The Best One Yet
🐺 “Dire Wolf of Wall Street” — Colossal’s 1st de-extinction. ThredUp’s tariff win. Shopify’s mandatory AI.
Wed, 09 Apr 2025
Colossal brought the Dire Wolf back from extinction… by using a strategy from Hollywood.The #1 winner of the Trade War? ThredUp… The second-hand clothing stock has doubled this year.Shopify is requiring everyone at the company to use AI every day… AI is part of the dress code.Plus, introducing “Tasteful Tariffs” — Things that should be tariffed. Think Cargo pants, small talk, QR code menus…$TDUP $REAL $SHOP $NDAQWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of Peeps 🐣. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------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.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What is the best winner of the trade war?
Warning for Anne Hathaway, the kingdom of Genovia may get hit with tariffs next. No word on what the princess is going to do, Jack. Three stories for today's show. What do we got on the pod, man? For our first story, the surprise big winner of the trade war so far is ThredUp. ThredUp, because when it comes to tariffs, the winners are the triple Fs, frugal, friendly finance.
For our second story, we've covered the startup Colossal before. They're trying to bring back the woolly mammoth, but they actually just brought back a different extinct animal, and that animal is the dire wolf. For our third and final story, Shopify's CEO just issued an ultimatum. When it comes to AI, it's use it or lose it.
And by it, he meant your job at Shopify, because he just added AI to the company dress code. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories... Whoa, what? A mix of stories. Love that mix of stories today, Jack. Investors are not happy about the trade war tariffs. Economists hate tariffs. They make everything more expensive. But Nick and I were thinking,
There's some things we wouldn't mind tariffs for. Yeah, like things that are so annoying, maybe they should be tariffed. We call them tasteful tariffs. We do. Things that we would tariff not for economic reasons, but for social reasons. For example, cargo shorts? Tariff them. QR code restaurant menus? Tariff them. Can we tariff pre-meetings before the real meeting?
Tariff, tariff, and tariff them, Jack. How about alcohol-free mouthwash? Tariff that. Oh, Jack, what about those ketchup packets that are impossible to open and you gotta do it with your teeth? How about cardboard boxes within cardboard delivery boxes? 100% tariff. How about saying the phrase cool beans? 1,000% tariff. Can we toss a tariff on small talk?
Embargo all conversations about the weather. We don't care what the temperature is. What about clapping when the airplane lands? Oh, that's a retaliatory tariff if I've ever seen one, Jack. And finally, exposed male toenails? 2,000% tariff and a complaint to the WTO for emotional damage. Besties, we're running a list of these tasteful tariffs. A list of import fees on your ix.
A list of taxations on Tacky. So besties, for Ceviche Wednesday, drop your ideas for tasteful tariffs in the comments below. The seven-day public comment window opens now. We are accepting tariff proposals on everything cringe. Although I should point out, Jack thinks we should tariff toothbrushes with bristles that are too hard. This is a long-standing debate.
The only toothbrushes available to purchase should be soft bristled toothbrushes. It may be a Jack issue or it may be a nationwide issue. Either way, let us know your tasteful tariffs.
Jack, let's hit our three stars. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in a dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, cause we ready to go.
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Chapter 2: How did ThredUp benefit from tariffs?
Even Netflix can be considered frugal. Yeah, it can. I mean, 20 bucks a month, that's a lot for a subscription. Yeah. But it's cheaper than going out to dinner or paying for a concert ticket. Your next date night may be watching Squid Game season one for the fourth time. In a trade war, we all buy less. That's just the truth.
And that is why the trade war winners will be the frugal, friendly finance businesses. For our second story, Colossal, the startup reviving the woolly mammoth, just had its first de-extinction. It brought back the dire wolf. This is a wild story. And to succeed in de-extinction, Colossal has turned to Hollywood. Yetis, two years ago, we told you about the Jurassic Park startup.
Their business plan is the same plot as the movie that Steven Spielberg directed. Instead of Velociraptors, they're starting with a more recently extinct animal, the mammoth, the woolly mammoth. Colossal was worth $1.5 billion when we first covered it two years ago, but now it's worth $10 billion. And they just pulled off an act of God. They brought back the direwolf. That's right.
Yeah, Jon Snow's pet from Game of Thrones, that direwolf. The direwolf was extinct in the last ice age, 13,000 years ago. Jack, I believe that was the late Pleistocene era, and the direwolf back then was 25% bigger than your standard North American gray wolf. The direwolf was believed to hunt horses, hunt bison, and possibly even mammoths. So this is a beast of an animal.
And because life finds a way, Colossal just birthed three of these new direwolves back from extinction after 13,000 years. We repeat, the direwolf is back. The only one not happy about this news is Jeff Goldblum. Ha ha! We saw a bunch of photos. These are big white wolf puppies. They're pure white. They look like the thing of a sci-fi movie. I mean, they look like a polar bear wolf.
Now, one of these new ones is named Khaleesi after, that's right, the Game of Thrones character. And this company even got George R.R. Martin, the author of Game of Thrones, to pose holding one of these wolf pups. We repeat, the author of Game of Thrones showed up at their biotech facility, tweeted, winter has come, and posted a picture with a dire wolf now not extinct puppy.
And they were sleeping on an iron throne. And now, in case you're curious to jump in T-boy style, Colossal is keeping all three of these dire wolves on a secret 2,000 acre facility whose location is unknown. TBD, whether they've built a wall around it and put the Night's Watch to defend these wolves. And in case you didn't know, this is a startup that's funded by the CIA.
So yeah, they're pretty good at secrecy. But we have a treat for you. Colossal released audio of the first dire wolf howl heard in the last 13,000 years. Here it is. So, Yetis, Jack and I were trying to analyze what the strategy here was for Colossal, and we realized this wasn't a minimum viable product. This was a magnificent viable product. Colossal is proving traction with a wild example.
But here's the surprise detail. Bringing the dire wolf back from extinction was actually the result of three failures. This was actually their third choice. In 2022, plan A for this startup was to resurrect the woolly mammoth. Yeah, they wanted to de-extinct the biggest land mammal in history. So they put a mammoth embryo inside a surrogate elephant mother But the egg wouldn't take.
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Chapter 3: What is Colossal's de-extinction project?
For our third and final story, Shopify's CEO just published a letter that will change how you use AI at work every day. Because using AI is now mandatory. Oh, Jack, I got a long list of job interview questions here. Let me know if you got any of these. Tell me if anyone's ever asked you this. Tell me about a challenge in your life.
How about tell me about an ambiguous problem you faced at work where you used data to reach a solution. Yeah, it's a wordy one, but I've gotten on to it. How about this? Where do you see yourself in five years, son? Tell me something you're going to stop doing, something you're going to keep doing, and something you're going to start doing.
I'd probably walk out of the interview if someone asked that at that point. Keep notes. Repeat the beginning of the question five minutes ago. But yet, there is now a new question to add to the interview list that you better prepare for. How do you use AI on a daily basis? You better have an answer for that question if you work at Shopify. Shopify, the $100 billion B2B e-commerce platform.
That's Shopify. They enable the buying and selling of anything online. But the biggest news from Shopify right now isn't earnings, isn't annual reports, it isn't tariffs. It's a letter from the CEO that leaked online. It was so controversial and widely discussed that the CEO, Tobias Lutke, decided to tweet it, the whole letter.
Now, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and we read the letter for you because we guarantee you that your CEO definitely read it too. The letter includes Shopify's perspective when it comes to AI. And here it is. Use it or lose it. And by it, we mean your job at Shopify.
The CEO's internal memo was conversational, but it finished with a very clear list of six things that you must have when it comes to AI. Very direct points. And here are the highlights. Point number one, using AI is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify. In the 2000s, touch typing was a fundamental skill. In the 2020s, it's now AI.
Point number three, your AI usage will be a question in every performance review. Your manager will be asking you how you use AI daily. No prompting, no promotion. Point number five, and this one was a surprise. We really didn't see this one coming. Before asking for more headcount or hiring, you must prove AI can't do the task. Oh, you want a junior content strategist to join the team?
Tell me why a chatbot can't do the job. Ugh. Back to the drawing board. Now, the conclusion at the end of the letter was also surprising. This rule, all six of these new rules for AI apply to everyone. From Ian the intern all the way up to Erica the exec. Now, besties, add it all up. And if you're not using AI on a daily basis, this serves as a wake-up call.
We've never seen a company require AI from everyone. but this could become the new standard. Full disclosure, Jack and I use AI every day. We don't use it for the creative process. We use it for the research process to save time. But now, it's part of our daily routines. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Shopify? Shopify just made AI part of the dress code.
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Chapter 4: How did Colossal bring back the dire wolf?
It was the first one I used. Well, I guess it wasn't an app if it was 1999. No, it was a URL web worldwide webpage. Eventually Grubhub acquired Seamless, then they shut down Seamless, but now they're bringing the brand back. It's like we said, retro tech making a comeback. And finally, the Jeff Bezos Earth Fund is screening 100,000 cows and sheep to identify the ones that fart the least.
That's right, some cattle emit 30% less methane than others. You can smell them. And Bezos wants to prioritize those climate-friendlier cows when it comes to breeding. Interestingly, selective breeding has been used for centuries to boost certain traits. Usually the traits they try to boost is maximizing milk production. You're right, yeah, yeah. Now it's minimizing flatulence.
Feels like Colossal could have gotten involved in this, Jack. Those Velociraptors, they don't fart too much. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one set in by Nitin Gulati over in New York City. Yesterday, we said that Ford was doing a trade war discount. They were offering employee pricing for all. But get this. Back in 2009, Hyundai launched a more creative discount during the Great Recession.
Hyundai let you return your car if you lost your job. Yeah. If you got laid off 16 years ago, they'd just let you come back to the dealership and give the car back. That was such a well-received promotion that Hyundai sales rose 24% in the following year, which is double the industry pace.
In fact, it was so, so successful, they revived the campaign during the pandemic in 2020 for just a few months, and it was successful then too. Niton, incredible fact. Thanks for sending in. Apparently, he wrote his entire business school thesis on that promotion. If Hyundai hasn't hired this man, hire this man. We'd like a word with you. Jack, you look, oh, you hear that? What is that?
It's the dire wolf howl. Jack, that's the dire wolf howl. It means we've got to wrap up. It means we've got to wrap up the show. Yetis, before we go, remember to drop in the comments on Spotify or YouTube your tasteful tariffs. I think we should tariff this phrase, that's above my pretty grade. Yeah, let's tariff that phrase. Remember to tap to follow the show, and Jack and I will see you tomorrow.
And before we go, a happy birthday to the legendary Podson Wilder celebrating with the best birthday yet. He's four years old. Can I give you some stats about the Podson? Jack, let's jump into this S1 on the Podson. His favorite color is purple. His favorite animal is a T-Rex. Good move. And his favorite food is chocolate waffles with maple syrup and peanut butter all mixed together.
I know.
It's a bit of a problem, but yeah, he loves it. And a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Savannah Westwood celebrating down in Orlando. She's got a sushi dinner and heading to Tampa for some gambling this weekend. Okay. Not too shabby. And Caleb Randall down in Arlington, Texas is the best dad with the best birthday.
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Chapter 6: What is Shopify's new AI requirement?
I'd probably walk out of the interview if someone asked that at that point. Keep notes. Repeat the beginning of the question five minutes ago. But yet, there is now a new question to add to the interview list that you better prepare for. How do you use AI on a daily basis? You better have an answer for that question if you work at Shopify. Shopify, the $100 billion B2B e-commerce platform.
That's Shopify. They enable the buying and selling of anything online. But the biggest news from Shopify right now isn't earnings, isn't annual reports, it isn't tariffs. It's a letter from the CEO that leaked online. It was so controversial and widely discussed that the CEO, Tobias Lutke, decided to tweet it, the whole letter.
Now, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style and we read the letter for you because we guarantee you that your CEO definitely read it too. The letter includes Shopify's perspective when it comes to AI. And here it is. Use it or lose it. And by it, we mean your job at Shopify.
The CEO's internal memo was conversational, but it finished with a very clear list of six things that you must have when it comes to AI. Very direct points. And here are the highlights. Point number one, using AI is now a fundamental expectation of everyone at Shopify. In the 2000s, touch typing was a fundamental skill. In the 2020s, it's now AI.
Point number three, your AI usage will be a question in every performance review. Your manager will be asking you how you use AI daily. No prompting, no promotion. Point number five, and this one was a surprise. We really didn't see this one coming. Before asking for more headcount or hiring, you must prove AI can't do the task. Oh, you want a junior content strategist to join the team?
Tell me why a chatbot can't do the job. Ugh. Back to the drawing board. Now, the conclusion at the end of the letter was also surprising. This rule, all six of these new rules for AI apply to everyone. From Ian the intern all the way up to Erica the exec. Now, besties, add it all up. And if you're not using AI on a daily basis, this serves as a wake-up call.
We've never seen a company require AI from everyone. but this could become the new standard. Full disclosure, Jack and I use AI every day. We don't use it for the creative process. We use it for the research process to save time. But now, it's part of our daily routines. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Shopify? Shopify just made AI part of the dress code.
The idea is the way Jack and I see it, companies these days fall into two types. First, you got the AI agnostic. They don't care if you use or don't use AI, just get the work done. Then there's the AI antagonists. You can't use AI if you have a creative position. If you do, you better highlight it. And if you don't highlight it, you could get fired.
But Shopify, they represent this new emerging third category, AI mandatory. You must use AI each and every day. For Shopify, AI isn't a resource. It's a requirement. It's like the company dress code. You can't show up to work unless you're wearing a suit. Well, you can't show up to Shopify unless you're using chat GPT. After Shopify's memo, AI is now mandatory. AI is now part of the dress code.
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