The Best One Yet - 🛵 “Who is Mamadou?” — Uber’s perfect delivery guy. Nvidia’s OpenAI circularity. Exec Assistants-for-All. +Sorority $$$ Surge.

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

Who is Mamadou?... The 5.0 perfect delivery mystery is Uber’s big marketing opportunity.Nvidia paid OpenAI $100B, so that OpenAI can pay Nvidia $100B?... It’s circular financing.The new flex at work? Having an Executive Assistant… It’s the “EAs-for-All” TrendPlus, Sororities are cashing in on their viral fame… Sisters are getting paychecks.$NVDA $UBER $DASHWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… SNL 📺Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ to listen.NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter OUR 2ND SHOW:Want more business storytelling from us? Check our weekly deepdive show, The Best Idea Yet: The untold origin story of the products you're obsessed with. Listen for free to The Best Idea Yet: https://wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/NEW LISTENERSFill out our 2 minute survey: https://qualtricsxm88y5r986q.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_dp1FDYiJgt6lHy6GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Linkedin (Nick): https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/Linkedin (Jack): https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ About Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, The Best One Yet is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, September 25th. 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. All right, Jack, I got a surprise for you. You're ready for this thing?

You always have a surprise for it. What do you got? Oh. Oh. Okay, it's a new button. And when we're covering a profit pop here, like a company making a lot of money, it's a cash register kaching sound. What do you think?

Dude, that's like those Wall Street trading floors. They have a gong for every big sale that got closed. Yeah, I got a lot of she-in. Yeti, this is either highly, highly-indering or highly, highly-allie-annoy. Let us know in the comments. In the meantime, Jack, let's sit in our three stories. What do we got on today's tea boy? For our first story, there is a legendary food delivery driver in New York City named Mamadu. And if you get him delivering your stuff, cherish this moment. Mamadu has become a celebrity with his five-star rating, and we think he's Uber's biggest marketing opportunity. For our second story, it's the most unusual venture deal of all time. Invita paid

OpenAI $100 billion, but then OpenAI paid NVIDIA $100 billion. It kind of all cancels out. It's a wild case of circular financing, and it's making us do a gut check on this insane AI boom. And our third and final story is the new flex at work. It's mentioning that you have an executive assistant. Sorry, one sec, Jack. Yeah, you can cancel my 2 p.m. Thank you. Get in touch. with my executive assistant. Because besties, it's the EA for all trend, and Jack and I will tell you how it's happening. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, love the mix, awesome mix of stories, Jack. Forget college athletes, Yeties. Who's the newest surprise moneymaker on campus these days? It's sorority sisters. Because those rush talk videos over at

Kappa Kappa Delta get way more attention than anything the football team is doing. So right now, Now, sororities are cashing in on TikTok fame like their D1 quarterbacks. Nick, can I sprinkle on some context? I would love for you to sprinkle it on, please, Jack. This viral TikTok sorority trend began years ago with Bama Rush in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Sorority recruitment dance videos, they first went insane on social media. And like we've said, where there are eyeballs, there will be ads. So brands are given the sisters free stuff and hard cash to promote their stuff. According to the Wall Street Journal, Poppy, the soda brand,

430,000 custom cans of free soda for sororities this fall. Poppy filled the Tridealt fridge with free Tridelt pre-priotic soda. Shampoo brands are providing free pantine for entire sorority houses. Your whole bathroom is compt if you live at a sorority right now. One sorority star at the University of Arizona was actually flown out to New York Fashion Week after going viral. Paid for it by the fashion companies, but the dean not happy about it. Forget those big investment bank signing bonuses, Nick.

And Jack, forget the dream of getting drafted to the NFL. There's money in the sorority house. To quote the Bluth guys. Have you been enjoying Recruitment Week? Well, Jack had paid off my student loan, so... Sisters for life. If you know, you know, let's sit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm.

They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a 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. For our first story, there is one heroic man named Mamadu with a perfect Uber rating delivering food across New York City. Or is he many men? The mystery of Mamadu is actually a huge market opportunity. for both Uber and DoorDash. Yeties, they say he's faster than a Peregrine Falcon,

smarter than a Columbia Business School student. They say he can lift 50 boxes of pad tie stacked above his head with one hand, all balanced on a moving Vespa going down Broadway. And just when you open your door to thank him, he's already gone off into the night. We're talking about the Zorro of Zeroy. The Batman of bringing you burritos,

a man who goes by the name, Mamadu. Thousands of videos have been posted about this delivery driver. Millions of likes have been racked up by people claiming to have seen him in real life in New York City. Mamadu is the definition of viral. New Yorkers have referred to this mysterious Uber Eats driver as the hardest working guy in America. He saved my day. One customer even wrote a song about this delivery driver, calling him the toast of New York City. Not all heroes wear capes.

Some wear a helmet, gloves built into their bicycle, and an insulated pizza bag. Now, besties, Jack and I have been tracking this story for a week now. The Wall Street Journal just did a whole piece on him. Apparently, references to Mamadu began in early 2025. When two New Yorkers noticed a trend in their delivery dinner habits, every night their food was being delivered, according to the app, by someone named Mamadu with a perfect rating. And he was arriving on times.

So they shared their observation on X, and that observation went viral on the platform. By August, Google searches in New York for the name Mamadu had totally spiked. So it is about time we answer the question, Jack, who is Mamadou? Most likely, Mamadu is actually many people, because Mamadu is a very common name for a man in a West African country. Jack, let's sprinkle on some historical context here, if you please. Islam swept through West Africa in the 11th century, and when the French colonized West Africa, Africa in the 19th century, Mamadu became like a local-ish French version of the Islamic name Muhammad. And now, Mamadu is the number one most popular boys' name in the country of Senegal in West Africa.

And guess what? A lot of people from Senegal have immigrated to the United States. It's the latest immigration wave. So across New York City right now, a lot of Mahmadoos who are Uber eats and DoorDash delivery drivers, they're in on the joke. They're posing for pictures. when they drop off a pasta ball to an ecstatic customer who saw Mamadu on their app. And for all these Mamadus, the legend of Mamadu has become both an emotional and a financially lucrative moment for them. If your name's Mamadu, you have a statistically significant higher tip rate than all the other food delivery people in New York City. There is one Mamadu who got an $86 tip just because his name is Mamadu. Have you ever had Mamadu deliver your food?

if I could only be so lucky. But here's a fascinating detail Nick and I noticed. People interviewed by the Wall Street Journal referenced delight time after time referencing Mamadu delivering their food. In fact, one woman said Mamadu dropping off her sesame noodles

felt like a gift from Santa. That is an exact quote. Now, to us, that's a signal. That kind of intense customer happiness, companies can't pay for that. That is publicity you would literally pay for if you are Uber Eats Jack, which is why Nick and I think Mamadu

could unlock some serious market cap. To quote our favorite movie Batman, Jack, you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become Mommidoo. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Uber? Uber should stop hiding Mammadoo and start highlighting him instead. Yeties, Jack and I have friends

who work at Uber, DoorDash, handy, other gig apps, and they typically want to keep the gig workers nearly anonymous on those platforms. These companies want you to connect with their brand, not the temporary worker who's not technically even an employee who has no loyalty to their platform. But to us, Mamadu mania is assigned to rethink that strategy. Uber eats, we believe, should elevate Mamadu, not eliminate him. Feature Mamadu in Uber's next ad campaign. Signed Mamadu to an exclusive deal, so he only works for Uber, not lift or door dash.

Now yes, that would empower Mamadu, which he could hold against Uber for his own personal benefit. Like demanding a signing bonus or else I'm going to lift. But we think the signals of customer delight show it's worth that risk. Stop hiding Mamadu and start highlighting him instead. Stop treating drivers like commodities. Treat the best ones like celebrities. For our second story, Nvidia just gave OpenAI $100 billion.

But now OpenAI is giving Nvidia $100 billion? Yeah, just a casual $100 billion. 100 bill back and forth. It's a strange phenomenon called circular financing, and it should give everyone pause. Yeti is Harry Potter and Dumbledore, Neo and Morpheus, Sunny and Cher, Nvidia, and Open AI. They are the power couple of artificial intelligence. And on Monday, we saw an enormous and highly unusual deal between these two AI power brands. Jack, why don't you tell us about part one? Part one is that Nvidia is giving open AI $100 billion in cash in exchange for stock in OpenAI.

It's an investment in the owner of ChatGPT. NVIDIA will pay $10 billion increments over the next few years for $100 billion total. Okay, that's part one. Here's part two. Open AI is going to use all that money they got from NVIDIA to buy Nvidia chips for their data centers. Okay, Jack, I've got to pause the pod for a second here. So, Nvidia is paying Open AI money, but then that money's coming directly back to

Invidia? Yeah. It's like a pizza place giving me money so that I can buy their pizza. Jack, I think the technical financial term is the reverse uno card. I think they pulled a reverse uno card on each other. You might see memes online. It's like a snake eating its own tail. But there is an actual real term for this yeties. It is called from our time in finance, circular financing. Now look, circular financing can be legitimate. And we've seen suppliers except stock in a company instead of cash, like what Invidio, is doing here with Open AI. But here's the problem with circular financing.

It can also create the illusion of growth or an illusion of demand that is not actually there. Because everything's going in a circle. And since this is happening during an incredibly frothy moment in the AI industry, we're going to take a moment of pause and think about this. And we're going to jump in T-boy style.

First, Yeties, let's look at the sheer size of this Nvidia Open AI deal that happened this week. $100 billion, Jack? We're pretty sure that's the biggest equity investment ever. I mean, Microsoft invested $10 billion into OpenAI just a couple years ago, and that was like a gigantic deal at the time. This deal is 10 times bigger than that, Nick. Let's go a little further, Jack. A hundred billion dollars, can you sprinkle on some context, please, my friend? That is the size of Nike. It's the GDP of Bulgaria. It's three times the world box office. All movies and theaters? Yeah, this is three times bigger. So this isn't just unprecedented in the size of the investment. It's also coming

from a four and a half trillion dollar company, which is also unprecedented. And the wild other detail here, Nvidia stock actually jumped after announcing they were going to give Open AI all this money. And the size of that stock market gain was more than $100 billion. So it more than paid for the investment in open AI that the news was about in the first place. Also, besties, this deal commits Open AI to build $100 billion of data centers, on top of the $500 billion of data centers they were already going to build. So all of this begs these two important questions. Where is all the money going to come from to build out all these data centers? And how high can these valuations in AI go? Venture capital literally doesn't have these kinds of dollars. Because you see, unlike

conventional fundraising deals, the money right now isn't coming from customer demand or from new outside investors in these deals. It's coming from within. The money is flowing back and forth between the same big tech companies trying to win an AI. And it's a whole lot of money, Jack. A lot of money.

Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in AI? It's the rocking horse analogy. Don't confuse movement with progress. Yeties, this superlative rich deal between Open AI and Nvidia caused a whole lot of movement in the stock market this week. But is that movement progress?

That's the gut check that we're asking right now. Because this deal looks like circular funding, which reeks of bubble-like behavior, according to Bloomberg. Think about it. Open AI is paying Oracle. Who is paying Invidia? Who is paying OpenAI?

Who is then paying Oracle? Who is paying Invidia? Who is paying OpenAI. That goes on, on, on, on. As long as nobody stops making these payments. We're all going to be good, everybody. So, besties, if AI is a bubble that's due for a correction, although we hope it isn't,

then this blockbuster circular funding deal between Nvidia and Open AI will be looked back at as the early sign. Because of the rocking horse analogy. Don't confuse movement with progress. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final story, the big new PowerFlex boss move at work. You know what it is. I'm looping in. my EA. Companies are cutting back on executive assistance, but everyone else is hiring more of them. Now, Yeti's, a buddy of ours from our Robin Hood days was a guy named LaSalle. LaSalle left a cushy job in finance to work at a scrappy startup in California, just like Nick and I did. Now, when he told his wife he was making this big career pivot, she was apprehensive because as she

told him, you haven't booked your own travel in 20 years. But LaSalle gave up that EA to take a risk at a rocket ship thin tech startup. And you know what? He was not the only one who gave up that EA. Thousands of executives are losing their executive assistant every year as companies are cutting perks. No more kombucha, no more swag, and the EA is gone for every manager out there. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the number of full-time executive assistants

in America has fallen from $1.4 million in 2020 to less than $500,000 today. Hey, her boss, she ain't looping in her EA to CC if we're scheduling that one-on-one. ASAP. But here's the crazy contradiction. While fewer bosses at corporations have EAs, the rest of your company is hiring their own EAs. Who's the boss now, boss? Tell me your management material without telling me your management material. You see, startups are offering part-time remote EAs for hire for like 50 bucks an hour. It's fractional hiring cuts down the cost. And people are doing it out of their own pocket to perform better at work. These are now a new type of assistant, a multi-company assistant. One EA can now work for 10 hours a week for four different

clients at different companies. So it's affordable for all four of those employees. Now, interestingly, the demand for EAs is less about work work and more about them doing your life work. Right. The people hiring EAs these days are working parents who are desperate to keep some kind of a social life while juggling work and family life as well. You're not hiring an EA for that board meeting. You're hiring. You're them to for the preschool planning help. You see, as you get older, you realize time is your most valuable asset. So you'll pay someone out of your own pocket to do the admin work that you don't want to do so you have more time for yourself. Full disclosure, you want to share it? We want to share, Jack. We actually hired through one of the companies mentioned in the Wall Street Journal article.

Yeah. It didn't. It didn't. It didn't. It took more time to train and supervise our EA than time saved. Yeah, so not every EA relationship is necessarily going to work for you. But still, this is part of a bigger trend out there. EA's for executives, more EA's for millennial parents. That flex of having an EA could also have some benefits for you in your career. Because nothing signals I'm promotion worthy and mature like C-Sing your EA to your manager who doesn't have one. One sec. Jack, do you have time for a takeaway, by the way? Can we schedule that in? Oh, yep, yep, my EA, you'll talk it out with them. They'll take care. Okay, okay, it sounds like this works. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our

buddies who are curious about executive assistance. Virtual assistance are a fraction of the price, but Miranda Priestley would never. Yeties, despite this EA renaissance we've described, there's a cloud lurking over the EA industry, and that cloud is AI virtual assistance. Chat and Gemini can both act like assistance for you already, creating calendar invites based on an email. It's only a matter of time before they know your travel preferences and book your travel too. But Bessie's, as you think about an EA, think about the devil wears Prada, the movie with Anne Hathaway, who was Merrill Streep's executive assistant. Miranda Priestley, as Merrill was known in the movie, valued her time above all else.

It was Anne Hathaway's job to protect it. And getting her coffee, running her errands, waiting on hold so she didn't have to, getting those Harry Potter books for her kids. And so far, AI can't do any of those tasks. In fact, the majority of what we could use help with, AI can't actually do, unfortunately. breaking down these boxes from Amazon. Soon, besties, you will be tempted by a virtual AI, and they will probably save you time on computer admin at a fraction

of the price of a human E. But Miranda Priestley would never. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Delivery drivers in New York named Mamadu do excellent work, and they're becoming viral for doing so. So Uber should stop

treating gig workers like commodities, and instead treat the best ones like celebrities. For our second story. Invidia is paying open AI so that open AI can pay Nvidia. It's circular financing, so we're doing a gut check. And remember

the rocking horse analogy. Don't confuse movement with progress. And our third and final story is the new flex at work. It's mentioning that you have an executive assistant. My EA has told me that AI virtual assistants could disrupt EA's, but Miranda Priestley would

never. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Target, with their new CEO, has begun their brand facelift. And they're starting with a renovation of their Soho, New York City location. The store entrance at this Soho Target looks like a venue that Kendall Roy would host his birthday party act. Yeah, this is channeling Targier for the new space. It's not Midwestern America where Target is headquartered.

Okay, but here's the plot twist. The point of this fancy new New York City Targeet is not to replicate it across the country. right, Jack? It's to create a gold standard for the rest of the company to aspire to and be inspired by. And second, Argentina is asking the United States for financial support, and it looks like we're going to pay it. Argentina's radical new leader, Javier Malay, chainsawed his way through the country's inflation problem by boosting their exchange rate. And he did successfully solve the inflation problem. Pretty amazing. But he did so at tremendous cost. It wiped out the country's currency reserves. And now the Trump administration is giving Argentina $20 billion in financial assistance,

but we're not calling it a bailout. And finally, George Costanza, the former assistant to the traveling secretary of the New York Yankees, is now a Yankees model. True story, Jason Alexander, the middle-aged bald man from Seinfeld, was never appreciated for his looks, although we did appreciate him for them. I love his stocky looks. But now the streetwear brand, Kith, famous for cool, has hired Costanza.

So Jason, aka George Costanza, has a new career reppping Yankees' clothing for a fancy, cool fashion house. Let's just hope they don't switch the uniforms from polyester to cotton. I know it breathes better, but they're not going to play better. Jack, if that happens, George is getting upset.

Now, time for the best fact yet, but this one is both a correction and a clarification from our story last week on Amex's really expensive new credit card. We misdescribed a couple of the rewards. The $75 Lulu Lemon credit, that's actually each quarter, so $300 for the whole year. And the Rezi credits to use $400 toward dining, they don't have to be paid using the Rezi app. They just have to be paid for restaurants that use Rezi, which is like 10,000 restaurants.

So if you're going out to dinner on the new Amex card at a Lulu Lemon store next to a really nice restaurant, you're going to have a fantastic time. By the way, I set quarterly reminders for myself because I have this card. buy something from Lulu Lemon or else the credit is wasted. Oh, Jack, remember our takeaway. The best hack to optimize your credit card points. Ask AI. Yeties, you look fantastic out there.

Jack, can I say you look like a million bucks? Sure. Actually, you know what you look like, Jack? I was wondering why you were flattering me. Besties, the best way we grow the show is when you tell your buddies H-Y-H-T-B-O-I and give us a five-star rating. Happy T-Boy.

We'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Jonathan Allen, celebrating in Morrow, Georgia. Happy birthday to Emma Steinhoff in Dallas, Texas, who is officially now Adultant. And a happy birthday to Zach Crow from Portland who's celebrating right now kicking up the gears on his motorcycle. Happy birthday to Ben Aeneb in Huntington Beach, California, who's celebrating at the Viv Hotel in Anaheim. And Odelia Bayard is turning 40 years old in Jacksonville, Florida. She loves Ben and Jerry. She loves Ben and Jerry is what we're trying to say.

And finally, congratulations to Gina B from New York City, who just landed a new job at Palantir. Jack, remember, Gina was at our live show in Chicago. She came to the after party, and she was talking to us about, should she take the job? Congratulations, Gina. Oh, and if you've got a shout-out for the show

or the best fact yet, we've got a forum for you to fill out in the episode description. We'll get you on the pod. This is Jack, I own stock of Amazon.