The Best One Yet - 🚀 “The Hacks Pod” — Our 3 Best Stories on Innovation Hacks

Episode Date: February 27, 2025

Our 2nd Bonus Pod during our Paternity Week is on 3 of our best pop-biz stories on growth hacks from the last year:#1. SharkNinja’s stock has climbed 140% this year… Here’s how it’s taken over your kitchen.#2. Gin in a motor oil can? Tampons in an ice cream pint?... The new packaging trend is chaos.#3. The fastest-growing candy right is Nerds Clusters… It shows there’s a business case in gut instinct.Share this episode with your buddy who’s building something (or your buddy who should be).We’ll be back with our usual daily show next week, after Jack’s spent some time getting to know his new baby. But look out for more paternity pods from us dropping this week.And if you crave more business storytelling from us? Check out our weekly deepdive show: “The Best Idea Yet” — The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks—-----------------------------------------------------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. And today's innovation pod is the best one yet. Our top three growth hack stories of the last year. Yet is Nick and Jack here. And if you're here in this episode, then Jack's baby just arrived and he's actually on paternity leave. Chances are I'm waiting for the perfect light

to take the perfect picture to reveal this baby on Instagram. So all week long, we're dropping our best ones yet of the best one yet bonus pods. Today's show is on innovation hacks. We've got too many to fit in one episode. but these are three fantastic ones. So send this episode to your buddy who's building something huge. Jack, three stories.

What do we got for today? For our first story, we're going back to August 30th, 2024. When shares of Shark Ninja, the appliance company, had surged 140%. We'll tell you how Shark Ninja took over your home from air friars to hairdriers. For our second story,

we're going back to October 23rd. Sunscreens sold in a whipped cream can. Interesting. Tampon sold. in an ice cream pint? What? The new packaging trend is chaos. Chaos packaging is trending because consumers decide in three seconds.

And our third and final story is from October 31st. There is one candy you saw on Halloween. Totally. Nerd clusters. It's the fastest growing candy in America. Nerd clusters are a case study in going with your yet. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories, fantastic mix of stories, Jack. Hockey, stick, growth.

Going Gretzky, baby. How can you surge your company's sales from zero to 60 faster than a Ferrari? When your business feels more like a Subaru. Okay, first of all, this sounds like an infomercial or like some kind of motivational speech. But I like the momentum, Jack. Because to do those things, you need a hack. A hack, a tip, a trick, or a sneaky idea to go further, cheaper. Hacks.

Rapid growth for minimal cost. Hacks, huge engagement for tiny involvement. Hacks. Big returns for small investment. Besties, if you drop the term growth hack in your next pitch deck, then Mark Andreessen will take your meeting and kiss your left cheek. Because from startups to stocks, there's nothing hotter than a hack. No, there isn't. In fact, one reason Jack and I ask you to send us the best fact yet on our daily show, why is it Jack? It's a growth hack. It is. Because when you

hear your voice on the show, you share the episode on Instagram, which of course we love. We love it. It's a growth hack. So, Bessies, we've actually covered hundreds of these innovation and growth hacks on our show. We love covering him. We whipped up three of our favorite ones to inspire your next hack you move. Three creative business ideas for innovation hacks. Let's hit them. Let's hack them. 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 an 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 No, 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, we're going back to August 30th, 2024. Shark Ninja. Their stock is up another 26% since we covered the story. They opened a new innovation hub in New York City. They entered skin care with an anti-aging LED mask.

They've got an insane growth hack. Jack, let's hit it. Shark Ninja is taking over kitchens, carpets and all of your cabinet space. How does Shark Ninja decide what home appliance to create next? How do they do, Jack? They read online reviews. They read the reviews. And yet his funny little story that Jack and I tell each other and made up is that somebody at Shark goes to their CFO and says, you know what, we should acquire Ninja. Why would we do that? Because then we can call ourselves Shark Ninja. That's the origin story of Shark Ninja that Nick and I like to tell.

Yet is Shark Ninja. They are based in lovely Nita, Massachusetts. Just outside Boston. And Shark Ninja happens to be the fastest growing brand in all of home appliances. This $12 billion publicly traded company will blend, vacuum, toast, fry, and roast everything in your apartment. If there is a verb, they will verb that verb. Now, Bessies, you may know shark vacuums or you may know Ninja blenders. Those are two of their top products. But this company actually makes 34 different types of home appliances. From air friars to hairdriers, grills to ice cream makers.

They just launched a slushy machine and got a hundred thousand person wait list. Like we said, besties, if it spins, if it blows, if it heats, if it sucks, Shark Ninja, we'll sell it to you for six easy payments of $29.99. No POD, which is like payment on delivery.

What is that, by the way? Still don't understand cash on demand. I feel like that's a different era. But yeties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. story. Isn't Shark Ninja's strength actually a major risk? 34 product lines? Yeah, that's a lot. They might be spreading themselves out too thin. Like the great Ron Swanson once said to us, Jack. Don't half-ass two things. Full-ass one thing.

Don't half-ass two things. Full-ass one thing. So our assumption, if you're making 34 items and you're not that big a company like Shark Ninjas, too much quantity might hurt the quality. Well, it turns out, we'd be wrong. Because this company IPOed one year ago. Their stock has tripled since that IPO. Huge. So Nick and I dove into the financials. We discovered that Shark Ninja has actually gained market share in nearly every category that they operate from toasters to blenders.

They do it thanks to heavy spending on research and development. Yeah, it turns out that Shark Ninja drops 6% of their revenue on research and development to improve their products. That's a much bigger proportional spend than the competition. And that constant improvement cycle, thanks to research and development, puts them ahead of Instapot, of Kuisnart, and of Maytag. Plus, since they have so many products, Shark Nato is basically immune to consumer fats. Yeah, this is a funny thing, Jack, and I noticed that, you know, like after everyone bought an Instapot, Instapot sales just dried up. Remember that, Jack? There was no one else to sell to, so Instapot eventually went bankrupt.

Yeah, we covered it on the pod. the bankruptcy of Instapot, a one product company. But for Shark Ninja, after everyone buys a shark toaster, then the company can sell them a Ninja blender. Or the 32 other Shark Ninja products that they happen to make from your kitchen to your bathroom. And then once you bought all 34 products. Yeah. It's probably been like 10 years. You need to replace all those products. If you've got a verb, they're going to sell you that verb. No, they're going to sell you the noun. They're basically selling you the noun for the verb. Good point, good point.

Grammar fact check. So Jack, what's the verb? It's both the noun and a verb. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Shark Ninja? Consumer pain is Shark Ninja's gain. So, Yetis, how does Shark Ninja really decide what to create next? Well, they don't find what you love.

They find what you hate. According to the Wall Street Journal, Shark Ninja's product development team scours online reviews and social media posts to find consumer pain points and then develops a solution for them. Okay, so Jack, what was that solution? For example, remember what Shark Ninja did with Dyson vacuum cleaners? I own a Dyson cordless vacuum. It's a great product, but after a while, the little coil in the middle gets wrapped up with hair, and I have to take scissors to cut all that hair off.

Well, Shark Ninja noticed that those were the reviews being left about that vacuum, so they ordered their engineers to create a competitor without the hair clog issue. And the result, Shark Nato now controls 45% of the U.S. stand-up vacuum market. Half of the U.S. vacuum market is this one company Shark Ninja. Shark Ninja doesn't look at what you love. They look at what you hate. And that's the key.

Your consumer pain is their gain. For our second story, we're going back to October 23, 2024. Chaos packaging. This one is freaky. Can you sell sunscreen in a whipped cream can? The answer is yes. Besties, the new trend in startups is chaos packaging. And it reveals the secret to selling anything.

Now, Yeties, we were hanging out with you six months ago, and we did a fascinating story on a company called Graza. At the time, it was the best one yet. It was, it was the best one yet. Because Graza was the fastest selling olive oil in history. It's selling $50 million a product this year. It was selling so much olive oil, Caesar was jealous. So Jack and I got curious, what was Graza's secret?

It wasn't the olive oil. It was the packaging. Yeah, Graza's olive oil was inspired by a shampoo bottle. It came in a squeezable plastic bottle, not like glass, like every other olive oil. And refills, they come in a beer can. You can pop open olive oil like a Modello. What Jag and I are saying is this ain't your average extra virgin olive oil. This ain't your average EVOO.

But here's the news yet is Graza. He's not the only brand launching in crazy containers these days. Exhibit A, happy coffee. sells instant coffee in a pharmacy pill pack. Exhibit B, engine gin, sells gin alcohol in a motor oil tin can. Exhibit 4, vacation skin care. They sell sunscreen in a whipped cream spray canister. And they're getting 5 million views a week.

On what, their TikTok? On everything, Jack. Yet he's added all up, and this is all a new trend. The Wall Street Journal calls chaos packaging. Chaos packaging. Nick and I were fascinated because this is actually a powerful financial trick shot. Yeah, chaos packaging is a financial trick shot because it's an alternative to ads. The best example we found is a company called Flow tampons.

Flow tampons. Flow tampons happens to sell tampons, but... In an ice cream pint. Their product looks like a 16 ounce Ben and Jerry's pint, but inside is actually 16 tampons. We jumped in T-boy style. The co-founder of Flo Tampons. had the best quote, the best insight we've heard about this whole concept. She said, look, we're a startup. We can't afford a billboard. So this pint of tampons, that is our billboard. Exactly. Packages of tampax, playtex, always, they all look the same

on the shelf. An ice cream carton container within the tampon section, it sticks out on the shelf just like a billboard. We've said the wars in the stores, and that is how you win the wars in the stores with a pint of ice cream of tampons. For a fraction of the press, Flow basically got the same impact as a billboard would have given them. They stood out from the legacy competition just like a billboard would do. And crazy packaging, it's the perfect opportunity for a startup. Because established brands, they're not going to mix things up with some crazy chaos packaging, aren't they, Jack?

It wouldn't make sense for Proctor and Gamble to do something like this. They don't want to confuse their long-term customers who have been buying for decades. P&G's lawyers aren't signing off on an ice cream tub of tampacks anytime soon. But a scrappy startup? They'll put a tampon in a pint, even if you accidentally means you stick it in the freezer when you get home. Yeah, it is called chaos packaging. We hope nobody accidentally chugs their sub-block whipped cream style thinking it's dairy. Honey, I don't think this is cooking dough.

So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies doing chaos packaging? You have three seconds. Three seconds to convince a consumer to buy. Best emphasis yet, Jack. Yetis and consumer goods from toothpaste to Tylenol, we generally take three seconds on average to decide if we buy. It's called dwell time. We take three seconds in the aisle to stop, judge the products, and make a decision. And Jack, why do we take such short time just three seconds in the aisle? We're busy. There's too many options. We can't dissect 18 different labels,

so we probably just bought the thing we bought last time. Jack and I call this three second phenomenon premature evaluation. So to jar consumers out of their routine, chaos packaging can be perfect. It can get them to linger for two more seconds in the aisle. Two more seconds is all you need. That's double the time. And that's why a startup is putting tampons and ice cream pints and putting them up on the shelf. Because when it comes to convincing a consumer to buy, you only have three seconds. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story. We're going back to October 31st, 2024, Halloween. In the meantime, nerds actually did a Super Bowl commercial this year with Shibuzi, but we want to talk about their

Halloween growth hack. The number one candy you're going to see this Halloween, it's nerds clusters. Nerds clusters are the fastest growing candy in America thanks to one gutsy decision. Yeties get this, something Jack and I have never seen before. But the nerds, candy just got front page pieces in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. I bet you both reporters were really angry when they learned that their coverage was going to be split between the two. I mean, forget election coverage. It's all about candy coverage these days. The reason both of the papers of record are covering nerds is because nerd sales have been growing like software recently. In six years, nerds revenues have gone from 40 million bucks a year

to 700 million bucks a year, Jack, and you sprinkle on some financial context. That's almost 20, X growth in just six years. Nerds is the new NVIDIA. Nerds had a Super Bowl ad last year. They're getting another one this year and they're Kylie Jenner's favorite candy. And they're not even paying her to say that. They just happen to be your favorite candy. But we should clarify, this is not the box of nerds you remember from growing up where the box is divided in two flavors, remember? No, no, no, no. What we are talking about is the new version of nerds known as the nerds clusters. A nerds cluster is a dime-sized gummy. covered in the tiny tangy nerds that you know.

It basically is like eating a cavity. That's what it's like. Imagine like a almost melted Swedish fish that gets tossed into a bowl of nerds and you spin it around a little bit and then you pull it out. And then get spray painted in 42 different colors. Yeties, get this.

That spin-off version of nerds was introduced just six years ago, but it's now 90% of nerd sales. Nerds is basically gone. Nerds clusters are all you see now. The student, has become the teacher. So, Yeties, we got to ask, how have nerds clusters become the fastest growing candy in America? Well, we read the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal articles,

which were, by the way, the longest articles we have ever seen either of those papers produce. And according to that reporting, nerds ignored the data. Back in 2018, nerds was uncool. They had fallen behind Starburst, Skittles, Sour Patch Kids, so the company was bought by Ferrara, the Italian Candy Company, for just a tiny bit of. of money. And then Ferrara scientists pulled off an engineering feat. They managed to stick hard candies on a gummy and maintain the integrity of the shape. It was a candy innovation. And ultimately, they found the ideal ratio of crunchy to smushy. That's just really satisfying. So then they said, okay, we have got something here. Let's think about what consumers want. And Jack, what was the

reaction in the test markets? Bad. Consumers didn't like it. It was bad. According to the Wall Street journal. Every bit of data about these new nerds clusters said it was going to be a dud. Online surveys of the concept also came back negative. In focus groups, people said the nerds cluster was like kibble for people. It was dehumanizing. They said it looked like fish tank gravel. You can't serve that at a big affair, Jack. But the people in charge of nerds ignored the tests and followed their tastes instead. So they went to market with the nerds clusters. Even though every data point said that this was going to be a failure of the product, they launched it, which is the kind of thing that honestly, it's going to get your whole team fired if it fails, Jack. But it didn't fail. The nerds cluster started going

viral. And now, it's the fastest growing candy in America. With $700 million in sales, six times more than the original nerds candy. For comparison, that's about a fourth as much sales as number one, which is the Reese's peanut butter cup. And they're probably almost as big as a lift. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over at the nerds? clusters. There is a case for going with your gut. Yeties, we've all been in that meeting. The meeting where you want to do something and you're excited, but then someone says, um, hey, but what is the data say? You have a fantastic idea, but some buzzkill in the court of the conference room asks if I have data to back it up. Data. It drives decisions across the meeting rooms of corporate

America for everything. Deservedly so. But there's another way you can make a decision. It's called going with your gut. Or how about we call it intuitive insight instead? I like that, rephrasing Jack, because yet his guts are actually a combination of expertise, of awareness, and of your risk tolerance. According to Psychological Science magazine, it's deep experience that informs gut instincts, but those deep experiences are overlooked. And there's a great example with the National Institute of Health. Medical trainees using intuition had equal or greater accuracy than simple quantitative analysis. There's a great study from the National Institute of Health where medical trainees use their intuition instead of following quantitative analysis and they got equal or better

results in the medical field. And Harvard Business Review has a list of successful products where data said no, you shouldn't launch this, but the leader's gusts said yes. For example, all the data said that sports cards would never sell, but sports cars are now a huge industry. And the data famously told Steve Jobs that he shouldn't launch the iPod or the iPhone, and he launched both anyway. So, Yetis, your gut, it's actually a powerful input you got to listen to. Because your gut is built on experience. I think what we're saying, Jack, is that there's a brain in your gut. Now, time for the best fact. Yeah, this one whipped up by Jack and me. One of the great examples of a hack is the Duolingo streak. Ah, the Duolingo streak. Jack, tell us more. Tell us more.

Duolingo is a language app, the largest education app on Earth, actually. Very important. And they introduced the concept of a streak. A streak. Most apps don't want you to know how long you've been using them because you'll be like, oh, my Lord, I have a problem. But Duolingo, they did the opposite. They created streak badges so you can boast about how much time you've been in the app.

And guess what? 70% of users of the Duolingo app have streaks right now over a week long. Jack, get this. One dude even has played 4,000. 100 days in a row on Duolingo for a single streak. What's that? 13 years? It's older than like some languages, I think.

Duolingo tapped into your internal motivation and your desire to boast as a growth hack. Yeties, you look fantastic for our latest bonus pod, but we have got three more coming your way, don't we, Jack? But make sure to send this episode to your buddy who's launching a company, launching a product, trying to innovate or in need of a growth. or just want something to brag about at business school. Nick and I will see you tomorrow. Can't wait.