🧻 “TP to AI” — Toto toilets’ tech pivot. Minnesota’s CEO moment. Graza’s olive oil envy. +Spend-vesting
00:00This is Nick.This is Jack.It's Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, January 27th.And T-Ditties Pod is the best one yet.This is a T-boy.The top three pop business news stories you need to know today.And you know, Jack, they say those stories do sound better when it's negative 12 degrees outside.It was negative 22 on Saturday.
00:20Yes.Negative 8 on Sunday.And we got 15 inches of snow on Monday.That's right, Eddie's Jack is officially podcasting within an iceberg right now.So put on the earmuffs.Yeah, apparently Arkteric should be the sponsor of this show.And pause on your beaver skin pelt hats.Jack, three stories for today's tea boy.
00:39What have we got on the pod?For our first story, everyone in America is watching what's happening in Minnesota, including Wall Street.And 69 CEOs in Minnesota just broke the vow of silence in corporate America.For our second story, Graza disrupted the olive oil industry with shampoo-shaped squeeze bottles.But now Graza's facing a grand old problem.Grazification.Everyone is zucking it.And our third and final story.
01:04Why did Toto, the Japanese toilet and bidet company, see their stock surge by 11% in one day?Well, because this bidet business can actually power the AI industry according to Golden Sacks.We thought it was a joke?No, it's not a joke.Flush it twice, guys.But yet he's before we had that wonderful mix of stars.Seriously, Jack, what a mix of stories.Love the Mix for T-Boy Tuesday.
01:27This week is your last week to set a lot.a new year's resolution. I mean, after this week, you may not resolve to do anything else in2026. The statute of limitation situation. So here's our last idea that can help you startinvesting this year. Here's the plan. Every month, find one product that you bought, but then buy thestock. We call it spend investing. Ah, spend vesting. Jack, you whip up an example for us over there,please. So let's say you see a $100 Ralph Lauren item on your statement from your credit cardthat month. Boom, you're going to buy $100 a Ralph Lauren stock right there. Let's say you count $20 worththe lattes that you bought. Boom, you count a $20 Dutch bro stock right there. And if your parents are
02:05still sharing their Netflix password with you? Well, then you should be buying Netflix shares,obviously. Spend vesting. It's also an alternative to no buy January because it encouragesinvesting instead of consuming. It's for future you. Five years from now, you're going to thankyourself. Because the average stock in the last five years is up 15% per year. You can thank us too.Oh, another way to spend vest every month pick the one product that you can't live without. Again,credit card statement and say,YouTube premium, I can't live without that.Then you buy Google stock.
02:35Going through your statement,can't ever live without Kirkland brand peanut butter?Then you buy Costco stock.It's impossible to do my job without a Salesforce CRM of every person I've ever met.You cash in on some CRM stock, Jack.This is the last week you're allowed to make a New Year's resolution.So, besties, we hope you consider spend vesting.Because as Snoop Dogg also once said, less spending, Mo Vesting.
02:59That guy's got a lot of cash.Jack, let's hit up 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.
03:1650% 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 killing of Alex Pretti in Minnesota has us heading for a government shutdown on January 31st.
03:49And on Sunday, 69 CEOs showed the business community how to speak up in Trump's second term.Do it together.Yeties, look, over the weekend, we were horrified, angered, saddened to watch Alex Pretti, a guy our age, get gunned down in Minnesota.The Trump administration publicly labeled him as a domestic terrorist and a would-be assassin.Now, if you've seen the videos, and pretty much everyone has seen the videos by this point.Alex Prattie was helping a woman who was being pepper sprayed when he was tackled and ultimately shot as many as 10 times.He was legally carrying a concealed weapon, but at the time he was holding a phone, not a gun, to record the officer's actions.But that sad and political story has also become an economic story.
04:31Yeah, it has.Because Senate Democrats now say that they will refuse to fund the Department of Homeland Security, making a government shutdown possible on January 31st.Jack, we should point out that this all came after an economic strike that happened in the Twin Cities on Friday to protest ICE's presence in the city in the first place.We have some friends in Minneapolis. We know this situation's incredibly intense there.I mean, we have one friend who said they're not even going into work right now. It is just too scary out there.So we're thinking of all of you in the land of lakes.It's huge news for this country. The big news from a business perspective is the letter that was signed by 69 CEOs on Sunday.Because yet this is what we look.
05:10about the great state of Minnesota, 22nd in the country in terms of population, but ninth in thecountry in terms of epic companies. Get this. Minnesota has 17 Fortune 500 companies headquartered there.17. That is ninth in terms of the rankings among the 50 states. And all 17 of those CEOsjust called for an immediate de-escalation of tensions, quote unquote. Target, Best Buy, UnitedHealthcare, General Mills, 3M. I mean, Jack, from Tarjeet to Post-a-Notes to Serial, they all justsigned a letter that was published online by Minnesota's Chamber of Commerce. Now, they did notsay who is causing the tensions happening in Minnesota and who therefore should de-escalate right now.No, the interesting and nuance of this letter is that instead, the CEOs called for cooperation
05:53among state, local, and federal officials. And they seem to have gotten some results that theyhoped for already. They have because President Trump said on Monday afternoon that he would reducethe number of ICE officers in Minnesota if local police cooperated more with ICE. And thathappened after a phone call with Governor Walsh. But Basties, here's what Jack and I find fascinating.To us, this signals an interesting growing trend of corporate leaders willing to push back on PresidentTrump. One quick example from yesterday is that Volkswagen announced their pausing plans to build anAudi factory in the United States, and they cited tariffs as the reason they're not buildingthat factory. Yeah, you want to sprinkle on more context to that one, Jack? One year ago,
06:31CEOs promised to build plants in America because of tariffs. Now, this is the first time we've seenthe opposite announcement. They're not building a factory because of tariffs.It's unprecedented as a moment in a lot of ways. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddiesover in Minnesota? Minnesota CEOs show how to make public statements in Trump 2.0. Make themtogether. Yeties, in the last year, we've seen an unprecedented amount of capitulation fromCEOs to a president of the United States. This is the only president to face zero public dissentfrom the business community. So it got our attention last week,when Jamie Diamond voiced his dissent with three different Trump policies, but then he got sued.
07:11And here's the key. If instead Jamie Diamond had formed a coalition with other bank CEOs,he probably would have been harder to punish.And remember last year when every law firm was getting sued by Trump and every universityhad their funding taken away?Well, in both cases, those defendants were divided and they fell.But with Minnesota's CEOs, they're showing a different approach here.With falling approval numbers for the president, and a precedent now happening from Minnesota,We think more of this vocalism from CEOs will come.
07:40You're going to see this because the leverage is shifted.CEOs will do again what they used to do and always have, and what is that, Jack?Voice their opinions on issues fundamental to the economy and their industries,even if those opinions displeased the American president.And if they do, we bet they do it together.For our second story, Graza is the olive oil brand that went viral by using a squeeze plastic bottle inspired by shampoo.too. Well, the entire condiment industry has copied that innovation. And there's nothinggraza can do about it except one thing. One thing involving Forrest Gump. But Jack, before we start,
08:19I should issue a public statement press announcement. You know, because I worked on an olive farmover in Italy. Wait a second. I thought you just like studied abroad in Florence.Yeah, it was like a side hustle on weekends. I was picking those olives. Dude, this is like, it's likethe Advil for millennials. You pour that olive oil on anything and your stomach aches going to bebetter the next morning. I'm telling you, man. Coming from the guy.who pours olive oil on ice cream.Olive oil. It's actually one of the three most consumed foods in your lifetime, and yet webet you can't even name one brand. Except maybe Graza, because Graza was founded in 2021 and sold
08:50$100,000 of their olive oil on the first day of business. Okay, fast forward five years.They did 150 million bucks of sales just last year. It was founded by someone who worked atCasper who had a revelation while in the shower. His Dr. Bronner shampoo ran out and he wassqueezing it into his hand, and he said, wait, what if I put olive oil in a shampoo bottle?So instead of having gravity be in control, like with every glass bottle of olive oil, you have totap it a few times and then suddenly it bursts out.Break it on.Let your squeeze control the flow.
09:20And now the founder of Graza is the Oppenheimer of olive oil, the Da Vinci of dressing.Jack, the Steve Jobs of Squeezing.I was going to say the Sir Isaac Newton, a thousand island dressing.Let's go with that one.And when Jack and I first covered Graza, we told you.our takeaway. It's that this is a perfect case study in first principles thinking. Because Grazaquestioned every assumption, including why every olive oil was sold in a green glass bottle. And nowGraza is the fastest growing olive oil since Julius Caesar. Olive oil was his Roman Empire. Literally.
09:52Now, yes, yet he's for Graza, the packaging is the product. The oil itself is an afterthought tothe bottle, although the oil is solid. It's what's on the inside that counts, but it's what's onthe outside that sells. But what Jack and I find fascinating is that in the year since we firstcovered Graza. Have you noticed more olive oil and plastic bottles on the grocery shelves?There's a whole copycat craze going on. Graza's plastic bottle idea has been zucked by every otherolive oil oil startup. Jack, let's go roll up to aisle six. You've got startups like oleo andgood fats, they're doing olive oil in a plastic bottle. Even the big guy. California's oliveranch, the largest olive oil producer in the United States, they have a squeezable plastic bottle
10:32too now. Now, one food newsletter we follow, Snackshot, calls this grozification. Jack and I, we've beencalling this Grazaformity. And they've even jumped the aisle into a different food group. Jack, youthink about Molly Baaz? She launched Ayo recently, like Mayo, but it's served in a plasticsqueeze bottle. Okay, besties, this grazaformity situation's gotten so bad. Gras's founder wentfull-linked in vent post ripping on his rivals. He said, personally, I think it's okay to getmiffed when folks rip you off, and then he tagged the companies who have been ripping off hisidea. Yeah, Brightside, you saw that tag a little bit awkward, right? Still, every condiment now wants totaste of the zolennial-coated squeeze branding that Graza started. One sec, Jack, I just got to squeeze
11:13some prebiotic, protein-infused soda out of this shampoo bottle. So what's the takeaway for ourbuddies over at Graza? It's the Forrest Gump philosophy. The best way to stay in the lead is to neverstop running. Yeties, at the core of this Grossoformity drama is one question. Do we reward innovatorsand punish copycats. Or are we consumers agnostic to who had the original idea first? Because you see,plastic, squeeze, shampoo bottle, olive oil? That's innovative, but it's not protectable intellectualproperty. It's not IP. It's VIP. It's vulnerable intellectual property. Now, Jack and I'venoticed that in tech, we see zero loyalty when you copy someone, right, Jack?Instagram has copied all of Snapchat and all of TikTok, and Instagram is by far the most
11:58profitable at the three, despite the entire product being a rip-off of the best features of the rivals.So here's a hard question. How can Groza keep tripling sales despite these zuckin copycats?The answer is keep innovating. Last year, Groza launched olive oil in an aluminum beer can,which you take as refills to fill up the plastic bottle and reduce single-use plastic.They also launched the first olive oil in a box, like a box of wine, so you can slap the bag ofthat Grasa at the pizza party. Graza didn't just rely on squeeze bottles as its only idea.It's expanding into different crazy formats.Because in a world where everyone is copying to catch up, you gotta keep running like
12:36Forrest Gond.Run, Graza!Run!Now a quick word from our sponsor.For our third and final story, Toto, the world-leading bidet company just had its biggeststock jump in five years.Because Toto Toilets is actually an AI company.True story.
13:00Sidegigs.become your profit puppy.All right. Now, Jack, pause the pod for a sec. Do you want to issue a full disclosure?Is it a horror story about bidet? Quite the contract.Trigger warning if you're sitting down right now.First time I ever went to a five-star hotel, I found a bidet in the bathroom.And ever since, I've been trying to find a pure play bidet stock to invest it.Because, dude, once you do bidet, you don't go back.
13:22You never forget your first Japanese toilet. It opens up, the lights turn on, and it greets youlike an old friend, Jack. Which leads to Toto, the Archduke of your undercarriage.The Sultan of the Sprits.Or simply the butt whisper.Yeah, these aren't our terms.These are the analyst terms, by the way.Toto, known among Americans as the makers of the high-end toilets,the porcelain throne that pairs well with your restoration hardware.
13:44Nick, this thing's got rear cleanse, front cleanse, oscillating cleanse.Keep going, buddy.If you pay up, it has water temperature control, heated seats,and up to four user preset settings.We're not describing a Cadillac.That's a Japanese toilet we just described.And it cleans itself.as well as you. Yeah, their website shows a roll of toilet paper liquefying into a cleansing spray of gentle water.
14:06Which tells it all. And despite my bidet bullishness, the stock of Toto has been an underperformer.And besties, we jumped in Teeboy style. Toilet sales in both Japan and the rest of the world were actually down in 2025.Basically, they're in the toilet. They're in the toilet. Yeah, but in one day, Goldman Sachs transformed the image of Toto on Wall Street from Tito to AI.Toto stock jumped 11% last Thursday because the smallest part of their business actually has the brightfuture. Sit down, stand up, and sit back down on that toilet again. Jack, I got to ask you,what are toilets made of? Porcelain. And Jack, what else is made of porcelain? Electrostatic chucks.And what exactly are electrostatic chucks, my friend? Well, we learned that word today, just like you did,but it's an important adhesive within a computer chip within a data center. That's right, Yettees.
14:54Until now, this tiny electric porcelain part of Toto's toilet business. Just 7% of sales had just beenan afterthought to that toilet business.But with years and years of order backlogs from big tech to build data centers for AI,Toto's realizing, hey, we can charge whatever price we want for these electrostatic chucks.So they are.And that's why that tiny division with just 7% of Toto's sales accounted for 42% of their total profits last year.It's the new profit puppy, electrostatic chucks.And that's why Goldman Sachs just upgraded Japan's Toto toilet stock to a buy,
15:30because technically they're now an AI company.I think we can just say Toto.We don't have to say Toto.You just want to say bidet.You can say bidet again,so Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies?Clean it up over at Toto.Because of AI, every company is becoming a chip company.
15:47Yeties, here's the secret sauce of capitalism.With great profits come a great competition.Three years ago, we said on this pod that Invidiamade 95% of the chips needed for AI computing.Well, that monopoly has resulted in,an astonishing profit growth from $5 billion three years ago for Nvidia to $100 billion last year.Now, every company with a single computer science major on the staff, sees Nvidia's profits andsays how can we get in on that? And that is why Google launched TPUs, their version of Nvidia's GPUs.
16:18And it's why Amazon, Apple and meta are all making or testing their own AI chips as well.Or Jack, what about Rivian and Tesla? They also both have plans to make chips for self-driving in-houseat their own companies.Now, if Invideo faced no competition like they did three years ago, we'd all pay for it as the high prices in video charged would trickle down to us consumers.But that won't happen, Basties, thanks to the secret sauce of capitalism.With great profits comes great competition.Jack, could you all whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday?Minnesota CEOs broke their vow of silence, calling for a de-escalation in their state.
16:54They set a new precedent we think other CEOs will start using.If you're going to oppose the president's policies, you're going to do it together.For our second story, Graza pioneered the squeezable olive oil bottle, and now it's doing$150 million in annual sales.But now they're facing Graza Formity.Everyone's zucking them.So their only choice is to keep running like Forrest Gump.And our third and final story is Toto.
17:16The high-end toilet business is being overshadowed by the components that they happen to sellinto AI.Toto is now an AI biz, and every company is trying to be one too.But besties, this pod's not over yet.Here's what else you need to know today.I'm sorry, Jack, the economic and business calendar this week, protein packed.What do we got, dude?Well, the Fed announces their interest rate policy on Wednesday, and there's a 99% chance,
17:40according to prediction markets, that no interest rate change is coming.But also, Microsoft, Meda, and Tesla, they're announcing earnings on the same time, on the sameday this Wednesday.And tax season officially began yesterday.Plus, a new season of Bridgeton premieres on Thursday.And second, did you watch the free solo climb on Netflix that happened on Sunday night?I did, and I was extremely nervous the whole time.Jack was on a bidet for like an hour and a half.
18:05Alex Honnold, the famous dude for climbing without ropes or safety harnesses,got to the top of a Taipei tower, the 11th tallest building in the world.We don't have Netflix's viewership numbers yet,but we just found out how much he got paid to do it all.In an interview with The New York Times, the crazy climber said he got an embarrassingly small numbercompared to other pro athletes.He got paid in the mid-six figures.500 grand.
18:28I wouldn't call that embarrassing.really small. But when you consider show Hey O-Tani's getting like 500 grand per swing, I guess so.Hey, Otani, call us when you do it on top of a skyscraper. And finally, Bob's discount furnitureIPOed yesterday at a $2.5 billion valuation, Bob's furniture based just outside Boston.We're researching the company. We dove into the IPO paperwork. But if you have a great ideaor something really interesting about Bob's or if you're a big fan, let us know in thecomments because we might cover them tomorrow.Speaking of which Jack time for the best fact, yeah, this one sent in by Zadon Thomas, a legendary five-year Yetty.
19:05Let's hit play.I'm a listener here from Mississauga, Ontario.My name is Zadan Thomas, and the Swedish pronunciation for IKEA is actually Ikea, not IKEA.I learned that off of Jimmy Kimball interview with Slatani for Himich, a Swedish soccer star.Thank you and have a great day.Bye.Ikea.Ikea.
19:28That's how they say it in the native tongue.The meatballs are still meatballs, but Ikea, not IKEA.Although we should point out, it's somewhat common for foreign-based companies to be pronounceddifferently in this country.Like you're thinking, Jack, Adidas is really Adidas over in Germany.In BMW, they am they in Germany.Well, it sounds like this is a German issue, actually.Dude, Munich?
19:48In Germany, they call it munchin.It's a good thing we pronounce it differently here.Speaking of corrections yet, he's just yesterday.we referenced Burger KingsWhere's the Beef ad campaign?It's actually Wendy'sWhere's the Beef ad campaign.And the lady from that ad campaign
20:04still hasn't forgiven us.Although we hope you have.You're looking fantastic, by the way.Oh, and if you've got a voicemail,if you've got the best fact yet,if you got a correction,if you just want a birthday bar mitzvahpromotion shout out on the pod,
20:18what do you got to do, Jack?Tap the link in our episode description,fill out the simple Google formand we'll get you on the pod.We'll help you celebrate the wins.And Jack and I,we'll see you for tomorrow's.T-Boy. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Eddie's Brittany and Ariah Laughlin,
20:35a mother-daughter team in Sarasota, Florida. Ari is a swim champ. Brittany's an entrepreneur boss.Happy birthday to Wendy Tapia in Newcastle, England, who also just started training for a weightliftingcompetition. And Jack, we got a 41st for Thomas Hicks down in Marietta, Georgia. Happy birthday, Tom.Happy birthday to Cousin Omar, turning 40 in Rio Grande Valley, Texas. And Casey Haley down in Knoxville,Tennessee is the best birthday yet. Happy birthday to Austin, Jacobs in San Jose, California.See, we see you down at Fremont, California with a birthday.And congratulations to Keela's sake, because this girl chumps.She got into the University of Florida early.
21:10If you ain't a gator, you're gator bait.Oh, I thought I would see you later.Rebecca Moretti, the legendary first person Jack and I ever hired for our newsletter,just got a new job at Ramp.And Rebecca, we are so proud and pumped for you.And a big shout out to Dirk Sheepers,who got a new job in risk management over at Polly Market.And Jack, I was walking around an art show with Molly over the weekend.
21:30ran into a Yeti, Kyle from Milbray.This guy is the best-performing engineer at Meta,get him a pay raise, Zuck,and his son, Q, had the coolest shoes at the whole art fair.And to anyone else who's celebrating something today,Nick it a T-Boss.Celebrate the wins.This is Jack.
21:49I'm on stock of Netflix and Amazon,and Nick and I both on stock of Apple.
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