum chart. That is what you got to do to get into the economic club. You wasted, actually. Impressive. Now, yet he's, here's what Jack and I found fascinating. The number one theme for Donald Trump's economic plans are actually the same economic plans as our 25th president, William McKinley. William McKinley. We've never mentioned him on the show before.

No, we haven't first time. That's Willie. William McKinley won the 1896 election. And fun fact, he was the last civil war veteran to be the president of the United States. Well, it turns out President McKinley's economic policy is actually the same as Trump's proposed policy. We're talking about tariffs. Tariffs? Because Trump in his second term would tax all imports by at least 10% as they arrive into the country. And without explaining how, Trump just said that tariffs could solve our deficit, could solve economic growth, and could even... and solve expensive childcare. And he cited President William McKinley as evidence that tariffs work. Although a lot has changed in 123 years. Another Trump policy announced last week was lower taxes, but only for companies that make their products in the United States. Now, interestingly,

this was actually a new Trump policy. Trump pledged last week to cut the corporate tax rate to 15%, but only for companies that are made in USA. However, this brings up questions, like what qualifies as made in the USA. That's TBD. A car, for example, has components made all over the world. If it's assembled in Detroit, is that made in the USA? Or what about service companies, like a law firm or a bank? Like, if you're a partner in a law firm, but you studied in London, does that count as made in America? This policy raised more questions than it gave answers to. But the final part of Trump's new economic policy was Elon Musk. Donald Trump would create a commission to make the federal government more efficient,

and he would appoint Elon Musk to lead that commission. Now, perhaps Elon Musk would do to Washington, D.C., what he did to Twitter. Huge layoffs to save money. Elon accepted the offer by tweeting about it last week, so Elon may soon have a new job in government if Trump wins. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies looking at business and the election? Wall Street was on board for Trump 1.0, but they're not on board for Trump 2.0. Now, it is when Trump got elected the first time, stocks soared, mostly thanks to Trump's first corporate tax cuts.

With the stroke of a pen, Trump let companies keep billions more in profits instead of pay taxes. Wall Street naturally loved that. Wall Street was loving every minute of it. But, interestingly, Goldman Sachs just came out and said they don't like Trumponomics 2.0. They thought Trumponomics 2.0 would actually make the economy smaller, not bigger. The main reason? tariffs. Tariffs. Tariffs cause inflation. Tariffs are taxes on imports by 10%, which could increase prices by 10%. Goldman Sachs also mentioned that Trump's immigration policies could also be inflationary.

Reducing the number of immigrants we have, that could lead to a labor shortage. So economists have been steadfastly opposed to Trump's economic ideas. We were surprised that Goldman Sachs now is too. Add it all up, Wall Street was on board for Trump 1.0, but surprisingly, they're not on on board for Trump 2.0. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the biggest debate in Silicon Valley

all weekend long was this. Founder mode versus manager mode. It's a VC obsession over how to properly run a company, but it actually applies to everyone. Hot Girl walks, brat summer, very

demure, very mindful. Do your best keeping up with all the memes this summer. Yeah, there were a lot of memes. Honestly, it was kind of stressful to keep up with all of them, Jack. No, especially because we host a pod we're supposed to be. Well, here's the latest meme that you gotta pay attention to, Yetis. Founder Mode.

Founder Mode. More of an entrepreneurship meme on Twitter VC. It is. Founder Mode is a way of running a company or, frankly, the way we see it, running anything. Famous venture capitalist Paul Graham wrote an essay on Founder Mode last week, and it went viral like a Sabrina Carpenter song. Oh, you can't sleep, baby I know. That's that meme.

in founder mode. Please don't. People say I have a sultry voice, Jack. Let's get back to the story, Dick. Two theories are around right now on how to properly run a company. Founder mode or manager mode. And Jack, I was at the blue bottle of coffee

on Fillmore Street in San Francisco this weekend. I heard three couples getting into arguments about founder mode versus manager mode. Because that coffee shop is a physical manifestation of VC Twitter. Do you want the latte? I said founder mode, not manager mode. But his founder mode is when the CEO is involved in every part of the business.

As the company scales, that CEO stays involved with everything. So whether a company is five people or 5,000 people, if a decision is being made on a new logo, that founder will join that meeting. A famous CEO that always operated in founder mode, who is it, Nick? Steve Jobs, he saw every part of an iPhone getting made from the computer chips all the way to the TV ads. He wanted to be involved no matter what. He had his fingers in everything.

The opposite of founder mode is something called manager mode. And what is manager mode, Jack? When you delegate every part of the business. As the company scales, you get less and less involved in the day-to-day decisions. So as a company grows from five people to five thousand people, you hire talent for each need and then you fully delegate all of those needs. And Nick, who's the famous manager mode CEO? Well, Jack, that would be Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder who got a marketing team hired and then he never touched Mark. Marketing again. You guys got this. It was delegated. Yeah. Dunza. So besties add it all up and one strategy

is to always stay involved and the other strategy is to delegate and let go. Again, this was a debate about running a company. But the question applies to wedding planning, to renovating a kitchen, to running any project, we think. Like, do you want your contractor to just decide on the brass sconce? Or do you want to get involved because you kind of are worried he's going to choose a brass sconce? You're the involved guy, I can tell. Honey, do you want fish or do you want? Yeah, I'm that guy, Jack. But we know what you're wondering, Yetis, which one is better?

And the answer is our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies running a company? The answer isn't founder mode versus manager mode. It's execution. Now, Yeties, Silicon Valley is trying to answer this question entirely wrong the way we see it. There isn't one right way to run a company. What matters is whether you execute. For example, if you're great at getting up to speed fast, making decisions, and having great instincts,

then founder mode is the most effective strategy for you. On the other hand, if you're great at hiring people who can run their departments the way you want them to run the departments, then manager mode is the most effective strategy. So if you do founder mode, then you must execute with fast, smart decisions. If you do manager mode, you must execute with fantastic hires and great check-ins. And that's why, the way we see it, the answer isn't one or the other. it's which one you can execute better. Are you better at being a founder or you're better of being a manager? Honestly, that's the answer.

Oh, not the brass scons. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Selina Gomez is a billionaire because she founded Rare Beauty, which is now a $2 billion makeup brand. Rare beauty is winning because in this economy, the middle is making moves. For our second story, Donald Trump has now outlined his economic plans for a second term. Wall Street was on board with Trump 1.0, but they're not on board with Trump 2.0. And our third and final story. VC. Twitter has a raging debate around founder mode versus manager mode.

But the best way to run a company, honestly, is which one you can execute better. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the U.S. jobs report for August came in on Friday. 142,000 new jobs, which is right in the sweet spot. It's slow enough to help kill inflation, but not so slow that it's giving recession vibes. The unemployment rate reduced to 4.2%, which is near an historic low. And second, 7-Eleven, the home of the slurpee and the late-night spinning hot dog on those hot metal wheels will not be sold. A French company offered $39 billion to buy all 89,711 locations.

But 7-Eleven said their big gulp is worth a bigger number, so they rejected the deal. And finally, it is Apple. day. The annual fall tradition where Apple takes everyone's attention to unveil another iPhone. We're probably going to see the iPhone 16th iPhone will probably be touted as being the first ever AI iPhone. They might even rename it. The AI. AIFone. Shocker. The easiest prediction ever. Now time for the best fact yet. This one whipped up by Jack and me because when we jumped in T-boy style, there was something else we had to share with you. Selina Gomez had a kidney transplant.

She transplanted her kidney. She has a new kidney, actually. In her battle with lupus, she got a kidney donated by her best friend to keep her healthy. And now here's the interesting thing, Eddies. As Selena Gomez was adjusting to life with a new kidney, she decided to name that kidney in order to cope with the transition. And what did she name that kidney? The star of her favorite TV show. Yes. She named it Fred Armisen because, and I quote, I love Portlandia.

That's right. Selina Gomez has a new kidney that she named after comedian Fred Armisen, so she calls her kidney Fred. If I ever get a new kidney, I'm going to call it Newman. It's kind of a dysfunctional kidney, but it can still work, Jack. I think we can work with this. Oh, and Jack, before we go, we got to read one comment from the Yetis because we kind of just love reading these comments. This one's from Barbie Avenger on Friday. L.O.L. I'm literally enjoying a meal out by myself with this podcast in my ear. And I'm listening to a story about dining alone. Perfect timing stuck the landing, razzledazzled. Yeah, it is. Hit us up in the comments. We'd love seeing what you have to say. To everyone over in Mountain Time, keep having a lot of fun. And Jack and I, we'll see you to more.

And before we go, a bon voyage to Christina Smolowski from Centennial, Colorado, who's on vacay in Japan to race through Tokyo in a go-cart while dressed as an anime character. Yeah, we'll join you on the next time you go, Christina. Someone's childhood fantasy is being fulfilled. And Caitlin Crump in Miami, Florida, just launched her recruiting firm. Congratulations, Caitlin. Founder Mode or Manager Mode. Congrats to Aaron Bishop, from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who just got a new job.

And Miranda Day in Savannah, Georgia is waking up on a Monday feeling fantastic. Happy birthday to Dexter Wendell, who's turning eight down in Raleigh, North Carolina. And Jan Michael Cerna in Boota, Texas is the unofficial T-boy hype man celebrating the best birthday yet. Thank you, Jan. Let's make it the official T-boy hype man. Let's do that, Jack. Let's make it happen. And finally, Cassandra Canavaggio is turning 10 years old in Panama City, Panama. She's listening with her mom, and we're so happy to celebrate your birthday, Cassandra. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple, and I own stock in Disney and Netflix.