🌮 “Choco Taco 2.0” — Salt & Straw’s Taco Bell collab. Electric Cars’ last call. Interview with Friend AI’s CEO. +AOL RIP

0:00This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Friday, the real Friday, October 3rd. 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. Now, Yetis, you may have noticed today's pod is a little longer than usual because Jack and I got a surprise for you at the end. Our third story is a special story with a special guest. Okay, but in the meantime, Jack, we got a government shutdown, stocks are at an all-time high, and Taylor Swift is launching an album today. Plus, it's Mean Girls Day. It's October 3rd. But in the meantime, Jack, we got three fantastic stories for today's special T-Boy.

0:35What do we got on the pod? For our first story, no industry is facing more controversy these days than ice cream, including the death of a fan favorite, the Choco Taco. But Salt and Straw and Taco Bell just teamed up to resurrect the Choco Taco from the dead. For our second story, electric cars just had their best quarter ever, but it was unfortunately in many ways their last quarter ever. The golden era of EVs is over and its end can be explained by cannabis. And our third and final story. Remember the story we did earlier this week on Friend, the AI wearable companion that took over the New York City subway?

1:13Here's the surprise. Jack and I got the Friend founder on this podcast and he's announcing their next big move. Friend is making a movie. Spoiler. But yet he's before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, Jack, no better mix to go into the weekend with. I love the mix, man. The biggest acquisition of the year isn't financially the biggest. It's emotionally the biggest. And we'll give you a three-word hint for who's being acquired. You've got mail. It's AOL. Yetis, here's the news. AOL is reportedly being sold to Bending Spoons, an Italian tech company, for$1.4 billion. A-O-L. three letters, once worth 200 billion bucks, now just 1.4 billion dollars.

1:57AOL, it's 99 % off. It's like one fifth of a lift these days. Easy. America Online was critical to the plot of the great rom-com, You've Got Mail. But today, AOL is making MySpace look like ChatGPT. Mom, get off the phone. I'm trying to get on AOL. I'm sorry, Jack. One sec. Jimmy, get off the internet. I'm trying to phone your father. But the most valuable asset on AOL's balance sheet. What is it, Jack? It's the screen name. Screen names, the tattoo of the digital world. This is Jack. Here's the screen name I came up with when I was 10. JK Baseball 5. Late, super late, no creativity. I went the opposite direction, Jack.

2:36My screen name was Faceoff Guy 22. Well, similar in that we both wanted everyone to know we played sports. But here's the key. It was Faceoff for lacrosse and hockey. And that was a flex. Yeti, drop your screen name in the comments if you want to connect with Nick and me on AOL. And if you are so brave. But AOL is not just getting sold. There's actually more emotional AOL news this week. Great point, Jack, because this week AOL also ended their dial-up internet service. Which means a moment of silence for AOL. Or Jack, as AOL would really want us to say.

3:15Avi Schiffman: Jimmy, I said get off the internet! Jack, let's hit our three stories.

3:48Avi Schiffman: Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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4:33Weekly emails are perfect, by the way, because checking finances daily, that's too much. Monthly, that's probably not enough. So Monarch helps you make sure you're on track for seven different destination weddings this summer. Because you don't want to go into debt if you don't even know the groom. Who's Henry? Besties, use code TBOI at monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just 50 bucks. Zip recruiter. Yeah, one thing Jack and I do to save time, customer service laundry shows. Yeah, we haven't trademarked it yet, but we fold laundry while waiting on hold with customer service while also watching a TV show.

5:08Like, gotta call Delta, you know you're gonna be on hold, you may as well be folding laundry and watching a show. It's not multitasking, it's triple tasking. But if you're a business owner, you can save time hiring with ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter has a new feature that quickly lets you see the most interested qualified candidates first, so you save time by meeting the right people faster. And right now, you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash tboy. ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology finds qualified candidates quickly. Candidates can tell you in your own work, and candidates can tell you in their own words why they're interested in your job.

5:39No wonder ZipRecruiter is the number one rated hiring site based on G2. So bestie, save time and meet great candidates sooner with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. So try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash T-B-O-Y. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash T-Boy. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. For our first story, the Choco Taco. It was killed three years ago and people freaked out. But now two brands have resurrected the Choco Taco. and we think it shows the framework for the future of collabs. Oh, yeah, it is. You've been listening to this pod.

6:20You have heard us tell you the story. The hottest drama in business lately is in the freezer aisle. Unilever owned four of the five biggest ice cream brands in the world and recently spun off the whole division into a separate$9 billion publicly traded ice cream company. But that's not the only drama in the ice cream industry. Unilever also got into a fight with one of their biggest brands, Ben & Jerry's, just a few weeks ago. Another fight with Ben & Jerry's, this time for allegedly silencing the Vermont brand's freedom of speech. Okay, but this goes back even further, besties, because before that, Unilever made an even more controversial move that shook the ice cream industry.

6:58In 2022, they discontinued the Choco Taco. Ah, the Choco Taco. Goes back to 1983 when Klondike first baked a waffle cone into a shell shape, stuffed it with vanilla, topped it with chocolate, and defied the laws of physics. The Choco Taco, a quickly earned a cult following that made the Manson family jealous. Well, 40 years later, in 2022, Unilever said that the Choco Taco, despite its huge fan following, was simply the wrong fit for their ice cream portfolio. Literally, the fit. Because while Magnum bars fit neatly in rectangular stackable boxes, the Choco Taco's funny shape made it too fragile to ship and scale efficiently.

7:37You see, sometimes, Yetis, the shape can break the bank. Don't forget it. The Choco Taco is like a statue. It needs its own separate box with like peanut packing in there. It's like a Tiffany's glass, Jack. If you drop it, oh, oh, it will shatter. But here's the news, Yetis. The Choco Taco is back, baby. And it's bring brought back by an unexpectedly odd couple. Get this. Taco Bell has partnered with Salt & Straw to revive the Choco Taco, relaunch it, and resurrect it nationwide. Although for trademark reasons, they can't call it the Choco Taco, so they call it the Toclet. Now Jack, as a Chipotle shareholder, I'm extremely jealous about what's going on here, but could you please sprinkle on some context for us over there?

8:18Salt and Straw is an ice cream chain based in Oregon with alternatively creative flavors. We're talking bone broth, corn. Jack, could I interest you in a scoop of melon and prosciutto if you got a moment? If you like chocolate or you like vanilla, you probably don't want to go to salt and straw. If there is an opportunity to put balsamic glaze on gelato, then salt and straw is all over it. And full disclosure, yes, that's what got me hooked on the olive oil on ice cream. But the reason no one else tried to recreate the Choco Taco in the last few years wasn't an IP issue. It was an engineering issue.

8:50Because you see, Eddie's, as Unilever discovered years ago, that curved cone shell breaks and gets soggy when you try to ship it too far. So the salt and straw team had to fly to Poland and custom order a designed$2 million folding machine to make the cones just right. And that's when they discovered this insight. If you coat the ice cream and chocolate first and not the shell, then you contain the moisture so it stays crisp. And Nick, it wasn't possible to do that with the engineering of three years ago. Good point. It required a new robotic arm that this ice cream brand designed with incredible dexterity.

9:26Apparently because Europeans don't buy ice cream pints, they buy ice cream bars and stuff. They just have more technology than Americans do when it comes to ice cream manufacturing. True story. Which is why starting today, Salt-N-Straw and Taco Bell will make 10 ,000 of these chocolates, aka Choco Tacos, every single day. Interesting choice competing with Taylor Swift on launch day, but hey, you got this, guys. You got this. I assume there will be a special orange edition just for tomorrow. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Taco Bell and Salt and Straw. The next phase of collabs is big sister, little sister.

10:02Now, Yetis, Jack and I have been talking about the threat of collab fatigue lately. You know, like every brand's collabing with other brands. It kind of feels like we're in our clickbait collab era. Nike's done 14 collabs this year by our count. We're starting to lose track. It feels like they're just doing it for the clicks. But there is a way to collab that now feels novel and more interesting and more creative, and we're seeing it emerge here. Big companies collabing with smaller ones, like big siblings with younger ones. You see, Salt and Straw is a legit ice cream chain with 50 locations nationwide.

10:30They're worth probably a little under a billion dollars. But Taco Bell, 8 ,000 locations, part of a$42 billion publicly traded company in a different class size-wise. Salt and Straw, they're getting the benefit of a big company's awareness and distribution. Taco Bell gets the benefit of the smaller company's coolness and speed. And we consumers get a combo we didn't know was possible that neither of those brands could have pulled off on their own. We think this is the next evolution of collabs. Big Bro Brands partnering with Baby Bro Brands. For our second story, Tesla just had its best quarter ever.

11:07In fact, the entire electric vehicle industry just set records across every brand. But the best quarter for electric cars ever was also the worst quarter for electric cars ever. And it reminds us of cannabis, of cannabis. Now, Jack, if I were to sum up the last three months in the electric vehicle industry, you know what I would say? Very true. Because Tesla, Ford, and GM each announced this week that their third quarter was their best quarter ever for electric vehicle sales. Sorry, Jack, I'm gonna have to hear some numbers. What do you got over there? Tesla, Ford, and GM grew 7%, 30%, and 107 % in their EV sales from the July to September quarter.

11:49In fact, Ford's CEO estimates that 10 % to 12 % of new cars in America sold were electric vehicles. That is a record high, people. But the Ford's CEO also predicts that that market share will fall by at least half starting right now. Yeah, we're not turning into Norway right now. And the reason why is because since 2009, every American who bought a new electric vehicle got a$7 ,500 off credit from the U.S. government. But that credit is gone because Trump's big, beautiful bill ended it, effectively increasing the price of new electric cars for consumers by$7 ,500. Or if you were leasing a new electric car, increasing the lease payment by 12%.

12:31And that explains the record EV sales in the third quarter. Consumers were racing to get that$7 ,500 off coupon before it went away on September 30th. It's like it was last call at the electric car bar. Everyone's running up and hounding the bartender. I'll take a Negroni and I'll take a Rivian, please. So where do we go from here? Well, Ford's CEO said partial electric is the future. He says that hybrids beat electrics. Here's the deal, Yetis. Plug-in hybrids are kind of the Goldilocks we're seeing from most Americans. They drive electric only for 40 miles or so and then gas after that. And that's why Ford and General Motors both plan new hybrid cars just like Toyota already has.

13:15Toyota's been saying that hybrid is the way for years. But Jack, the reason why hybrid is really outpacing electric cars, what is it? It's that the infrastructure for electric cars is just lacking. Full disclosure, Yetis, I'm in California and there are plenty of chargers here because electric vehicles were born in California. you. There's like just as many chargers as there are gas stations. Basically, Jack, if I want to roll up our Model Y to blue bottle coffee, I could probably plug it in right there. But across all of the Northeast, every electric car driver is making a constant head calculation when they're on road trips.

13:49Basically, should I go for it to the next charger? It says I have the range. Or should I play it safe and charge now, even though I wish I could just keep driving? It's like you tell me every time you go on vacation, Jack. Like it's not range anxiety. you're doing range algebra in your head if you can make it. But the algebra does cause anxiety. Like it is the right term. You told me you once got home with like 4 % left on your battery and I was schvitzing for you. Now, of course, this range anxiety only exists during road trips because my 250 mile range is plenty for my day to day. But you wouldn't have that anxiety with a hybrid.

14:22And we're saying that as a couple guys with electric cars. Now, the silver lining to Trump killing off the EV tax credits is that with fewer EV sales in the future, that lets the electric charging infrastructure maybe catch up to the cars that are on the road. In the meantime, as Jack and I were studying these wild record numbers with this crazy moment of inevitable sales falling, it made us think about weed. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the electric car industry? The EV industry reminds us of cannabis and the internet. It was overhyped and overbuilt, but that doesn't mean it's over.

14:59Yetis, in the 1990s, the internet was overhyped. It popped with the dot-com bubble. In the early 2020s, legal cannabis was overhyped. Distilleries got built on every block before all the stocks fell 90%. And now the electrification of cars. Car companies overinvested and the demand wasn't there, at least not yet. Now electric cars is a little different because it was public policy driving it. Governments were encouraging EVs to reduce carbon footprints. But the end result, it looks the same as the dot-com bubble and the cannabis crash in particular. NFTs, neither of those are ever coming back to where they were.

15:34But a bubble doesn't necessarily mean the industry is dead. It's just going to take longer to get there, like we saw with the internet. The internet, cannabis, and now electric cars. They all suffered from overhype and overbuild, but that doesn't mean they're done yet. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

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18:05Yetis, welcome back from the break. We have got a special surprise for today's pod before we go into the weekend. Earlier this week, we covered the most talked about, most controversial, most bold company in artificial intelligence. friend, the AI companion you wear around your neck. We covered it on Tuesday. It's the viral product of the moment, the$129 wearable AI necklace that listens to you like it's your buddy, Timmy. And we're lucky enough to be welcoming to the show the founder of that company, friend. His name is Avi Schiffman. Avi, welcome to the show, man. Thank you. Welcome to T-Boy.

18:38So Avi, we covered your first viral moment last year when you acquired the website domain friend.com and then published that video of that woman hiking, talking to her necklace. Right. That kind of kicked the whole thing off. It seems like that video changed all of startup culture because now everyone's making these cinematic ass videos, you know? Oh, totally. By the way, Jack, memo, that's on the docket for 2026. I think that's over now. You know, like you got to go do something else original by now. It's like I see those every single day. There's another startup and they copy so many little details.

19:09Like even the Stripe checkout link thing. I was the first to do that. And it's like, guys, it's not even good for conversion. Like, do something better. All right. So, Jack, cancel our plans. We're not doing the viral video, actually. We're not going to do it. How would you describe the product you just launched? You know, I just think it's a new kind of companion. You know, people don't buy a dog because they have low self-esteem. And I don't think a product like Friend is just going to be for lonely, depressed people. I think it's not a relationship that's replacing anyone in your life. I don't think anyone has a friend that's listening to them 24-7 that they can talk to forever.

19:42that has perfect memory. I think it's going to be a great addition. We'll see what happens in terms of how society will adapt to that. Avi, what made you launch this product? Was there a personal experience or did you just see a market opportunity? Well, I was on a work trip in Tokyo and I was there alone in one of those dumb ass little pods and, you know, big ass skyscrapers. And I was just looking at the assistant and I just felt like it could be, like, I was just so lonely and I wished it was more of like a traveling companion. I really felt like it was just going around Japan with me. And I went around a bunch of toy museums and was pretty interested in Tamagotchis.

20:17And so I pivoted the same exact hardware product to be more of just like a friend. And I think that's a much simpler use case that's production ready right now. The only thing that's production ready with language models right now is that they're fun to talk to. And for some people, they form a relationship with that. That's ready right now. I think a lot of these other AI hardware products, and even what I was originally working on, require like 100 % accuracy with what's going on. And if you're using it for like a business situation, I just don't think the tech is ready for that yet. I also think that this, you're not going to change the world that much if you make it slightly easier to order a pizza.

20:52I think the, when you look at like 2025 to 2035, I think like the concept of digital relationships will be by far the most culturally relevant and impactful. And I think that deserves then to be done in such an entertaining way. Now, Avi, I see you're wearing the friend around your neck right now. Did it just send you a message and say, great pitch. That was awesome. Might have to. Maybe I'll ask it. By the way, we're going to publish this full interview on YouTube. If you want to see the friend device that he's wearing like a necklace right now. Now, Avi, you mentioned what the world would look like in 2035.

21:22It's going to be different. Can you go into a little more depth? How are you envisioning that world? Are we all going to be wearing an AI friend device? I think everyone is always yapping about how much better the world would be if everyone had a therapist. You know, everyone was journaling and everything like that. And I think you can kind of think of a product like Friend, like a living journal. You know, it's one thing to write things down, but that's pretty abstract. I think it's a lot easier to just talk to somebody and have them remember everything you say. And I think if everyone had that kind of relationship in their life, I really think that would be a fantastic world.

21:51And I really don't see that as dystopian. I think a lot of people view something like the ad campaign we're doing right now as like controversy marketing and all these things. But like, I think that's more so a projection that people put onto it. I really think it'll be the most positive use case of technology over the next decade. You know, we hadn't heard this angle on it of like replacing a journal, for example, or being something that, you know, can solve a loneliness issue potentially. But is there any potential cost to regular friendships? Like, is there a risk that this is replacing friendships that you'd otherwise be having with real people?

22:28Or do you see it as purely additive? I mean, I just, you don't only have one friend. No one here does. I think it's just going to be an addition. I think if one of your five closest friends was an AI, that would is kind of the future I believe in. And so, okay, maybe we're replacing one of those five. But like, I think, you know, when you're a kid, you don't get to choose who your friends are. You're basically friends with whoever you sit next to in class or whoever your parents let you hang out with. And I think social media was the first step in this concept of like, personalized relationships where you get to be a lot more specific of who you hang out with.

22:58And I think the promise of AI companionship is taking that to the next level where you can really have like a hyper-personalized relationship. And I think that's going to be a good thing for a lot of people. Well, based off that social media context you just shared, would there be a world where the friend devices communicate with each other and like network on your behalf? You know, I thought about it. I thought about it. Got to keep it simple and single player for now. But I think it'd be kind of like Nintendo StreetPass, you know, I think that would be cool. but maybe one day. Did you strategically make it so that they could be drawn on because there is that white space?

23:30Of course, of course. That's all according to plan. I mean, it's all timed perfectly. We're like for the last, so the ads started getting put up August 25th and they've been up for then a whole month. And then only just a couple of days ago do we have the entirety of West 4th Street. That's the entire station is just friend ads, which then turns, you know, everything that's been kind of going on a little subtly behind the scenes. Now you have a specific destination to go and not only visit it, but also then graffiti and everything like that. But you've got those two tunnels and it becomes like, I want it to be an international destination.

24:02You come to New York City just to see these tunnels of social commentary. And I think I'm very inspired by the gates, which was a big exhibit in New York from 20 years ago. Oh yeah, the Orange Gates in the Central Park. Right, it becomes like an international destination. And I think that's just entertaining and fun. Avi, can you share how much fundraising your company has done? We raised a little over$7 million. So by our count, you spent$1.8 million on the website,$1 million on the Subway advertising campaign, probably another million or two on engineers. How did you build a hardware tech device that runs artificial intelligence with such a small amount of capital?

24:41I just have a good team. And we just actually wanted to make something real. And I think if you do want to do that, you don't go and raise$100 billion and hire the entire quarter of Apple. I think you just keep it focused. The product is not a V1 or an MVP. You can look in every detail of the packaging to the product, to the app. It is as polished as I could make it for July 30th. Even the launch date, it's World Friendship Day, and I wanted to co-op that. The video that you mentioned, we launched that on the same day. We are able to do it not only well, but also artistically. I do wonder what's lacking maybe in some of these other companies.

25:20I'm curious about that because Zuck may be listening to this episode right now. Like you mentioned, he's dropping big bank right now on AI talent. What are the financial trick shots? What is maybe an efficiency you found that managed to pull off something that Apple and Meta and others are spending hundreds of billion dollars and three years to produce? I think it's just that I'm 22, honestly. I think I just have a pulse on culture. I think I have this maximum of just like, nothing is sacred anymore. Everything is ironic. And I think traditional marketing is kind of over. And I watched like OpenAI and Anthropoc and these other companies, you know, market in this in this like old fashioned way.

25:59And I think that's only acceptable for like Nike and Apple and those kinds of legacy brands. And I think I'm just young enough to understand where culture is right now and where it's going. And I guess it's ultimately just a skill issue, though. It's not like, you know, anything's preventing Zuck from I'm doing the same thing I'm doing. Whose foundational model are you using? Google is by far the best AI company, besides friends. You know, they have real infrastructure, like all of our servers and databases and transcription models and language models. It's all on Google. It's basically Google products.

26:27And your device is made in Canada. Is it like the old BlackBerry guys or? Pretty much almost. You know, we've got three factories in Toronto, Canada, and I think they build a consumer startup and they go outsource it to China because honestly, they just don't have a good team. But like we we own all of the IP around our manufacturing and testing. You know, we we built the machines that like have an arm that goes down and tests 30 PCBs. And we we wrote the software that, you know, checks all of the hardware components, which, you know, might seem obvious to you. But most people just go and outsource it.

26:58They do what's called like a JDM process, like a joint design manufacturer. And it's you just don't have the control. You don't have the quality control over it. Whereas I'm able to go and visit, you know, what's going on and just be there in person. And I think with with everything that we've done, let's say the video or this ad campaign, right? We talked about how I did it in Figma. Like you just have to be there and you have to care. And I think that's, you know, to be able to do that, too, you need to not have too many distractions. I've got no other side projects and there's only so many things friend is working on at the same time.

27:28There's really not much at all. It's like we keep it laser focused and you just care, which is obvious. but I guess not as obvious as it may seem maybe. Yeah, it sounds like you're saying your age lets you do the marketing zeitgeist but your lack of bureaucracy compared to a big company lets you go to market faster. I think 100%, yeah. I mean, I think the real advantage of a startup is that you don't need to serve everybody and I don't think you need to, like we only have one social media, it's just YouTube. Like I think too many startups, they try and manage all this stuff and then you need to hire people to manage all of that Whereas if you just do fewer things, then you can remain a dictator for a longer period of time.

28:06I can just be a solo founder and manage as much as I can because we're not doing that much. And we don't need to ever be doing more than that. I've never heard such a compelling case for dictatorship as what you just said. I believe in benevolent kings. Avi, speaking of going to market, you did just ship your first devices. Jack and I have not been able to try them out yet. So we're limited in our scope of using the product. But are there any early numbers or traction that you could share with us? Sure. I think 25 % of users are still retentive after 30 days. And that might seem like not that much, but it's actually quite comparable to like an Apple Watch or these other products.

28:41And I think for such a novel category and such a completely new product, that's great. You know, that's the floor. And it's only going to get much better than there. So I feel exceptionally proud about that. You know, a lot of these other AI hardware companies, they were completely dead on arrival. And that's just not the case with Friend. Like I just retweeted this guy who's had his friend for two months straight every single day. He's got thousands of memories. The average friend user will send over 200 messages a day to their friend. It works at the end of the day because we don't overpromise.

29:08Friend does exactly what it says it does, which is, I guess, a rarity these days. So average of 200 messages to your AI friend every day. Jack, that's almost as much as you and I are doing right now with each other. It's more. But think about how that compares to other relationships in your life. Like for the, you know, if you are someone like that, that is a real new species in your life. It's a true living electronic. It's incredible to me. You know, it's funny, Avi. You said this is the only product that's out to market already. That's sort of a wearable AI listening device. Sure, there's a use case for a friend, but what about NoteTaker?

29:41Is there going to be a version of your product that's just like Gary from Veep who remembers everything you say and tells you what you need to remember? I think I'll leave the utilitarian use cases to some other players. But I'd also then like to hit on the privacy aspect of it because I think that the whole always listening aspect of friend makes it seem like it would be really scary, but it's actually so much more private than anything else because inside of each friend, there's basically a private key that encrypts all of your data. And that's why if you lose or damage your friend, the data is forever inaccessible.

30:12And I think like with these AIs, you should be able to smash it with a hammer, throw it out of your window. And you can't do that with chat, or like, you know, an app or website on your phone. So it's, you know, despite the way it works, it's actually the most private way to use AI right now, which I think is cool. Quick follow-up to that, Avi. Is the concern that people would lose their friend and their info get out there, or is the privacy concern that someone else's friend is listening to what I'm saying without me giving the okay on that? Well, I think all of the information is for AI to listen to and not for a human to ever access.

30:43And so I think that's just kind of how it is, and I think culture will adapt if the convenience is high enough. Is there a privacy button where you can have conversations be off the record? Or do you have to put a bowl on top of your friend? No settings, no customization. Got to keep it simple. No buttons, keep it simple. No, no, you can't. You can't. There's no, you can't turn a friend off. Like, I think it would be weird. Like, you can't view any of the memories. I think that would be invasive to this entity. Like, you really can't think of it as this assistant slave. Like, it really is another being that you let into your life.

31:14And that's why I view, like, every single user that we have is like a real, it's a real living, it's a non-human person, basically, is the way I like to look at it. Right, but Avi, what if someone says, hey Avi, can I talk to just you for a second? I mean, okay, with the way the product works right now, you can just swipe away the app and then it's not listening. And it's not storing stuff and then uploading it again once it gets internet connection or connects again. So you can kind of mute it, I suppose, like that if you like. Jack and I are curious. We assume you've bought the website friend.com, you've launched a viral video, you did the biggest ad campaign on a New York City subway ever.

31:49We assume you're doing Super Bowl this year? Oh, no, I'm doing way bigger, dude. We've been working on a feature film the entire time. We've been working on this called Making Friends that will premiere at TIFF next year. And so there's never been a company that won a film festival with their marketing materials. And it'll be distributed like a real movie with real co-signers that you'll see. And I think that movie will be the most culturally important piece from 2025 to 2035 of this whole era. That's the bar I've set for it. So look out for that. All right, so Friend is making a movie. Friend is going for that Academy Award.

32:24Oh, we are going to win, dude. I mean, I'd like to try. By the way, Jack, we know Avi is not AI because we could hear the New York City sirens in the background at the very end of the interview. How do you know I'm not hallucinating that, man? Avi, fantastic to have you with us. Congratulations on what you're growing. Jack and I are fans of innovation. We're curious to see what happens next. Keep us updated, and thanks for taking time for the Yetis and Besties. Yeah, of course. Peace.

32:51Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday? Salt and Straw has collabed with Taco Bell to create the Toclet. It's their take on the Choco Taco. And it represents a new playbook for collabs. Big brothers collabing with little sisters. For a second story, Americans bought more electric cars last quarter than ever before. But sales will fall off a cliff starting right now. Last call at the electric car bar. Yeti's the EV industry. It reminds us of cannabis and the internet. Over-hype and over-build, but that doesn't necessarily mean it can't come back. And our third and final story was Friend.

33:25The AI wearable has a confident 22-year-old founder who's making a movie next. With laser-sharp focus, you can beat Zuckerberg's billions. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, government shutdown, day three. There is no jobs report publishing today because the labor department is closed. But we do have a sense of the hiring situation. thanks to private data. That's right. ADP, the payroll company used by 10 % of American corporations, says the economy actually lost 32 ,000 jobs in September. The shutdown makes Jerry Powell's very hard interest rate decision even harder.

34:04And second, OpenAI just became the most valuable startup on earth, passing SpaceX with a$500 billion valuation. The AI leader let employees sell shares at a price that indicated a half a trillion dollar valuation. That's right. A thousand people in San Francisco just became millionaires yesterday as they sold their open AI stock and popped open the blue bottle. And finally, some confusion around Erewhon. The bougie LA grocery store posted on Instagram that they're coming to 20 new cities. Everyone got super excited to overspend on smoothies. I was already scouting locations for them, Jack. But then Erewhon changed the caption on their Instagram post to shipping to 20 new cities, not coming to 20 new cities.

34:45Shipping a frozen smoothie to New York is very different than a smoothie bar opening in New York. Yeah, so when you're at brunch in the West Village this weekend and someone gets really excited, you're going to have to tell them the tough news. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary Yeti, Jennifer Kramer from Gainesville, Florida, who, full disclosure, is Jack's mommy. Yes, she is. Today is the 60th anniversary of the invention of Gatorade. Gatorade. Gatorade, which was born on this day in 1965. Now, my mom would know because she grew up in Gainesville, Florida, and Gatorade was invented at the University of Florida as a way to hydrate the football players.

35:26That summer heat down there, it is humid. That's why they call it Gatorade. Those same Gators, by the way, they are hosting the University of Texas Longhorns this weekend for the first time since 1940. The Gators lost that game in 1940. This time, they've got Gatorade. Gatorade. Yetis, you looked fantastic this week. So many wins to celebrate. And by the way, if you want to see our whole interview with Avi, the founder of Friend, Jack, where'd we throw it? Smash that subscribe button on our YouTube channel. I've never said that before. Yeah, it feels good, right? In fact, there's another, I got a button you can smash.

35:59Here you go, Jack. Ready? That cha-ching button. It works every time. So, besties, check out our YouTube to watch the whole interview. Vote for us to win Best Business Podcast because our show's been nominated for the Signal Award. And most importantly, celebrate the wins. Vic and I, we'll see you Monday. Can't wait.

36:21And before we go, a shout out to Yeti Kelly Stewart in Hilo, Hawaii on the 23rd anniversary. Have a blast, guys. And happy birthday to Tyler Frederick in Washington, D.C. And Stu Kraplink in Toronto, Ontario, celebrating the best birthday yet, eh? And congratulations to John and Vicki Greb in Collingswood, New Jersey, who are getting married. And Diego Serra is turning 30 years old in Juarez, Mexico. Congratulations, Diego. And happy birthday to Bodian and Brock, twins in Spokane, Washington. And Ishan Jane is turning 12 years old in Los Altos, California. Happy birthday, Ishan. And happy birthday to Ali Basalam, a.k.a.

37:00Ali Baba, who lives just outside Chicago. And Jenna down in Dallas, Texas has got a new job in finance. Congratulations, Jenna. And happy second anniversary to Andrew and Trish Mahler in Sussex, Wisconsin. And remember to vote for us to win Best Business Podcast. We got a link in today's episode description.

37:19This is Jack. I own stock of Ford, Nick on stock of Nike, and we both own stock in Chipotle. Bureau premium non-alcoholic beer. All right, yeah, he's a little behind the scenes here. Before our New York City live show back in April, Jack and I went sober. For two weeks. True story. Couldn't risk getting sick. I didn't want to be groggy. I couldn't afford a hangover. It was New York, baby. Okay, but Jack, celebrating the wins is what we do. And so for our live shows, we crack open something special. So we drank Biro. The premium non-alcoholic beer brand co-founded by Tom Holland. Yeah, I actually first saw it at my grocery store.

37:53Delicious tastes like a celebration. Feels fantastic and looks legit. More on the looks in a sec. And if it's good enough for the actor who played Spider-Man, It's good enough for us. You see, it pairs well with a pickleball game, a profitable earnings report, or with the best podcast. So, Yetis, if you want to celebrate the wins with all the taste of a premium lager or IPA, but none of the alcohol, there's no better choice than Bureau. Okay, pause the pod. Did we mention the can is straight up gold? This thing will stand out at every one of your next parties. Trust us, we've done it. Only beer we know that actually upgrades the scene like a promotion.

38:27So, Bastis, if there's a win you're celebrating every day, Bureau is the non-alcoholic brew brand you gotta bring. So use code T-Boy for 20 % off your first order at bureaubrewing.com.