The Best One Yet
🥯 “Shmear Me” — PopUp Bagel’s boom. Zuck’s Smart Oakleys. Stargate’s $500B Hollywood name.
Thu, 23 Jan 2025
Zuck’s reportedly launching smart Oakleys this year… and a smart watch and airpods next year.PopUp Bagels is the fastest-growing bagel chain in America… and they prioritize inconvenience.“Stargate” is Sam Altman’s new $500B AI project… it would be the most expensive thing we’d ever build.Plus, the medals handed out at the Paris Olympics? They’re losing their gold. $DNUT $META $MSFTWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… 🎸 The Fender Stratocater: The Guitar That Invented Rock ‘N’ Roll.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’s 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 are the top business news stories today?
This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, January 23rd, and today's pot is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. I mean, Jack, I don't want to brag, but the birthday stock bump continued. Yeah. Fox should recognize again. Some say it's Trump's presidency. Others say it's my birthday week.
We don't really know the reason why. We'll leave that to you to decide. We'll leave that to CNBC. In the meantime, Jack, three stories for today. T-Boy, what do we got? For our first story, OpenAI just announced an AI megaproject that is more expensive than the Moonland. It's called Stargate, and it shows the power of Hollywood branding. For our second story, it's pop-up bagels.
This is the fastest-growing bagel chain in America, and Michael Phelps is an investor. But yet is, if you want to buy their bagels, first, you must follow their rules. And our third and final story. Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly launching smart Oakleys this year. Folkleys. And AirPod rivals next year. No, not Folkleys. AI Smart Oakleys. Zokeleys. Because Zuck is Dragon Apple.
That's why Zuck is launching Zokeleys. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stars. Fantastic mix of stories. Love the mix today, Jack. It's been 100 days since the Paris Olympics. Not possible. Actually, it is possible. And we have a weird update 100 days after the closing ceremonies. Get this, Bettys. The Olympic medals are breaking. We'll explain. We will.
Yetis, remember that the Paris Olympics was basically one giant French fashion show. And the luxury brand LVMH, the biggest company in France, made the medals for the Olympics. LVMH, they own the jewelry giants Bulgari, Givenchy, and Christian Dior. Decent pronunciation, Jack. And so LVMH designed the gold, silver, and bronze medals. We covered it on this pod, actually. We did.
In fact, LVMH spent 15 days for each medal. They made each medal by hand. And they used a secret trade varnish that was 100 years old to protect each and every medal. But here's the news. 100 days after the Paris Olympics, hundreds of those medals have lost their color. Specifically, the medal on the medals completely wore off.
So the gold medals are losing their gold and the bronzes are losing their bronze. I mean, Jack, I'm looking at it right now. Every metal just kind of looks metal. It looks metallic. It doesn't even look silver. It just looks dull, gray metal, like under the hood of some old Volkswagen. Like you dug it up out of the dams, Jack. The situation is so bad, the IOC is replacing these metals ASAP.
And Jack, why are all the metals from the Olympics just looking like metal? Turns out the EU banned one particular chemical last year. Which happened to be a secret ingredient in that.
that varnish so lvmh says it's not their fault they're blaming the regulators oh besties add it all up and we'd say typically that it's what's on the inside that counts but when it comes to a gold medal it's what's on the outside that counts i mean it's really only what's on the outside that's all that matters jack let's see that three stories
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Chapter 2: What is Project Stargate and why is it significant?
Are you going to pay for this, please? Now, the news announced at the White House was cloaked in red, white, and blue marketing language. Oh, it was all in on patriotism. They said they will secure American leadership in AI and create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Trump called it tremendous and monumental. And if this whole thing happens, he'd be right. Yeah.
This is tremendous and monumental. These three companies have created a joint venture to build all of it, and they're calling it Project Stargate. Side note, Microsoft is involved too. Apparently, they're chipping in $80 billion as well. Not bad. too shabby. But yet, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about the story. The day after the news came out, the drama came out.
Because Elon Musk is not involved in this deal. No, he's not. So he's raining on the whole enthusiasm parade. Technically, Jack, I think he's cyber raining on the parade. Can you sprinkle on more context to this part as well? 10 years ago, Elon Musk and Sam Altman were business partners. They co-founded OpenAI together until Elon left the company in 2018.
Now, Elon probably feels betrayed by Trump for promoting his arch AI enemy. Anyway, Elon tweeted yesterday that the three companies don't actually have the money to build this very expensive Stargate. Shots fired. That's the drama. It's like Real Housewives of Cloud Computing over there. And honestly, $500 billion? That's... That is so much money. Like we thought it said $500 million at first.
Okay, Jack and I were trying to find ways to quantify how much money this is exactly. And one way is that it's three times, four times the price of going to the moon. Another way is that it's more money than it cost us to build the entire US interstate highway system. It is more... than all of our interstate highways, I-5 to I-95.
One more piece of context, the most expensive thing built in the last 20 years was the facilities for the Sochi Olympics in Russia. Okay, and this project is 10 times the cost of those Olympics. So it's possible that Elon's right. And we've seen companies make huge announcements and then fail to deliver on them.
Yeah, like in 2017, when Foxconn announced with Trump a $10 billion factory coming to Wisconsin that never ended up happening. But we still haven't mentioned the key insight from what could be the biggest project in our lifetimes. And that insight is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Project Stargate? Brand your product like Hollywood would brand a movie.
Yetis, the way Jack and I see it, Stargate is a masterclass in naming because Stargate is epic, it is exciting, and it sparks the imagination. For those who don't watch sci-fi movies, Stargate is a movie that brought Earthlings to another universe. Jack had to enlighten me on that one. Thank you for telling me, by the way. Similarly, this project will bring Earthlings to the universe of AI.
That's what they're getting at. Besties, that kind of branding, it inspires the employees working on it, the customers that use it, and the citizens that may support it with their data. tax dollars. And when it comes to naming products and naming projects, Tesla has always been good at this. Oh, Tesla's name-storming is great.
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Chapter 3: How is Pop-Up Bagels changing the bagel industry?
Well, pop-up bagel says you must have it their way, which makes you want... even more bagels.
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For our third and final story, Meta is building a rival to Apple's AirPods and Apple's Watch. How will Meta replace the iPhone? With advertisements. We'll explain. Yes, we will. Yetis, one year ago, we said that Meta's Ray-Ban sunglasses are the biggest challenge to the iPhone. Meta's Ray-Ban sunglasses.
They can take pictures for you, play podcasts for you, make phone calls, and send texts for you. They could paint the front porch and beat Permian at football, Jack. Yeah, maybe with the next software update. Meantime, Meta is reportedly expanding its relationship with the European eyewear giant, Luxottica. Because here's the news.
In addition to Ray-Ban smart glasses, later this year, you could be buying Oakley smart glasses by Meta, according to Bloomberg. They're not going to be Jokeleys. No. They're going to be Meta Oakleys. I guess we'll call them Mokeleys. Or we can call them Zokeleys. Why are you picking the Z? I feel like that's what he wants. It seems like he's really into it.
Now, Meta's Oakleys are going to target athletes who basically want to stay connected during their Ironman competition. But that's not all. Meta will also unveil fancier glasses with a screen in the bottom corner of the lens. Those will reportedly be available this year and be priced at about $1,000 per pair. Mark Zuckerberg thinks he's the new Tom Ford. But here's the bigger news.
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Chapter 5: What unique business strategies does Pop-Up Bagels employ?
Chapter 6: How much money is involved in Stargate's funding?
Jack, having grown up emotionally with bagels, I would describe them always as a donut without makeup. Ah, I like that. But we discovered the interesting history of the bagel as well, didn't we, man? Well, they were invented in Poland in the 1600s and brought to America by Jewish immigrants starting in New York in the 1900s.
Now, for the record, the best bagel in America, in New York, is the H&H bagel. I went to camp with this kid. Great guy. Great bagel, Jack. Yeah. I've never had one. Pick a bagel's a close second, but that's a story for another pot. What about Lenny's bagels? Lenny's is also fantastic, but you got to throw it in the microwave first.
However, Yetis, since nothing is sacred in this world, disruption has now come to the bagel industry. In the form of Pop-Up Bagels, which has become the fastest growing bagel chain in America. We dove into the numbers. They got 10 locations growing to 30 this year. They're tripling their size. They're worth an estimated $50 million.
So far, they have locations in New York, Connecticut, Boston, and Florida, but they just opened a franchise model and 150 more locations have already been spoken for. Now, interestingly, their investors include carbo-loading athletes. Remember Michael Phelps has 12,000 calories a day? Well, barely half of them are bagels, so he invested. Michael Strahan invested. Football player J.J.
Watt invested. Paul Rudd's not a pro athlete, but he's invested too. Why not? He's got good taste. Now, the founder of this bagel startup began making bagels during the pandemic by watching YouTube videos and figuring out how to do it. He sold them from the back of his house in Connecticut. and grew initially, like most businesses do, through word of mouth and on social media.
Shmear that bagel and cream cheese, boom, it is going viral. I've never seen a video of someone tearing open a freshly baked bagel before, but now I have, and wow. That's why this bagel company, Pop-Up, has 150,000 social media followers. They are the Kim Kardashian of sesame seed bagels. But what Nick and I found fascinating about their business model is that they prioritize inconvenience.
We repeat inconvenience. convenience. Jack, can you explain, please? Unlike any bagelry we know of, Pop-Up will not customize your order. They won't toast your bagel. They won't even slice your bagel in half if you ask them to. They're not doing it. Don't even bother asking. They'll say no. Can I get my bagel buttered? No. Can you cut it in half for me? Nope.
Can I get peanut butter and butter on it? No. In fact, Pop-Up only sells two products, bagels and schmear. No lox, no coffee. They don't even sell drinks at this bagel brand. They also only sell in packs of three, six, or 12. You can't order just one bagel there. It's a grab-and-go business. No tables for dining. You can't even get a single bagel.
If you think you gamed the system by ordering online, well, then you have to buy more bagels. They'll only sell online by the dozen. That's right. If you buy online, you have to get 12, 24, or 36 bagels. Those are the only options. Those are the rules. Burger King says have it your way. Pop-Up Bagels makes you have it their way. This is a bagel chain that is growing by saying no. And it's working.
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