The Best One Yet - 💊 “The Dude Pill” — Plan A’s male birth control. Whatsapp’s surge in America. JP Morgan’s billions of cyberattacks.

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

NextLife just raised VC money to launch Plan A - a new birth control… for men — We think there’s just as much innovation in the name of the drug as the drug itself.Whatsapp is the fastest growing messaging app in America thanks as it unites iMessage and Android — And social media is being replaced by messaging.And JP Morgan Chase just revealed at Davos that it receives 45 Billion attempted cyberattacks a day (Yes, billion. Yes, daily) — Which means that we all pay a Cyberattack Tax.$JPM $META $AAPLSubscribe 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. It's Thursday, the new Friday, January 18th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. Jack is just feeling like a T-Boor man. Nick and I are serving up the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. By the way, Jack, you didn't say that I was glowing today. I was kind of hoping you think I was glowing.

I just finished complimenting her hair. Why are you glowing? Because I got a facial last night, man. I've only gotten two facials in my life. They hurt. They really hurt. I can't believe all the stuff stuck in my pores. I mean, she went to town of my left.

I'm still working on this thing, man. You do look great. Skin health is important. You are already looking dolier than a cantaloupe, Jack. So first story for today's show, what do we got, man? For our first story, a brand new birth control for men just raised big VC money. It's called Plan A. Plan A's greatest innovation isn't just the pill for dudes.

It may be the name. For our second story, J.P. Morgan Chase just revealed that they get cyberattacked 45 billion times a day. Okay, when Jack and I heard 45 billion every day, we had to jump in T-boys down. We had to. For our third and final story, it's WhatsApp. WhatsApp is the fastest-growing messaging app in America. Because WhatsApp is uniting in America, divided by iMessage and Android.

But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a mix of stories, Jack. Love the mix today. Great mix. But Nick, would you give out your personal phone number? Do the entire company? Because the CEO of Adidas just did that. Get this, yet he's Adidas' CEO literally handed out his digits like he's dating.

This story is about Bjorn Guden, the CEO of Adidas, who shared his personal cell phone with all 60,000 employees of Adidas. How you like them apples? Jack, can you whip out your phone? How many contacts you got in there, man? I just checked. I have 1,000 contacts in my iPhone. Bjorn Guden just added 60,000 contacts to his cell phone.

That's right. All 60,000 employees of Adidas now have the CEO's personal phone number. 60,000 contacts. Jack, can you sprinkle on some contacts for us, please, over there? Yeah, last year, Adidas had a rough year. The company lost $800 million. It was the Kanye drama. It heard Adidas sales, and now the CEO wants to show employees that he.

He's listening. He did it to boost morale, according to Fortune magazine. But, Jack, I got to ask the question for you over here. Did those 60,000 employees contact their CEO now that they got his number? Yeah, Nick. They did. According to the CEO of Adidas, he gets 200 calls every week from random workers at the company. Holy Stan Smith, 200 calls a week, Jack.

Are you kidding me? They're probably like, hey, Bjorn, can I get a soda machine on the third floor near the factory? Bjorn, I got an idea for a logo. What have we had a fourth stripe? Hear me out. Hey, Bjorn. Just saying hi. Hey, Bjorn, you look fantastic today.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? Considering sharing their numbers with the entire company. Just do it. You see what we did there? Hold on one sec. Jack, I got to make a quick phone call before we kick off the show. Is that Bjorn? Bjorn.

It's Nick and Jack. Tell him I love his shoes. Jack loves your shoes. Can we hit our three stories? He says we can hit our three stories, Jack. Ah, yeah. That's a niche-nished. Mock Schnell, let's do it, Jack.

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. 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. For our first story, Next Life Sciences, just raised money for a brand new male birth control. It's the dude pill. It's the dude pill. But the most important part of this product may actually be its name. I'm sorry, Jack. You know who I hope is listening right now?

Guy Raz from how I built this because he's going to love this founder's story. Okay, L.R. Fox is the founder of Next Life, which is the subject of this story. And he has a great founder story. Okay. His founder story is that he grew up in the foster care system, right, Jack? Yeah. And here's what he said about growing up in the foster care system. Okay, this founder said that he saw firsthand the devastating consequences of what happens when people aren't able to choose if and when to have a child. Wow. That's some emotional motivation to start a company.

Jack, that is not slide one of the pitch deck for this company. I mean, I don't know what's going on then, man. But he's got some market motivation too because of these numbers. Hey, Andreessen Horwitz, what do you think of that founder's statement? Vesties, according to the United Nations, there's a hundred twenty-one, million unintended pregnancies that happen every year globally. So he founded a science company to help prevent unwanted births with a new form of contraception. Here's the key.

Male contraception. Yeties, we are talking about the dude pill. The dude pill takes the burden of contraception off of Annie and shifts it to Andrew. And here's the news. Jack, what do we got? His company, Next Life, just raised $2.5 million to bring their product, Plan A to market. And now, Yetis, this is a small fundraise compared to the others we've covered on this show. But this is a huge innovation, so we wanted to jump in T-Boist style.

Plan A is the name of the product. And it created a non-surgical alternative to a vasectomy. Jack, can we say this is a vasectomy in a shot? You can do that. It's non-hormonal. It's reversible. And it's long-lasting male birth control. And now the key for any biotech company is the technology, right, Jack?

They say they've developed a proprietary substance. It's like a gel that, When injected, we'll filter out sperm. And this isn't a daily kind of a thing. Like, if you get this injection, this will last for 10 years. That's right. If you get Plan A when you're 18, you won't have a baby until you're 28. But let's say you're 23.

You start getting a little baby fever. You can actually turn this thing off. Yeah. You can go to the clinic and get an easy reversal of Plan A. But yet he's Jack and I should point out, this new dude pill hasn't been approved yet. This new fundraise is going to pay for. clinical trials, which are the next step, and only after that do they apply for FDA approval. Oh, we also should point out this new dude pill isn't the first dude pill.

Contraline is a company with a similar product, and they're already in clinical trials. But the way Jack and I see it, Plan A's competitive advantage and their other big innovation may actually be the name. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who invented a male contraceptive over at Plan A? An entire marketing message can fit in a name. Yeah, it is a little marketing 201 here. There are three stages in a great marketing message. First, the company has to peak a consumer's interest.

Here we are. Then the company has to educate the consumer. What we are. And finally, the company has to convert them into a customer. How you get us. That's why Plan A is such a brilliant name. Plan A, the name, does two out of those three things. First, the Plan A catches your attention.

And then the Plan A communicates that it's superior to the Plan B pill. Plan A. It says so much. On the other hand, most drug names are the opposite of marketing. They confuse. Viagra, Lipitor, Prylasek. What's going on there? They raise more questions than answers. I mean, do you have to know Latin to understand what these things do, Jack?

Planez name handles two of the three keys to a great marketing message. Drug names are horrible, but this one, it's incredibly helpful. because an entire marketing message is in that name. For our second story, J.P. Morgan Chase just announced something that it impressed us and it scared us. That bank gets attacked by hackers 45 billion times per day. Yes, that is right. Jack said billion and we will explain. But first, Jack, one second, just looking for it. Have you seen it? I'm missing. I can't find. Have you seen our invite to Davos because it doesn't look like we got invited again?

man, I don't know what's going on. Son of a gun. Yeties, right now, the World Economic Forum is happening in Davos, Switzerland. If you have a private jet and you didn't go to Davos, why do you have a private jet? Yeties, heads of state are there, CEOs are there, almost trillionaires are there. The big shots at Davos are talking about global issues, like climate change and artificial intelligence, from the comfort of their fully heated ski chalet. Yeah, grab your Gucci Lovers and whip out your MX car.

Yeti's America's largest bank, J.P. Morgan Chase, they always have a big presence at the Davos event. It's the event Jamie Diamond looks forward to most every year. Nothing Jamie likes more than going to Davos and just ripping on Bitcoin. But the real headliner this week was Mary Erdos, J.P. Morgan's head of asset and wealth management, who also spoke at a J.P. Morgan event. Now, Yetis, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about Davos this year. Mary Erinos of J.P. Morgan announced two very interesting things. One thing was very comforting. The other was not.

No, it was not. So, Jack, let's start with the first comforting thing. What was that exactly? She announced that J.P. Morgan has 62,000 tech workers on the payroll. Jack, we sprinkle on some more technical context, please. It's a lot of tech workers. That's 60,000 more techies than Open AI has. JP Morgan has 60,000 more techies than chat cheapititas. And their job is to protect the bank's computers and digital systems from hackers. Their job is to be the digital equivalent of a vault and keep your money safe. That makes me feel safe. That's nice.

I'm feeling great right now. What can we do to just make me feel worse, Jack? Here's the not-so-comfiting shocker that they also announced. J.P. Morgan Chase suffers 45 billion cyber attacks a day. She had to repeat it, so we're going to repeat it too. Not million, 45 billion cyber attacks. Not per year, per day. Nick and I crunch the numbers. J.P. Morgan gets hacked 500,000 times per second.

Jack, they just got hacked a million times. They just got hacked another million times. It must be like automated hackings from automated bots. Jack, while you said that, that was two million hacks at J.P. Morgan, no joke. Now, J.P. Morgan Chase did correct and say that it's not quite as many hack attempts as Mary Erdo said this week. But it is billions and it is a crazy number, Yetis. And J.P. Morgan did confirm they have 62,000 techies on the payroll protecting their bank from hackers. So sit down, stand up and grab your VPN. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at J.P. Morgan

Chase? We are all paying a cyber attack tax. Yides, guess what? The huge number of cyber attacks on J.P. Morgan, it's only being amplified by artificial intelligence right now. She said that the hackers are smarter, savvier, quicker, more devious, more mischievous thanks to AI. Well, J.P. Morgan, they have the resources to protect themselves. They splurged $15 billion on technology last year. But unfortunately, we end up paying for that as J.P. Morgan passes those costs on to us in the form of fees or higher interest rates. Yeah, the overdraft fee, the fee, the fee, they're using that money to pay for all those techies. So the top priority of all those leaders in Davos right now is to create AI safeguards. trying to add a sheriff to the wild west of AI.

So that the bank can stop spending so much money on its digital vault. Which ultimately will lead to lower fees for us. Until then, we're all paying the cyber attack tax. And another million attacks. It's actually billion, not million. For our third and final story, the fastest growing message app in America, it's WhatsApp. WhatsApp is surging because messaging is beating scrolling.

And we're going to talk about this story. We got to talk about that friend that everyone has. They studied Brad in Brussels. They came back with an accent. They were eating croissants, drinking tea, and using WhatsApp. We get it. You love the numéire. WhatsApp Yadis.

It's the privacy-focused direct messaging app. In fact, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app outside of the United States in the entire world. It's founded by a couple former Yahoo employees. And it was acquired by Facebook in 24. for then a shocking $19 billion. But according to some fascinating research by Alex Cantorwitz, WhatsApp is suddenly booming in the United States. It's been a joke in the U.S. for years,

but it suddenly got main character energy over here. It's a big app energy situation, Jack. And here's the data. WhatsApp daily users in the U.S. jumped 9% last year. Here's the shocker. A majority of WhatsApp users in America are I, Because Apple insisted that Android messages show up as green in your IMessage app.

We've all dealt with the blue-green messaging drama, haven't we, Jack? But it's more than just that. When your Android buddy tries to thumbs up your text and your group chat, they can't do it because they have an Android. It's frustrating. Well, iPhone users are annoyed by that incompatibility, so they've ditched eye message for WhatsApp. WhatsApp. It's uniting an America that's divided into iPhone and Android.

And in America divided by messages cannot stand, Jack. Besties, Nick and I went deeper. We found that there are three types of users driving WhatsApp surge in the U.S. Okay, Yetis, the first big WhatsApp user is now parents. Parents are switching from email chains to WhatsApp groups. Parents are sick of the 42 email-long thread coordinating a playground party. So they're using WhatsApp as a group instead. The second group is travelers.

Because a record number of Americans traveled abroad last year. And while they were abroad, they learned the only way to message your tour guide in Mekanos is through WhatsApp. Oh, hey, Giorgio, how many euros was that again? And the third group of new WhatsApp users is businesses. Businesses. Yeah, it is the number of businesses on WhatsApp, it doubled last year. Oh, and it doubled the year before that, too. Because you'd rather that Rezi confirm your reservation in one place, WhatsApp, than on both your email and text, which gets really cumbersome.

Yetis added all up and parents and travelers and businesses are creating a network effect that's driving WhatsApp in America. And that's why WhatsApp is now as American as Fahrenheit. It is a deep fried double-stuffed super-sized American WhatsApp. Ich benign. WhatsApp. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at WhatsApp? Messaging is eating up social media.

All right, Yeti's trivia. What is the fastest growing part of Instagram? Is it the picks? The video posts? The live videos? The reels? No, the fastest growing part of Instagram is direct messages. It's DMs.

DMs are the least public part of Instagram, but they're the fastest growing feature. Because these days, sharing doesn't happen in your feed. Sharing happens in your inbox. Meanwhile, Facebook's growth has stalled too, but WhatsApp's growth is popping on. Instead of sharing publicly with everyone, you're sharing private. with one. One person, one group of your friends, or one group that you're in from college. Besties, it's kind of ironic because messaging is the exact opposite of social media. But messaging is eating social media. And WhatsApp's rise proves it.

Bjorn, I mean, Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Next Life just raised big money to bring their Plan A male contraception product to market. Plan A, one name can be an entire marketing message. Second story is JPMorgan Chase. They said that hackers try to hack them an ungodly amount every single day. And that is why we all pay the cyber attack tax. And we pay it in fees. And our third and final story is WhatsApp.

It's the fastest growing way that people message each other in the United States. Social media is getting eaten up by messaging apps. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Apple just became the top-selling cell phone maker in the entire world. They're the most valuable cell phone makers since years ago, but now they sell more phones than even Samsung. And second, for the second straight year, China's population declined. That's a big threat to their economy, which needs more consumer spending, not less.

And finally, Costco is cracking down on card sharing. Costco will now scan you and your card like it's a ski chairlift. You've got to scan your card and then someone's going to compare the picture on the account to your face. Jack, they're going full TSA on his laptops out, shoes off. Now, this is just a test, but if you get caught with someone else's card, you're going to Costco jail. First it was Netflix. Now it's Costco. The crackdown is real.

Now, time for the best fact yet. This one's sent in by Chris Harp from lovely Austin, Texas. Turns out there's a huge difference in the amount of peanut butter consumed by different cultures. You guys get this. In Europe, the average European eats one tablespoon of peanut butter. for an entire year. The average American, on the other hand, eats 30 times that. The average American eats 30 tablespoons of peanut butter a year.

That's three pounds. I think it was like my last week, Jack. My son, Wilder, eats three pounds every three days, by the way. So yet is, if you are hanging out with someone from France, better yet, if you are WhatsApping with someone from fans, ask them this right now. Skippy or Jeff? Geneseecois. Trick question.

The answer, Skippy. disagree. I like the peanut butter that's wicked oily. You got to mix it up. I like the peanut butter that's wicked process, Jack. Yeah, apparently you do. With added cane sugar. It's good for the salt. That is you look fantastic. You look fantastic for the new Friday. And remember, whatever you're doing today, however bad you may feel, just remember J.P. Morgan just got hacked a million times while we said that. If you want more of the show every day, follow or subscribe.

and Nick and I will have the best one yet tomorrow. And that's 2 million more right there, Jack. Nick and I, we'll see you there. Make it three. Before we go, a happy 13th birthday to Mira Ashwin, who's celebrating on her way to school in Ridgewood, New Jersey. And a big happy birthday to Canal DeVee, who wants an iPhone 15 for his birthday,

don't we all? He's down in Bakersville, California, celebrating. And Emily Osborne, the music-teaching legend is celebrating the birthday in lovely, Godi, California. And happy birthday to Devin M. Young, who's on a photo shoot, getting pictures taken of that birthday boy in Thomasville, North Carolina. Devin, you're looking fantastic over there.

And happy birthday to Christian Escobar, who's celebrating in Dallas in his brand spanking new, stainless steel, gigantic, four-wheel drive, fully electric, cyber truck. Jack, I think I can see it from here. And to anyone else, celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix. Nick and I both own stock of Apple,

and we both own one Bitcoin. You look handsome. Your hair? I don't know how you get it to like poof up like that. Why doesn't gravity impact your hair like it impacts me? I wish I could control. It looks like you're in a zero gravity environment. It's like engineering infrastructure in there.

It is. Balsa wood. Palsa one. That's the softest one. Yeah. Great. It seems to be predominantly. used for school projects. Agreed. I built like a little bridge with Balsawood.

What's your big Balsowood market? Well, honestly, it's third grade science classes. Numbers are up this quarter thanks to the big school projects.