The Best One Yet - 👋 “We quit your job” — Exit’s job-quitting concierge. Dick’s Sporting Goods’ kids app. 1-BR apt in NYC: $4,500/month.

Episode Date: September 4, 2024

Japanese startup Exit will quit your job for you… because every job has a “hidden severance”.Dick’s Sporting Goods stock is up 600% in 5 years… but its secret is a high school sports app.Rent for a 1-bedroom New York City apartment is up 13% to a record $4,500/month… but Austin’s rent is down (we’ll tell ya why).Plus, the big new back-to-school trend is “Dorm Interior Designers”... $10K to decorate a dorm.$DKS $UA $SPY—-----------------------------------------------------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/  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Wednesday, Soviche Wednesday, September 4th. 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. Oh, Jack, the Wall Street scorecard. What happened to stocks yesterday, man? The S&P 500 fell by 2% yesterday on the first day back from Labor Day. Investors, they forgot they're not on vacation anymore. The worst. I think they realized they're not on vacation. We're bummed about. But this show is still the best one we've ever done. So Jack, three stories for today's T-Boy. What do we got on the pod? For our first story, we're looking at a Japanese startup called Exit that has a wild business model.

This is crazy. They will quit your job for you. Because there's big money in every exit. And Jack and I call it the hidden severance. For our second story, we're looking at Dick's sporting goods. This is one of the top stocks of the last five years. It's up over 600%. But the secret to Dick Surge is actually a little league.

Sports app. And our third and final story is about New York City. It just hit an expensive milestone. You ready for this? Hit me, Jack. The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City is $4,500. $4,500 for a one-bedroom, one bathroom, no kitchen apartment, Jack. We contrasts New York's soaring rent to Austin's falling rent. It's a tale of two cities, and Jack and I will tell you how. It's a tale of two cities literally, isn't it? Two towns, two cities. But, Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories for Cepiche Wednesday, Jack.

If you dropped your kid off at a quad last week, or if you went to campus yourself as a freshman, did you notice something fancy? Did you notice the new dormitory trend, besties? Designers. Yeah. Dorm designers. Get this, Yeties.

Interior designers for dorm rooms are taken over America's campuses. Apparently, college softs. aren't hitting up bedbath and beyond with that 20% off coupon they found in the newspaper. No, apparently they're working with Nate Berkus on a dorm room blueprint, Jack. According to the New York Times, families are dropping $8 to $10,000 on dorm room design firms. Well, Jack, that 100 square foot living space, that is a blank canvas if your roommate is on board. Again, we're not talking about IKEA hangers, lava lamps, and pearl jam posters. We're talking dorm room designers.

They add monogrammed pillows. They get custom import. They're going very fancy and very high-end, even though they're only there for two semesters. Oh, and Jack, we should tell the Yetis, what's the number one dorm suggestion from a dorm room interior designer? Sconses. Yeah, wall sconces. That's their big suggestion, actually.

Because nothing kills a vibe like an overhead fluorescent light. Yeties, these dorm designers, they even have a budget for coffee table books. Okay. Full disclosure, Nick and I were freshman year roommates. We didn't have a coffee table because there wasn't room for. a coffee table. No, we had room for the two beds and actually we left through the window. Remember, we would exit through the window sometimes. It was like 12 square feet. Here's what we did. Every day, we took all the stuff off our bed and put it on the floor so we could go to sleep. That's true.

Then when we woke up, right? We took all the stuff off the floor and put it back on our bed. It was brilliant. We created space out of nowhere, Jack. I don't know if brilliance is the word I used to describe it. Well, yeah, he's Jack and I also had a whole set of Seinfeld DVDs. which we used as our coffee table. So students, welcome back from the summer off. Enjoy your first semester. If you're lucky enough to have a designer dorm, invite us over.

And don't forget to use the coaster. Yeah, because that's reclaimed pie. Oh, yeah. That's pie. You don't want to leave a drink on it. Mom! Jack, let's in our three stores. 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. 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. Our first story. One of the fastest growing startups in Japan right now is Exit, a quitting concierge.

Exit quits your job for you and make sure you get severance. Because when you quit your job, there's still money on the table. Hidden Severance. But Jack, is there any feeling more awkward, more strange, more bizarre than when you quit your job and you got to tell your boss? I've only quit a few times, and I've been really stressed about going in there and letting them know I'm leaving. It's kind of like you've been cheating on them.

You show up and you're like, yeah, I'm actually, I'm seeing someone else, and it's been going on for a few weeks now with those interviews. True, because when you quit, chances are you're probably. got something else you're going to. It kind of been faking the smiles at work the last couple of weeks. But yet he's in Japan, a culture that avoids confrontation. Quitting your job is even more stressful. So last year, a startup was launched there called Exit.

Exit will quit your job for you for a small fee. Yeah, I can actually mention it on the intro of a pod like in one episode a year ago. We were curious. Well, one year later, Exit isn't just an intro story. It's a full pod story now because Exit has enjoyed hockey stick customer growth. Exit is enjoying 10,000 clients in their roster with a multi-million dollar business to go with it. Exit even launched a messaging app, which is for people who just need like a pep talk. You can text this messaging app and be like, I'm telling you, man, I got to leave.

I'm just nervous. I'm just nervous. What do I do? Well, they're now helping 2,000 quitters every month through their help exit app. And this has spawned a new industry. Yeah, it has Jack. Resignation agents. Resignation agents.

experts at exiting, gurus of corporate goodbyes. Jack, can we say farewell felicitators? Does that work? I meant facilitators, but I think you know what I was going for there, Jack. Yeah, it is these quitting conciergeists. They even have ads all over the Tokyo subways right now, according to the Wall Street Journal. The message is for people who are at their job. They hate their job, but they're too afraid to quit. And here's what the message says on those subway ads. We quit for you. Jack, I got one more. You ready? a Sionora service. You see, it's Japanese for goodbye. Well, somebody took a trip to Tokyo, didn't they? But yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Currently,

this industry only exists in Japan, but the need for this industry is actually universal. But first, let's explain how a quitting call from a resignation agency actually goes down in practice. Yeah, because once you understand how the quitting call works, then you can see how it's actually universal. First, your resignation agent deals with the humane part. They handle the awkwardness of confronting the boss with the news. Like, Kara is leaving. There's nothing you can do about it. She's already made up her mind. Then the resignation agent deals with the logistics. Like, how's the ending going to actually happen? Carra's giving two weeks notice. This is the last day. No more projects after tomorrow. Let us know how she should return her laptop. But Jack and I think the third part of the

quitting concierge is actually the most interesting. That's when the resignation agent handles the negotiation. Because if Kara is quitting, Kara has leverage. And exit can then negotiate on Kara's behalf in a way that maybe she didn't feel totally comfortable doing, right, Jack? Maybe the agent says, you know,

Kara is open to stang. Okay. A considerable raise is included in the package. Cough, cough, $20,000, and she'll sign on the bottom line. So a quitting service isn't just handling the cultural and logistical awkwardness. Right.

They also are acting as the quitter's advocate. Yeah, they are the agent for the quitter. And the more you think about it, the more maybe you're like, I kind of wish I had an agent during that awkward quitting moment. There's something bigger here, and that's why we think exit experts may be coming to the United States soon. Yeties, you may think of quitting concierge is bizarre, but you may be using one after your next job. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are anyone quitting a company? It's the hidden severance. When you quit, there's still cash to be had. Yet he's so much focus of quitting, resigning, leaving.

It's on the qualitative. How to handle the situation emotionally. What gets lost is the quantitative. What gets lost is considering how much you're still owed by your employer. Jack and I have noticed that many people quit without realizing they left money on the table as they exited their boss's office. For example, if you're enjoying company paid health insurance, that insurance is valid through the end of your final calendar month. That's why Jack and I say it's good to quit on the first of the month, because then you get a whole month of free health insurance. If you quit on September 1st, that insurance is still valid through September 30th.

Or another one, Jack, if you leave with unused PTO, you're entitled to get that PTO even if you leave the company. You're entitled to a final paycheck for the cash value of your unused paid time off. Now, there might be other financial perks to quitting that vary by city and state, but employees have rights even if they quit. a company. You also have to consider the non-compete clause or the non-disclosure agreement. Those might be negotiable too. So, Besty's added all up and if a worker forgets or doesn't know about the benefits, their employer could forget to tell them too. So the exit advocate, it's actually a worthwhile investment if you get some of those financial returns. Most jobs, they actually have a hidden severance. When you quit, there's still cash to be had. For our second story,

The low-key MVP of Wall Street right now, it's Dick's sporting goods. And the key to Dick's success, they found the digital version of sponsoring your local Little League team. Jack. What are you saying about? This is just tough to say. Get your knee pads, man.

Because the Sports Authority is bankrupt. Models is no Dells. Even Larry's local lacrosse store is no more, my friend. Rest in peace, Larry's. I love local sporting goods. stores. But yeties, despite all of that pain across the retail sports landscape, Dick's sporting goods is thriving right now. Dick's sporting goods stock doubled in the past year. And get this, in the last five years, Dick's stock is up 600%. Yeties, Dick's sporting goods is worth $20 billion,

that's three lifts, and is about to hit 900 stores, Jack, the context please. That's twice as many locations as Shake Jack has. Yeties, this sports store chain is sprinting like a young, Emmett Smith with Jerome Bettis strength. Wow, somebody looked up chat GPT football. I didn't. I didn't. I swear I didn't. I swear I didn't. Now we got to say, the pandemic helped Dick's rise. It did, because yet as you were bored at home,

so you bought a new batting cage for the backyard, not too shabby. But Dick's sporting goods hasn't suffered a post-pandemic come down like so many other pandemic winners have. And that's a good point, Jack. It is not. In fact, back in March, we covered Dick Sporting Goods brand new product. is a new store concept called House of Sports. Right. Basically, a stadium-sized megastore where you could try out all the equipment before buying.

It had fields, batting cages, driving ranges, rock climbing walls, all inside a single retail store. They had a full-sized soccer field where you could try out the cleats and kick the ball into the goal before purchasing those cleats. But as wild as that giant new concept of a store really is, that's not the real real. reason Dick's sporting goods is up 600% in the last five years is a jack. The real reason for Dick's success is two acquisitions they made almost 10 years ago that you didn't even know about. Now, Yetis, when Sports Authority went bankrupt, Dick's sporting goods acquired their list of loyalty members. 29 million sports authority loyalty members. They were dribblers in distress. Yeah,

they were. They were sad that their local sporting goods store had shut down. But then boom, Dix was a knight in shining underarmor swooping in there. They emailed all 29 million loyalty members, letters of condolence. Yeah, Dix even offered their rival's loyalty customers a 20% off discount on their first Dix purchase. Classy move, Dix, classy move. It's a very classy move. I like a check. It's the digital marketing equivalent of a bouquet of flowers.

But the bigger move that Dix made back in 2016 was actually a tech move. Dix acquired game changer. Yes. A very unique sports app. Dix acquired the Sports Center app for kids, and that changed everything. It changed the game. I mean, why didn't you just say changed the game? I don't know.

I don't know what's going on. I'm just proud of my Jerome Bettis comment, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Dix Sporting Goods? Dix found a way to scale hometown sponsorship. Yeties, youth sports are driven by volunteer parents, a whole lot of Gatorade, and local sponsorships. Remember your youth little league baseball field? The entire outfield wall was covered in signs which were sponsored by local businesses. Well, we noticed that Dix achieved that kind of hometown status and they did it with their Game Changer app.

Game Changer is a youth sports app used by 2 million teams to keep scores, to stream the games on the phone, and to calculate the player's stats. What Jack's saying is that game changer is like SportsCenter, but instead of the LA Lakers, it's for your Little League. It has 5 million unique users. Parents are checking game changer to see the power rankings for the Long Island Amateur Hockey League. Right.

And the kids are checking game changer to see who has the most points in the league. And then parents expressed their love of the app by purchasing more stuff from the company that powers it, and that company is Dix. Dick's CEO said last quarter that loyalty members who also use Game Changer. Yes, Jack. Purchased twice as much stuff from Dix

as just regular loyalty members. So how did Dix become the hometown store for millions of Americans? By acquiring Game Changer, Dix captured the goodwill of youth sports and scaled it. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story,

New York City just hit a very expensive milestone. The average rent for a one-point bedroom apartment in New York is $4,500. So we're contrasting New York's soaring rent to Austin's falling rent in a Dickensian way. It's a tale of two cities, literally. Yeties, everywhere you look, housing unaffordability, it's in the headlines. Housing is unaffordable. It's according to every new source out there right now. Even just yesterday, Jack and I were preparing for this show, the Financial Times discovered that housing is the number one issue. across the 38 developed economies. Half of the developed world is dissatisfied with housing right now

because it is unaffordable. Now, in the United States, overall, rent soared between 2021 and 2022. Remember it, Jack? Rent increases was the main driver of inflation in this country. And now, overall, rent increases have slowed in the U.S. since then, but rent is still up 21% in just the last five years. But Nick and I just found an interesting. tale of two cities. Yes, we did. Rents are rising in New York City, but falling in Austin, Texas. So Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to find out why. Yes, we did. Now, Jack, let's kick things off in the old 212. What's going on in New York City with the rent prices these days? We lived in New York City for five years. It is an awesome city. Fantastic. If you have some money. That's a good point. It's a really

tough city if you don't have money. Because yet he's the medium rent for a one-bed-bed apartment in New York City is now $4,500 a month. We have to say that again. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in New York City, yes? He's $4,500 a month. That's $54,000 a year. And that's just the average rent. Like, that's not even for, like, a one-bedroom in the West Village between, like,

the Equinox Gym and the Lartuzi restaurant. What's that going for $6,000, $7,000 a month? It's probably $7,000. It's a walk-up, and your super will never help figure it. your toilet that's constantly clogged. Yet it's a one-bedroom apartment, nearly $5,000 a month. Based on standard financial advice, to afford an apartment that expensive, you need a salary of $250,000. And the city that never sleeps, never sleeps, because it's thinking about the rent, which is up 13% in just the past year. That is wild. New York City, it's the most expensive city

on record rent-wise. But how about Austin, Texas? What's happening down there? Austin, Texas has the new nickname Silicon Hills because so many tech companies move there during the pandemic. Rent's popped. Rent's popped because so many tech companies set up shop in Austin during the pandemic. If you were trying to get a brisket over at Franklin Barbecue, you would to call ahead by six days and then stake out a place in line the week before. But get this. It's now 2024. And rent in the city of Austin is down 6% compared to last year.

That's right. rent is actually falling in Austin, Texas. What is going on there, Jack? Why is rent soaring in New York City, but falling in Austin, Texas? What is going on here yet is Jack and I, we grab some pizza and we grab some barbecue and we came up with the takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our bodies who are everyone in America? In politics, they say it's all about the economy, but in economics, it's all about new housing. Now, yeah, it is, it is easy to guess why rents are up in New York and why they're down in Austin. It's the new housing. That's what it is. In 2023, Austin built more new housing units per capita than any large American city.

On the other hand, over New York, we were at the bottom, Jack. We're pretty close to the bottom. New York City built one-fifth as many new units as Austin did per capita last year. Austin, they got lower construction costs, more land, less red tape. On the other hand, if you want to build a new apartment in New York City? You can't do it if it involves moving a pigeon nest, Jack. There's some regulation on that. In Austin, it's easy to build new buildings. In New York, it's very hard. Well, Jack and I've said the key solution to our housing problems before. It's build, baby build. Building more apartment buildings is how you keep a city relatively affordable. It's not rank controls, it's not caps on rent increases, and it's not assistance for first-time home builders.

It's build, baby build. In politics, they say it's all about the economy. But in economics, it's all about new housing. Jack, and you'll whip up the takeaways for us for Saviche Wednesday. Exit is a new startup that will handle the awkward quitting conversation, and they'll negotiate your exit. It's a quitting concierge, and they're going after the hidden severance. When you quit, there is still cash to be had. For our second story, it's dicks.

They're more valuable than ever, with 900 stores powering a billion dollars in annual profit. But by acquiring the Game Changer app, Dix scaled the local sports sponsorship. And our third and final story is New York City. The median rent for a one-bedroom apartment rose 13% to $4,500. Meanwhile, in Austin, rents are falling. Because the only way to keep high-demand cities somewhat affordable is to build baby build. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

First, Volkswagen is reportedly going to close a thing. factory in its home country of Germany for the first time ever. Volkswagen's 87 years old, and they've never closed one of their German factories before. Gazuntite, Jack. Can you repeat that again? They never done it. While profits are down, the EV transition is not working out so great for them, so VW is willing to go there. Yeah, expected to announce the news today, setting up a huge fight with a labor union. Second, Map My Fitness. The app for tracking your bike ride and your run is getting acquired by Outdoor Magazine.

Now, the interesting detail here, Matt My Fitness was actually acquired by Under Armour back in 2013. But unlike Dix, Under Armour hasn't turned their ownership of this sports app into sales. So Under Armour is selling it back to the guy they bought it from 11 years ago. And finally, Adele, the great British singer, just did the opposite of Quiet Quitting. She is loudly quitting. Adele is currently doing a musical residency with concerts in Europe and Vegas, and she just made a big announcement at one of the shows. She's got 10 shows left.

After that 10th show, we're not going to see her for, and I quote, a long time. Adele is apparently rolling in a deep vacation. She may not make new music for years. She's not chasing pavements anymore. No. She's chasing some time off. We may need to write a song about Adele, Jack. Now, time for the best fact yet.

This one whipped up by Jeff and Lori Barron's from lovely Dover, Massachusetts. That's not, Boston. You may be still around a campfire roasting some smores right now. Pretty simple recipe. You got to have the chocolate, Hershey's, gram cracker, TBD, and marshmallow. A lot of options out there. I always put peanut butter in there. That's my secret ingredient.

The fourth ingredient. It's called the Smekstra. But the recipe for Samores goes back almost 100 years, right, Jack? In 1927, the Girl Scouts Handbook published a recipe for Samores. Yes. It was actually troop leader, Loretta. Scott crew who founded it. Now, the Smoors recipe goes back

100 years to the Girl Scouts, but the wildest part about Smoors is actually the financials. Because the marshmallow industry would be nothing without Smoors. It turns out Americans buy 90 million pounds of marshmallows every single year.

And half of those marshmallows are used specifically for s'mores. That's right. One out of every two marshmallows in America ends up sandwich between chocolate and a gram cracker and in Jack's case, some Skippies peanut butter.

When the Girl Scouts invented the smore, they doubled the marshmallow industry. Yeah, that's a great way to put it. That's a great way to put it. Yeah, it is, you look fantastic for Cevice Wednesday. If you haven't yet, follow us at T-BoyPod, because Jack and I, we got our videos from the show every day. We whip them up on Instagram for you.

Every day, Nick says you look fantastic, Jack. You can actually see it. At T-boy Pot. Jack, you're inviting a correction to the show, I think, potentially. But I will defend you to the end. He does look fantastic. You're my source, dude. So you better be right.

It's not a subjective observation. It is a verifiable fact. It is up at Teaboy Pod and Nick and I. We'll see you tomorrow. Can't wait. And before we go, a shout out to Nori, a legendary Yeti in Presidio Heights. Jack, I walked by her the other day. She gave a big hello to you.

I told her I'd let you know. Happy birthday to Peter McCall. A great T-boy, also living in San Francisco. I had dinner with this guy once. Yeah, yeah, Jack. He's got a great handcheck. Big Petey style. Aurora Kuchner in Majestic Beach, New York, has got her first day of pre-K.

Aurora, You got this. Bring the crayons. Happy birthday to Billy Kuchner, Aurora's dad, who's turning 32. Not too shabby and John Lou. Mountain View, California is celebrating a birthday in Maui with his girlfriend, not too shabby. Happy four years together to Shruti and Gehry in New York City, who are on their fourth anniversary and just bought a new home. Congratulations, guys.

And Dominic and Sophia Pichetti, our new parents. with a baby daughter, Olive, who was born on August 23rd. Dominic's birthday is the day, by the way. Nice. Nice. And congratulations to Eva Perez in Verona, Wisconsin, just outside Madison. We're starting her sophomore year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. And Kevin and Corinz in San Diego, California, are enjoying a baby moon hanging out just the two of them in Hawaii.

Just outside California. It's way outside. And David Lutton, a happy 50th birthday. over in Glenview, Illinois. This is the best girl dad to three girls, who he's converted to Yetis, by the way. And he's crushing it on the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. Jack, I think Dave Ludden is in the money.

And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-Booy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. Nick and I both own ETFs of the S&P 500, and Nick owned stock of Shake Jack. So when people say Sayonora suckers, they're speaking Japanese? Suckers is Japanese for people you don't like.