The Best One Yet - 🛸 “$UFO” — Drone stocks’ mystery surge. Crumbl’s $1B cookie. Waymo beat Lyft.

Episode Date: December 17, 2024

Crumbl Cookies have reached all 50 states with a new biz model… B2A: Business-to-Algorithm.There’s a drone mystery in the New Jersey skies… So we found 3 drone stocks surging.Waymo just passed Lyft for the 1st time ever in a ride-hail market… because money is a moat.Plus, PEZ candy was actually inspired by cigarettes… and that wild story is the latest episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. 🍬Pez: The Cigarette-Inspired Candy. Subscribe to our new (2nd) show here: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks. Episodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.Merch: tboypod.com/shop $PLTR $RCAT $LYFT $GOOG—-----------------------------------------------------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 Tuesday, T-Boy, Tuesday, December 17th. And today's pod is the best one yet this is a T-Boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Yadis, we know what you're thinking. Why is Jack podcasting with Taira Banks over here? Well, I am not the America's top model, Tyra Banks.

I'm just wearing our T-boy merch on the podcast. Our holiday merch collection shipped yesterday. So if you order T-Boy holiday merch, it'll arrive. at your door in a few days. If you didn't order that merch, we have good news for you. We have this merch available to buy right now. That's right. Our essentials collection is still available at t-boypod.com slash shop.

How does this look, Jack? How do I look like this? Is this a good look for me? You're a tiger. You're a tiger. If you order the hat, Nick will never do a feline impression ever again on the show. Go to t-boypod.com slash shop. Jack, three stories for today's show.

What do we get on the pot? For our first story. Crumble Cookies is now in all 50 states. Wow. They got the fastest growing food chain thanks to a new business model. Jack and I call it B to A, business to algorithm. For our second story, there's a drone mystery in the skies above New Jersey that everyone is freaking out. So Jack and I found three drone stocks.

That's right, drone stocks, and they're flying too. And our third and final story. For the first time ever, the Waymo Robotaxie just passed Lyft in the... the city of San Francisco. Sit down, stand up, and hail a robocap again because Waymo is beating lift because money is a moat. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, does it get any better than that? Fantastic mix of stories today.

Yesterday, we asked you our weekly Tea Boy trivia question. What candy was invented as an anti-cigarette product? What sweet was started to help you stop smoking? Well, the answer, Yeties is the Pez. Pez candy, you pop. pop it out of a tiny tube and it was meant to make you stop smoking. That's right. The candy that comes out of Batman's mouth. Yes, it was inspired by smoking.

That wild Pez story is the latest episode of our weekly show. The best idea yet. The best idea yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. But Jack, could you sprinkle on some context for our buddies over at Pez? Pez is 100 years old. It is. But they still sell 75 million Pez containers every single day.

And the Pez candies, yeah, they still taste like chalk. And yet few know that Pez actually began as an anti-cigarette device. Get this, instead of reaching for a cigarette, Pez wanted to offer you a sweet instead. They even made a Pez dispenser that looks just like a lighter. Now that I see it, Jack, I can't unsee it. And even fewer know about the Pez Outlaw. The Pez Outlaw, a law-breaking Pez-loving citizen outlaw who almost took down the entire company. So later today, after this T-Boy episode, check out our weekly deep dive show,

the best idea yet. The best idea yet. New episodes drop every Tuesday. We got a link in the episode description. Because Pez changed candy forever. Even though Pez was never meant to be a candy. So tap the link in our episode description and check out the best idea yet. Because Pez is simply the best idea yet.

But today's show, Tyra Banks? Yeah. It looks better than your silhouette. Oh, today's show looks wonderful. Don't do a feline impression. Let's hit our three stories. Yeah. It's before this song.

Two boys from the... North East met in the dawn. They had an idea that caused a cultural. 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. First, a quick word from our sponsor. Our first story. Crumble cookies just hit its 1,000th store. It's in all 50 states. They're a billion-dollar company. They are a cookie unicorn. Because Crumble realized it actually only has one consumer.

And who is that, Jack? Instagram. Yeah. Now, yeties, Jack and I love whipping up some trivia for you. Here is a good one for the holidays. Ask your family. What state has the highest sugar consumption per capita? Okay, what do we got, Jack? Options, Options. What's the answer? It's Utah. Yeah, it's Utah. By far. Yeah, Chicago does logistics. Salt Lake City does sweets. Like the $5,700 calorie cookies over at Crumble, the fastest growing food chain in America. Now, Jack and I did cover Crumble two years ago, and back then, Jack, I listened to the story, checked it out. out, we said they had 500 stores. Today they've doubled to 1,000 stores and they just hit $1 billion

in annual revenue. And now they're in all 50 states. In fact, Crumble just opened locally in Vermont as their final frontier. They opened their location just down the road from the original Ben and Jerry's. Shots fired, Jack. And they had the gall to serve ice cream, too. Mint chocolate chip shots fired. How dare you, Crumble. Now, Jack and I jumped in, T-Boist out to the financials. and each Crumble location is bringing in $1.2 million a year with a 15% profit margin, which means... Not too shabby. There's some dough to be made in cookie dough. Yes, there is, because Crumble is part of the trifecta of girl pop culture these days. The priorities for teens are Starbucks, Sephora, and a Crumbull sugar cookie.

Honestly, the pink one looks so pretty. I want to put it on a pocketbook and give it to Molly for Christmas. Which is why both Regina George and Janice Ian would consume a Utah-based Crumble cookie right now. But what Jack and I find fascinating about this company is that Crumble is the purest example of FOMO marketing. They bake the cookies. They manufacture the FOMO. Yes, they do, because Crumble borrowed a strategy from streetwear brands to go viral. The Art of the Drop. Get this, Yeties. Every Sunday at 6 p.m. every single week.

Mark your calendar. They drop six new flavors that are only available this week. Which means you got to buy that buttermilk pancake brittle cookie now or it's gone forever. Mom, if I don't get this, I'm going to die. They have a cinnamon toast eggnog cookie that you have to eat by Christmas, or you'll be the Grinch. And because your 12-year-old is nagging you to buy 13 dozen of these cookies, teens love it, but parents hate it. These cookies are exceptionally unhealthy, but the kids go rabid for them. Like we said, the FOMO marketing, it's a viral, viral move.

Except Mormon moms in Utah. Yeah. They're standing in line, too. Good point, Jack. Salt Lake City does Dolce. So, Jack, what's the take? takeaway for our 700 calorie buddy is over at Crumbull Cookies. Crumble pioneered a brand new business model. We call it B to A. Business to algorithm.

Now, yeties, as you learn in business school, there are two primary business models. One is B to C. That's a business that sells to consumers. And the other is B to B to B. A, a business that sells to other businesses. But Crumble is a new third business model that Jack and I have noticed, and we call it B to A, business to algorithm. Because Crumble knows, if they can win on social media, the rest of the business will fall into place. So Crumbull's entire business plan is just about growing organically on social media. Everything they do is about getting attraction and engagement on the social platforms. For example, Crumble drops six new flavors each week, like we told you, but they announced them first on TikTok and Instagram. Crumbull partnered with Pantone, the paint and color company, to get perfectly colored cookies optimized for an Instagram.

feed. In fact, Crumbo has 30 people on its social media team, professional photographers, videographers, filmographers, 30 of them. We looked it up on LinkedIn. There's more people on their social media team than on their marketing team. We've never seen that before. Jack, what's the result for Crumbo? Six million followers on Instagram, 10 million on TikTok, which is five times as many as Starbucks and three times as many as McDonald's. Then all that attention is digital salivating, which translates into real sales. They've realized that you can scale really cheap if you just crush it on social media.

So Crumbles and Consumer, it isn't another business or another consumer. It's Instagram, and we call that B to A. Business to algorithm. For our second story, drones, they aren't just the hottest topic on conspiracy blogs right now. Drones are the hottest topic on Wall Street.

Because the military industrial complex is back. Yes, it is. But this time, with AI, piloted drones. Now, yeties, Jack and I should let you know that Snooki didn't teach us much, but Snooki did teach us that New Jersey is known for GtL. Jim Tan Laundry. That's what I do every Saturday.

But Jack, it's time to add a fourth level to the GTL of New Jersey. Drones. Drones. Starting a month ago, people all over the Garden State have been reporting sightings of drones way up there, all the way up, in the sky. You can see pictures online. There's lights in the sky in the darkness. Some of the lights are moving.

Some of them aren't moving. And it's the top headline on the New York Times. Now, with the government not saying much, it's left conspiracy TikTok to fill the news void. Now, this could be a group of pranksters standing in a backyard, flying a bunch of drones to scare people. Yeah. Or it could be a foreign government. Or it could be some aliens. Or it could be my nephew Vinnie whose drone he's playing with at Don Bosco Prep.

Now, what the government has said about these drones is that they're probably not drones at all. The government says they're probably airplanes, like normal flights with human pilots. It's a bird. It's a plane. Actually, it's my nephew Vinny's drone jack. That's what it is. Questions remain. Meanwhile, the uncertainty press is very good press for the drone industry. Get this. The number six most talked about stock on Reddit this week. It's a drone stock that we didn't even know existed. It's a company called Red Cat. Yeah. This is a pure play drone maker whose stock jumped 20% yesterday. Now, we should point out, Yetis, this is a small speculative company worth under a billion dollars called Redcat.

We rarely cover companies worth less than a billion dollars in the show. But the drone industry is popping on Wall Street right now, and it's not just conspiracies. There are very real-life applications of drones that are already happening. For example, recreational drones. They can be seen at every tourist site from the Eiffel Tower to the Tower of Peace. I'm pretty sure there's a GoPro. pro up there, guys. Oh, police. They use drones right now to monitor crowds, record video at events, concerts, sports games. Don't jump the turnstile. There's a camera on that day. And the militaries

across the world are using drones right now in the air and the sea to spy and attack, like self-flying weapons. And of course, there's an Elon angle here. Yes, there is. He's encouraging the White House to invest in drones instead of fighter jets. Which is literally the plot of Top Gun 2. Like, that's why Tom Cruise came out of retirement because of the drones. See the movie. And finally, Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect son, recently joined the advisory board of a publicly traded drone company, which sent the stock up 5x in the past 30 days. Add it all up. And the new meme stocks are drone stocks. And I'm pretty sure Vinny bought one of those stocks. Oh, Vinny definitely did, Jack. Gabba Gaw. So Jack, what's the, oh my God, what is that up there? Oh, that's Jack, look it up.

Look, look, look, it's our takeaway. So Jack wants the takeaway for our buddies over in the drone industry. The hottest sector of the Trump stock market is the military industrial complex. Yeties, Jack and I love to study history. And President Eisenhower warned America as he exited the White House in 1960 of the military industrial complex. His warning was that politicians liked war because they often own stocks in defense companies. And they often work at those defense companies. after they're done in office. Well, we notice that we're seeing something similar today. And it's not

just the president's son who's blown up stocks of drone companies these days. Palantir, a tech company founded by Trump advisor Peter Thiel, is now a top military contractor. And how is Palantir's stock doing, Jack? It's quadrupled in 2024. It just joined the NASDAQ 100 stock index. And that drone stock we mentioned, Red Cat, they jumped 20% this week because of a software deal with Palantir. Palantir is bringing AI superpowers to the U.S. military, and Red Cat drones are now going to be piloted by Palantir's AI. Besties, that is the industrial military complex, and it's the hottest sector of the stock market. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, Waymo is now a bigger ride hail company than Lyft in San Francisco. It's a shocking reality check. On Waymo's rise,

on Lyft's demise. Yeti's funny thing happened to Jack and I over the weekend. We got a tip from a Yeti that became this story. Joe Esposito in Los Angeles replied to us on an ex post. And we jumped in T-boy style. We got curious. According to a third-party data provider called Yipit, Waymo has passed Lyft in San Francisco. Sit down, stand up, and hail a ghost cab, Jack. That is shocking news. Because Lyft has been operating in San Francisco for 12 years. San Francisco was Lyme's first. city and remains its headquarters city still today. And yet, in just a couple years, Waymo, the Robotaxie, has overtaken Lyft in its hometown. According to this third-party data source, 56% of rides in San Francisco in November

were Uber rides. 22% were Lyft, but 22% were Waymo. And in the month of December, Waymo's gonna pass Lyft for sure. That's right, Waymo, owned by Alphabet, the owner of Google, is now valued at $45 billion. is worth seven times as much as lift. That's right. Waymo is now a verb in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta. And it's worth seven lifts. If you're going to the cloud AI crypto conference, you're not Ubering there. You're Waymoing there. Side note, Nick takes Waymo to work most days. Yeah, I do. Even boomers in San Francisco are taking it, right? Totally. The guy's in my neighborhood.

80 years old, they're popping in a Waymoe waymoing down to the financial district. So Yeti's Waymo is having its Barbie moment. It is. There's a whole lot of love, tension, and good news for these self-driving cars with nobody behind the wheel. The only question is when Waymo is going to get a hot wheel. So you think that's happening soon, Jack? That's got a hat. It's probably happening. Because last week, Waymo also got another big win.

And what was that, Jack? Cruise, the Robotaxy Company owned by General Motors, shut down its funding, which means one of Waymo's biggest competitors quit the industry. And now, Besties, nearly 10 years ago, General Motors acquired Cruise for a billion dollars to get into the Robotaxy industry. Cruz is based in San Francisco too. It's a tech company, but it's an expensive tech company. That's right. General Motors lost a billion dollars every year since they acquired Cruz. So after a decade and $10 billion invested in this Robotaxy startup, GM is calling it quits.

We're done. Jack, second side note, I've taken both Cruz and Waymo Robo taxis and they're not the same. You know, it was not a commodity, very different experiences. Yeah, you told me that Cruz like awkwardly kept pulling over, even though everything, seem safe. The cruise one kind of struggled. It like had to make a right turn and it got too nervous and it never made the right turn. Right turns are the easiest turns. Oh, totally. But the Waymo one, it's much more confident about the right turns, aggressive, if you will. Got that catwalk swagger like you and that T-boy hoodie. Yeah, Tyra Banks over here. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Waymo? Much of the time, the business with the deepest pockets wins. And in the case of

robotaxies, the shallow pockets have already quit. Yet he's five years ago. Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen, Uber, all the serious players in the car industry were also trying to be players in self-driving. Eh, those car companies, they thought self-driving would take five years and $5 billion to figure out, that's it, boom, we're done. The reality is, it's been much harder. It's taken like 15 years and $50 billion to figure out self-driving. And those car companies, they just can't afford that kind of investment.

But who can afford that investment, Jack? Tech companies. Alphabet's Waymo, Elon's Tesla, and Amazon Zoo. are leading the self-driving industry. Besties, before Robotaxies will ever turn a profit, it's going to require billions of dollars of investment every single year. The tech companies have enormous profits to fund those investments, but car companies don't. And that's why General Motors, Ford, and VW are dropping out, but Google, Amazon, and Tesla

are doubling down. Waymo passing lifting crews, it's a perfect reminder of this reality. Deep pockets win games. Money is a moat. And big tech, they've got cargo. pants deep pockets. Yeah, they got a whole lot of pockets, Jack. You're going to have to check those pockets. They're so bad. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Crumble cookies is in a thousand locations across 50 states. It's Utah Sugar Unicorn, and they have a B-to-A business model. B-to-A business to algorithm. They don't serve consumers

or other businesses. They serve algorithms. For our second story, it's GtLD. Jim tanning laundry and drones. New Jersey's drone drama has lit up the stocks of drone companies. The hottest sector of the Trump stock market is the military industrial complex. And our third and final story is Lyft. They've been passed by Waymo in their hometown of San Francisco, according to third party data. Deep pockets win games. And to win in self-driving robo taxis, you need some really deep pockets. Like the deepest pockets of all time. Like the Abercrombie six pocket cargo short kind of pockets. That's what you need if you want to win. Only big tech has those pockets. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Apple has a big new plan to save their iPhone sales.

Get this. Foldable iPhones. According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple is changing the shape of their iPhone with two new models that'll come out in a couple years. Now, one is going to be a thinner iPhone, about half as thick as your current phone you got there. Which is really thin, I guess. And the other one will be a foldable phone with a whopping 19 inch screen. And, you know, Isn't that a monitor? Half tablet, half phone, half giant computer. And second, the German government has collapsed. Olaf Schultz lost a vote of confidence in the German government. And that comes just one week after France's government fell apart too. Oh, and then Jack, a little bit further up north. Yesterday, Canada's finance minister resigned, sending the government into chaos over there.

Across the world, voters are punching incumbents for inflation by voting them out of office. And finally, TikTok has formally requested that. the Supreme Court intervene to stop the TikTok ban. On the same day, TikTok CEO went to Mar-a-Lago to ask Trump if there's anything he can do. Only one problem. The TikTok banning bill was passed by Congress, and it was signed by the president. January 19th, the day before the inauguration is D-Day for TikTok. So follow us on TikTok while you still can yeties. We got some good videos out there. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Yeti Christie March Down in Culley. Have you noticed on your iPhone that when you snooze your alarm, it always snoozes for nine minutes.

I don't even think you can choose a different number. No, you can't. Like, why nine? Why nine? Why nine? The origin for the nine minutes snooze actually goes back to early clocks, which were mechanical clocks, not digital clocks. Yeah, apparently it was physically easier to set a snooze to a single digit number on a mechanical clock.

So they went with nine because it's the biggest single digit number. And I guess even though Apple's slow. is think different. They're not thinking different when it comes to the length of a snoo. So besties, if you just snooze this morning for nine extra minutes, you can thank the

leftover legacy of old time physical clocks. Yeties, you look fantastic out there, and you look especially fantastic if you're wearing the T-boy pink hat and the T-boy sweatshirt. Stop fishing for coffee. There people are giving them out, Jack. I'm not asking. I'm just receiving

me. You can buy your T-Boy merch before the holidays at T-Boypod.com slash shop. And if you're looking for more T-Boy today, listen to The Best Idea Yet. Our latest episode just dropped. It's on the Pez dispenser. It is a wild story. The best idea yet. It's a full deep-dive 40-minute episode on Pez.

You're going to love it. You can check it out right now. The links are in the show notes. Jack and I will see you there. Che-cha! And before we go, a happy birthday to Alex Patry, a new bestie, actually a belated birthday. He's turning 44 down in Dublin, California.

De Blin? Is that how you pronounce it? You know, I assumed it was different from Dublin, Ireland. I don't know. Sometimes we'd be different pronunciation. I think it's Dublin, dude. It's probably Dublin. We'll go with Dublin. And a happy special birthday to Sherry Adkins,

who's celebrating in the dash, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. And Silas Strawbridge, a belated 17th birthday celebration in Englewood, Colorado. Happy 35th birthday to Helen Ching in Warminster, Pennsylvania. And Sophia Aguirre is turning 44 years old, with the best birthday yet down in Hotlanta. Happy 15th birthday to Avatar. Yeah? It was a wild movie when it came out.

It was okay. And Jack Diskin was supposed to come to our live show in Seattle but couldn't make it, so we got to wish Jack, the best 23rd birthday ever. Congratulations to Joshua Thomas, who just got a new job with a double promotion down in Texas. And Olga Corson has joined the family business. Congratulations and welcome to construction, Olga. The floors at the new Portland, Oregon airport, I would eat off them, Nick. And their construction company did those floors.

And to anyone else, celebrating something today, except for Nick on the catwalk. No, just kidding, including Nick, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. Nick and I both on stock of Apple and I own stock of Ford.