The Best One Yet
📹 “The Next TikTok” — Whatnot’s $5B shop app. Nvidia’s uranium problem. Sonos’ CEO oopsie.
Tue, 14 Jan 2025
TikTok will be banned in 5 days… but its replacement is Whatnot: It’s Instagram + eBay + MTV.Sonos is known for its fancy sounds systems… but the CEO just quit because of 1 big mistake.Nvidia chips have export restrictions… because in the AI arms race, chips are the new uranium.Plus, the #1 candy in America was invented by a frog salesman… It’s Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and it’s the next episode of our weekly deepdive show The Best Idea Yet 🥜$SONO $NVDA $METATo hear more on Reese’s PB cups, 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.—-----------------------------------------------------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 will happen to TikTok in five days?
But there's already a new replacement called WhatNot. WhatNot. Yetis, WhatNot is the new app you gotta know. It's Instagram meets eBay meets MTV. For our second story, Nvidia stock fell after a new rule from the White House about what countries can buy its chips. Because AI chips are the new uranium. And our third and final story is Sonos.
Sonos is known for the fancy sound system at your parents' second house. But the CEO of Sonos was just fired for making one huge mistake. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, that was a cliffhanger, but three fantastic stories, Jack. Love the mix today. Yesterday, we asked you our weekly trivia question. And here's what it was.
What famous candy was invented by a frog salesman? Well, the answer to that question happens to be the most popular candy in America. What is it, Jack? The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. No, the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It is the number one most demanded candy at every Halloween. And it's also the top selling candy outside of Halloween. The Reese's Peanut Butter Cup.
It is Hershey's best selling candy, better known as the best selling flavor combination in history. But did you know that there's a psychological reason why people like the peanut butter and chocolate combo? And did you know that the peanut butter cup was actually invented by mistake? And did you know it all began 100 years ago with a down-on-his-luck frog salesman?
This guy, he had 14 mouths to feed back at home, so he made one giant chocolate-covered bet. H.B. Reese is the most stubborn, hardworking entrepreneur Nick and I have ever read about. He totally is, Jack. And Milton Hershey was his guardian angel. Yetis, the untold origin story of America's favorite candy involves a real-life Willy Wonka.
And that origin story is the latest episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. So besties, later today, after this T-boy, check out our weekly deep dive show, The Best Idea Yet. Because you're obsessed with Reese's Peanut Butter Cookies.
Oh, you are?
Even if you call them Reese's Pieces. Fine, I had four of them. New episodes of our new show drop every Tuesday. So tap the link in this episode description because the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is simply the best idea yet. But let's hit our three stories because they're the best ones yet. Jack, let's hit the next show.
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Chapter 2: What is the new app Whatnot?
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. We can't wait no more, so just start the show. Start the show.
First, a quick word from our sponsor.
Chapter 3: How does Whatnot revolutionize shopping?
I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. Listen to Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky wherever you get your podcasts.
For our first story, there is one app hoping to fill the post TikTok void. And that app that you got to know is Whatnot. Real time live shopping. Live shopping will be the next trend in America thanks to psychonomics. So we got to tell you about Whatnot. Now, yetis, Jack and I last year, probably our best performing, most viral video that we put on TikTok got like 2 million views, right, man?
We calculated how many men in finance there were with math. But that doesn't matter in five days. Because unless the Supreme Court intervenes, TikTok will be banned starting Sunday. That's right, besties. Unless China sells TikTok by this coming Sunday, TikTok will be banned. Oh, by the way, Lemon 8, another ByteDance-owned company, that's probably going to be banned too, according to the law.
In fact, one random TikTok alternative called Red Note just hit number one in the app store on Monday because everyone just assumes TikTok is going away. But another potential beneficiary of a TikTok ban is a new app called Whatnot. Whatnop, a real-time live shopping app that happens to be the wildest shopping experience you have ever seen.
Because this app is Instagram meets eBay meets reality TV. All in one. And last week, Yetis, Whatnop raised $265 million and hit a $5 billion valuation because TikTok's in its final days. Now, Jack, you and I should pause the pod for a second. We should sprinkle on more context because this is a new frontier, these live shopping apps. Live stream shopping is already huge in China.
China has 80% of the live stream shopping market. Live shopping is also big on TikTok right now. You can whip out your TikTok and do a little live shop shop. Now, to understand live stream shopping, think about this. TikTok democratized the ability to post things online. Well... Whatnot democratized QVC. I like what you did there, Jack.
Because yetis, collectors will set up accounts on Whatnot, turn on their cameras, have production studios like in their basements that are actually pretty nice, and then sell anything to users of the Whatnot app. And if you're a user of the Whatnot app, you're swiping through videos like you used to swipe through TikTok. You are.
But each video is a person selling some random interesting collectible. It could be like Disney merch. It could be crystals. Like, Jack, it kind of feels like you're walking through a night market in Bangkok. You get that vibe, man? Yeah. But there's some credibility here because Whatnot, the app, vets each seller.
And if that seller doesn't send you the thing you pushed buy on, Whatnot will reimburse you. In fact, Jack and I jumped in T-boy style to the numbers and we calculated something wild about Whatnot's size. There's so many sellers selling random stuff on Whatnot. that they have three times as much video content as all of cable television. And there's like wild examples out there.
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Chapter 4: What challenges does Nvidia face with new regulations?
Now, the rest of the press release, NVIDIA actually praised Trump, name dropping him twice in the same report. Which is honestly, it's a politically calculated move that we're seeing others do at this moment as well. With Trump coming into office next week, every tech company is keen to flatter him.
It just is a lot easier to bash the lame duck outgoing president and compliment the incoming new president. It's political calculus that just about everyone has made. Basically, NVIDIA is hoping that Trump will cancel the order once he's inaugurated. But still, NVIDIA stock is down 11% in the past week because of this rule. Because this one rule could put a big dent in its business.
Nvidia happens to sell about $17 billion worth of computer chips to China. That's what they did last year. That's 11% of their business. Now, not all those chips are going to be restricted. Only the most cutting edge AI chips are affected. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Nvidia? AI chips are officially military arms. They're like digital uranium. Yeti's wild stat we noticed.
One expert told the Financial Times that China is only six to 18 months behind the United States in the AI arms race. And honestly, Jack, that sounds like the plot of Oppenheimer, the movie. And that makes sense because we see AI as being like nuclear power. Yes, we do. Nuclear can be used for good or it can be used for bad.
So the Biden administration is trying to keep AI chips away from our adversaries like it's a bomb technology. NVIDIA's chips, like nuclear power, can be used for peace, say AI chatbots. But on the other hand, NVIDIA's chips can also be used for wars. to build advanced weapons, surveillance, drones. It's possible.
This new chip export restriction was probably Biden's biggest final move as president, and it makes one thing official. AI chips are military arms. They're basically digital uranium.
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Chapter 5: How is Nvidia responding to the Biden administration's rules?
Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Get started with your free trial at wondery.com slash plus.
For our third and final story, Sonos just fired its CEO because of a single, simple app update. This is the first time we've ever seen that, but it won't be the last. We'll explain why. Okay, Jack, our favorite hero stat about Sonos. You want to tell it to the Yetis? This is really good. Sonos is the only publicly traded company whose name is a full palindrome. Okay, spell this out, Yetis.
S-O-N-O-S. It's the same left to right, and it's the same up or down. If you flip the name over either dimension, it still says Sonos. Sonos, it is the Santa Barbara-based sound system. Sonos, a billion and a half dollars in revenue, 50% profit margins. Not too shabby, Jack. This is the Mercedes of speakers. But here's the problem.
Sales fell by 16% last quarter, and the stock, while the rest of the stock market grew 25% last year, Sonos fell by 30%. And then there's the latest news because yesterday the CEO of Sonos stepped down. The CEO was fired because he botched an app update this past May. Here's the deal. The Sonos app was beloved by Sonos speakers owners. A lot of people love it.
Many used the Sonos app instead of Spotify or Apple music. It was that good. But last May, Sonos came up with a new app update that was supposed to improve the app experience for everyone. Instead, downloading the app update brought you bugs, lost features, and one huge mess up. Many Sonos users set alarm clocks and sleep timers so that they wake up to music on their Sonos speakers.
Okay, but this new app had deleted that feature. It no longer existed. No more alarm clocks. And Sonos didn't apologize. They didn't explain why that feature was gone, so everyone was just kind of pissed. And remember, people had built speakers that were made by Sonos into their bedroom architecture. They depended on the sound system. And the new app update... was a total pain. Okay.
It made all that money they invested in their speakers feel like a waste. Can I read you the latest app update? All right, here's the latest review about the Sonos app. Here it is, here it is. One star, spectacularly bad from Lowell62. This person says, Sonos is one of the worst apps I've ever seen or had the displeasure of using. It is wildly unfortunate and we're held hostage in their product.
Brutal. They feel like they're held hostage because they spent so much money on those speakers, right? Exactly. And Sonos' new Ace headset, the reason they did the app update in the first place, it was totally overshadowed by all the rage about the app update. So the news as of Monday is that the CEO is out. He said that we let far too many people down.
Basically, Sonos has seen more drama than a conscious uncoupling. Like the real housewives of Sonos. For real. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who we can hear over at Sonos? If you botch the app, you botch the whole product. Yetis today, no matter how physical the product, chances are it is infused with technology.
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