The Best One Yet - 🥯 “Shmear Me” — PopUp Bagel’s boom. Zuck’s Smart Oakleys. Stargate’s $500B Hollywood name.

Episode Date: January 23, 2025

Zuck’s reportedly launching smart Oakleys this year… and a smart watch and airpods next year.PopUp Bagels is the fastest-growing bagel chain in America… and they prioritize inconvenience.“Stargate” is Sam Altman’s new $500B AI project… it would be the most expensive thing we’d ever build.Plus, the medals handed out at the Paris Olympics? They’re losing their gold. $DNUT $META $MSFTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… 🎸 The Fender Stratocater: The Guitar That Invented Rock ‘N’ Roll.Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.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/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday. January 23rd. And today's party is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. I mean, Jack, I want to brag, but the birthday stock bump continued.

Yeah. Stocks who record eyes again. Some say it's Trump's presidency. Others say it's my birthday week. We don't really know the reason why. We'll leave that to you, this side. We'll leave that to CNBC. In the meantime, Jack, three stories for today's T-Bee-Bee.

What do we got? For our first story, OpenAI just announced an AI mega project that is more expensive than the moonland. It's called Stargate, and it shows the power of Hollywood branding. For our second story, it's Pop Up Bagels. This is the fastest growing bagel chain in America, and Michael Phelps is an investor. But yet it is, if you want to buy their bagels, first, you must follow their rules. And our third and final story, Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly launching Smart Oakley's this year. Foklis and AirPods rivals next year.

No, not Foklis. AI smart Oaklees. Zocles, because Zuck is Dragon Apple. That's why Zuck is launching Zocles. But, Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories. Love the Mix City Jack. It's been 100

days since the Paris Olympics. Not possible. Actually, it is possible. And we have a weird update 100 days after the closing ceremonies. Get this, Bettys. The Olympic medals are breaking. We'll explain. We will. Yeties, remember that the Paris Olympics was basically one giant French fashion show. And the luxury brand LVMH, the biggest company in France, made the medals for the

Olympics. LVMH, they own the jewelry giants, Bulgari, Givanchet, and Christian Dior. Decent pronunciation, Jack. And so, LVMH designed the gold, silver, and bronze medals. We covered it on this pot, actually. We did. In fact, LVMH spent 15 days for each metal. They made each metal by hand. And they used a secret trade varnish that was a hundred years old to protect each and every medal. But here's the news. A hundred days after the Paris Olympics, hundreds of those metals have lost their color. Specifically, the metal on the metals completely wore off. So the gold metals are losing their gold and the bronzes are losing their bronze. I mean, Jack, I'm looking at it right now. Every metal just kind of looks metal. It looks metallic. It doesn't even look silver. It just

looks dull gray metal, like under the hood of some old, Volkswagen. Like you dug it up out of the dams, Jack. The situation is so bad, the IOC is replacing these metals ASAP. And Jack, why are all the medals from the Olympics just looking like metal? Turns out the EU banned one particular chemical last year, which happened to be a secret ingredient in that varnish. So LVMH says it's not their fault. They're blaming the regulators. Besties add it all up and we'd say typically that it's what's on the inside that counts. But when it comes to a gold medal, it's what's on the outside. I mean, it's really only what's on the outside.

That's all it matters. Jack, let's sit at three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused 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. For our first story. The most expensive mega project in a century was just announced at the White House. Here it is.

Open AI, Oracle, and SoftBank are teaming up for something called Stargate. Stargate. The details are interesting, but the name is key. I like what you did there, Jack. Now, Yeti is earlier this week, Jack and I told you that Washington, D.C. was looking like Washington v.C. A lot of tech guys were hanging out over in Washington in the Capitol. I think we said Washington

SV as Silicon Valley, but they both kind of work. Actually, Washington VC is better. I like it. Let's roll with that, Jack. Well, that theme is continuing. Because a team of big tech CEOs just made a huge announcement Tuesday night at the White House, and that announcement is Stargate.

Stargate. Those three companies are building $500 billion worth of data centers here in the United States. And Jack, could you sprinkle on some context of that huge number? $500 billion is four times more money than we spent to land on the moon. And that's adjusted for inflation. Now, we need data centers to power artificial intelligence. That's why this is happening.

Yeah, so Stargate is an epically giant-sized investment in data centers. And it involves three legends of tech. Sam Altman was there at the White House because OpenAI is leading the whole project. Oracle, a software company is going to build the cloud computing servers starting in Texas. And SoftBank, the Japanese venture capital firm, will figure out how to pay for it all. Masa. Are you going to pay for this, please? Now, the news announced at the White House was cloaked in red, white, and blue marketing language.

Oh, it was all in on patriotism. They said they will secure American leadership in AI and create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Trump called it tremendous and monumental. And if this whole thing happens, he'd be right. Yeah. This is tremendous and monumental. These three companies have created a joint venture to build all of it, and they're calling it Project Stargate. Side note, Microsoft is involved, too.

Apparently, they're chipping in $80 billion as well. Not too shabby. But yet he's, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about the story. The day after the news came out, the drama came out. Because Elon Musk is not involved in this deal? No, he's not. So he's raining on the whole enthusiasm parade. Technically, Jack, I think he's cyber-raining on the trade. Can you sprinkle on more context to this part as well?

Ten years ago, Elon Musk and Sam Altman were business partners. They co-founded Open AI together until Elon left the company in 2018. Now, Elon probably feels betrayed by Trump for promoting his arch AI enemy. Anyway, Elon tweeted yesterday that the three companies don't actually have the money to build this very expensive Stargate. Shots fired, that's the drama. It's like a real housewives of cloud computing over there. And honestly, $500 billion? That is so much money. Like, we thought it said $500 million at first. Okay, Jack and I were trying to find ways to quantify how much money this is exactly. And one way is that it's three times, four times the price of going to the moon. Another way is that it's more money than it cost us to build the entire U.S. interstate highway system. It is more than all of our interstate highways.

I-5 to I-95. One more piece of context. The most expensive thing built in the last 20 years was the facilities for the Sochi Olympics in Russia. Okay, and this project is 10 times the cost of those Olympics. So it's possible that Elon's right. And we've seen companies make huge announcements and then failed to deliver on them.

Yeah, like in 2017, when Foxconn announced with Trump a $10 billion factory coming to Wisconsin that never ended up happening. But we still haven't mentioned the key insight from what could be the biggest project in our lifetimes. And that insight is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Project Stargate? Brand your product like Hollywood would brand a movie.

Yeties, the way Jack and I see it, Stargate is a master class in naming. Because Stargate is epic. It is exciting. And it sparks the imagination. For those who don't watch sci-fi movies, Stargate is a movie that brought Earthlings to another universe. to enlighten me on that one. Thank you for telling me, by the way. Similarly, this project will bring Earthlings to the universe of AI. That's what they're getting at. Besties, that kind of branding,

it inspires the employees working on it, the customers that use it, and the citizens that may support it with their tax dollars. And when it comes to naming products and naming projects, Tesla has always been good at this. Oh, Tesla's namestorming is great, like the Gigafactory, the cyber truck, cool names that are inspirational. On the other hand, Boeing is terrible at this. Yeah, Boeing airplanes are the 747, the 787, the 737, and it's just numbers. That inspires no one. They should have named their airplanes, the eagle, the falcon, and the hawk. Oh, that would have been so much better, Jack.

Even a dragonfly. Run with it, Bowen. Besties, every product, no matter how big or how small or how B2B should be named for mass appeal, mass inspiration. Brand your product like Hollywood would brand a movie. For our second story, Pop-up Bagels is now the fastest-growing baking. bagel chain in America with a wild story. Pop-up bagels is surging because the customer's not always right. Because they said no to the customer.

Jack, having grown up emotionally with bagels, I would describe them always as a donut without makeup. Ah, I like that. But we discovered the interesting history of the bagel as well, didn't we, man? Well, they were invented in Poland in the 1600s and brought to America by Jewish immigrants, starting in New York in the 1900s. Now, for the record, the best bagel in America in New York is the H&H bagel. I went to camp with this kid, great guy, great bagel jack.

I'd never had one. Pick a bagels a close second, but that's a story for another pot. What about Lenny's bagels? Lenny's is also fantastic, but you've got to throw it in the microwave first. However, Yeti, since nothing is sacred in this world, disruption has now come to the bagel industry. In the form of pop-up bagels, which has become the fastest growing bagel chain in America. We dove into the numbers.

They got 10 locations growing a 30 this year. They're tripling their size. They're worth an estimated $50 million. So far, they have locations in New York, Connecticut, Boston, and Florida. But they just opened a franchise model. And 150 more locations have already been spoken for. Now, interestingly, their investors include carboloading athlete. Remember Michael Phelps has 12,000 calories a day? Well, barely half of them are bagels.

So he invested. Michael Strayhan invested. Football player J.J. Watt invested. Paul Rudd's not a pro athlete, but he's invested too. Why not? He's got good taste. Now, the founder of this bagel startup began making bagels during the pandemic by like watching YouTube videos and figuring out how to do it. He sold him from the back of his house in Connecticut and grew initially like most businesses do through word of mouth and on social media. Shmere that bagel and cream cheese. Boom, it is going viral. I've never seen a video of someone tearing open a freshly baked bagel before, but now I have and wow.

That's why this bagel company pop-up has a whole. 150,000 social media followers. They are the Kim Kardashian of sesame seed bagels. But what Nick and I found fascinating about their business model is that they prioritize inconvenience. We repeat, in convenience. Jack, can you explain, please? Unlike any bagelry we know of, pop-up will not customize your order. They won't toast your bagel. They won't even slice your bagel in half if you ask them to. They're not doing it. Don't even bother asking. They'll say no. Can I get my bagel butter?

No. Can you cut it in half from it? Nope. Can I get peanut butter and butter on it? No. In fact, Popup only sells two products, bagels and smear. No locks, no coffee. They don't even sell drinks at this bagel brand.

They also only sell in packs of three, six, or 12. You can't order just one bagel there. It's a grab and go business. No tables for dining. You can't even get a single bagel. If you think you gained the system by ordering online, Well, then you have to buy more bagels. They'll only sell online by the dozen.

That's right. If you buy online, you have to get 12, 24, or 36 bagels. Those are the only options. Those are the rules. Burger King says have it your way. Pop-up bagels makes you have it their way. This is a bagel chain that is growing by saying no. And it's working because of our takeaway.

So, Jack, what's the everything season takeaway for our buddies over at pop-up bagels? Inconvenience can be an advantage. We call it the no soup for you rule. Yet he is in Seinfeld, there is a soup guy who scares everybody, and he is known, colloquially, as the soup Nazi. You must order his way, or he'll kick you out. If you don't pay an exact cash, he takes the soup away from you. If you hesitate when it's your torn in line... No soup for you!

But if customers are willing to put up with that inconvenience, it kind of acts like a marketing signal. People are willing to follow draconian rules? It must be that good then. That's the pop-up bagels growth hack. They have turned an inconvenience into a positive marketing signal. In Seinfeld, they said, no soup for you, which made Newman want that mulligatani even more. Well, pop-up bagels says you must have it their way, which makes you want even more bagels. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, Meta is building a rival to Apple's AirPods and Apple's watch. How will Meta replace the iPhone? With advertisements, we'll explain. Yes, we will. Yeties, one year ago, we said that Meta's Rayban sunglasses are the biggest challenge to the iPhone. Meta's rayband sunglasses. They can take pictures for you, play podcasts for you, make phone calls and send texts for you. They could paint the front porch and beat Permian at football, Jack.

Yeah, maybe with the next software update, Nick. Meant, Meant, Meantaheimant, Meantahzotica. Because here's the news. In addition to Rayban's smart glasses, later this year, you could be buying Oakley Smart Glasses by Meta, according to Bloomberg. They're not going to be Joklis. No. They're going to be meta-Oakles.

I guess we'll call them Moklis. I'll go Moklis. Why are you picking the Z? I feel like that's what he wants. It seems like he's really into it. Now, Mehta's Oakleys are going to target athletes who basically want to stay connected during their Ironman competition. But that's not all.

Meta will also unveil fancier glasses with a screen in the bottom corner of the lens. Those will reportedly be available this year and be priced at about $1,000 per pair. Mark Zuckerberg thinks he's the new Tom Ford. But here's the bigger news. Meta is also working on earbuds. and a watch. I have. It sounds like Apple. It sounds like Apple. Zuck is basically Zuckin' Apple over there.

According to this Bloomberg reporting, all of these devices we're talking about are going to be AI-infused. Meta has gotten really serious about hardware. Meta's gadget division, Reality Labs, has invested $50 billion on headsets, on glasses, and now a smart watch and earbud coming to your face as well. Now, to replace the iPhone, Zuck might sell you all-in-one glass.

that do everything. Like the Orion's he unveiled last year at a big product event. Or maybe Jackie's going to sell you a combo of smart glasses supported by a smart watch with a screen, kind of like you may have with Apple right now. Funny timing, though, because last week, Mark Zuckerberg went on Joe Rogan's podcast and said this about Apple.

You know, they haven't really invented anything great in a while. It's like Steve Jobs invented the iPhone, and now they're just kind of sitting on it 20 years later. Well, that's big, because the iPhone happens to be the most profitable product of all time. And what replaces the iPhone eventually probably will be too. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Meta? Meta's advantage over Apple is that they don't care about privacy.

They do not care about it. Yet since Apple prioritizes your privacy, they can't use your data to sell you ads. But we all know meta openly collects all of our data. They do. They do. It's a business. And that lets them supplement their gadgets' revenues with ad revenue. Get this. Meta made $250 per an American user last year, just in ad revenue. He made $250 on you because you looked at those ads as you swiped through Instagram. That stat. That is exactly why meta's devices are priced so cheap. Because after selling you, whatever physical hardware gadget they sell you, they can keep making money

on you each and every year. Each and every day as you swipe through Instagram or experience meta's ads. And honestly, we think it'll be the same business model when it comes to Zuck's smart glasses and smart AirPods. After all, the Apple Vision Pro costs $3,000. Meta's equivalent headset, the Quest, costs one-tenth of that price. Oh, and guess what, besties? Most Americans don't mind being tracked if it means a lower price. So meta's advantage over Apple, they don't care about your privacy. are you don't either. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday?

Three tech companies are investing $500 billion to build AI dentists centers in the USA. It's called Project Stargate. Yeties, brand your product like Hollywood would brand a movie. For our second story, it's Pop Up Bagels. They're probably coming to a city near you, but make sure you follow their rules. Inconvenience can be an advantage. We call it the no soup for you. rule. And our third and final story.

Meta is reportedly unveiling Oakley smart glasses this year. Zokli's rivals to the AirPods next year. Zuck's advantage over Apple when it comes to gadgets? Apple, they don't care about privacy. By the way, I think they should be called Moklis. Nick thinks they should be Zocles. Tell us what you think in the comments. Well, there's only a certain amount of continents out there.

So we've got limited options here. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Trump said he will impose tariffs on Chinese imports of just 10%. That's way down from the 60% he said in the campaign that he'd impose on day one. Our thought for why there was a change? Well, Trump knows that tariffs could raise prices. So he's using him as a threat.

A negotiating tactic not necessarily to be actually used. And second, JetBlue now accepts Venmo. That's right. JetBlue is the first airline that will accept Venmo. payments through your phone. Instead of giving us more legroom, you're giving us more payment options, which we didn't ask for that. But if you're buying a ticket to Naples, Florida, you can pay JetBlue with a palm tree emoji. Just top an emoji on there. And finally, we've got an update on the TikTok flip-flop. Mr. Beast is trying to buy TikTok in an all-cash bid. You all probably saw on Monday that Trump issued an executive order that delayed the TikTok ban another 75 days. And then he said,

On Wednesday, he'd be fine with Elon Musk or Larry Ellison buying TikTok instead. But the YouTube icon Mr. Beast is throwing his name in the hat, along with other investors, including Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tag. You know what? What the heck, Jack? Yettys, Jack and I are trying to buy TikTok too. We're interested in acquiring TikTok. We're interested. We're curious.

We'll just leave it at that. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Greg Hager, a Canadian entrepreneur behind the toilet paper startup, Foxfold. He sent us a gym. Before the commercial toilet paper industry 100 years ago, what did people do in the bathroom? Oh, apparently Americans used catalogs and almanacs as their toilet paper. Specifically, Sears catalogs and Farmers Almanacs.

In fact, restaurants would nail those publications to the wall so that customers could use them in the bathroom. They'd rip off part of the Sears catalog as toilet paper. Now, Sears was not thrilled about the association with toilets. So guess what? They changed the material of their catalogs. went from a comfortably coated paper to an uncomfortably glossy

sheet of paper on their catalogs instead. You don't want glossy paper. That is no absorption power. We all know that. No, it does not. Well, people hated the feel of the new Sears catalog so much that Sears circulation actually declined. And some entrepreneur

commercialized, nice, soft, fluffy toilet paper. So you can spare a square. Yadies, you look fantastic today. And if you see a buddy who is enjoying a bagel at this moment, Jack, maybe you tell them H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. You've clearly had a bagel, but have you had the best one yet? That is how we grow the show.

And we're still this close to 10,000 reviews on Apple. So thanks for your reviews, thanks for your follows, and Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti, Emily in Beaumont, Texas, just outside Houston. And congratulations to Peter McCau, who's got a new job running marketing for OpenAI. And Markannick over in Chicago has got a new job as director of hospitality at Max McRaw Wildlife Foundation. Congratulations, Mark. And happy three-year anniversary to M.K. and Weish in Linwood, Washington. Celebrate that hat trick of a win.

This is Jack. I own stock of Luxottica and Nick and I both on stock in Apple.