🐟 “CodBar” — David’s fish protein bar. Labubu: Beanie Baby or Barbie? Pittsburgh’s Austin-of-the-East.

0:00This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday, July 17th. And today's pod is the best one yet. And this is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Well, there you go. Yeti's stocks rose yesterday as President Trump denied he's firing the chairman of the Fed. Investors are happy that the head of our nation's central bank isn't going anywhere, at least for now. Stocks are happy. Investors are happy. And we prepared three fantastic stories for today's show. So Jack, what do we got on the teapot? For our first story, it's David. The$725 million protein bar just launched its most controversial product yet.

0:38Cod. Cod. Like the fish. Protein bar cod fish. We'll explain why. For our second story, Popmart is the Chinese company behind the viral LaBooBoo dolls. And now it's way bigger than Mattel. But here's our question for LaBooBoo. Will they be the next Beanie Baby or will they be the next Barbie? And our third and final story, the city of Pittsburgh just snagged$90 billion of AI investment pledges from 20 different companies. So if all goes according to plan, then Pittsburgh will become the Austin of the East. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Oh, fantastic mix of stories for the new Friday.

1:16It feels like a Friday. It's basically the weekend and summer is in full swing. Besties, you're still feeling the vibes of your 4th of July vacation. But over in France, you're not relaxed right now. And why is that, Jack? France could soon lose two public holidays. Not possible! Get this, the French government wants to eliminate two national holidays to save money. World War II Victory Day and Easter Monday, boom! Those could be the last time you celebrate both of them in France. This would be the biggest change to the calendar since leap year. What's next? Cancel Tartine Tuesdays, Jack? Croque Monsieur Mondays?

1:53Are Croque Monsieur Mondays next? I don't know. Nick, you can imagine the French are not loving this idea. No, they are not. But there is some surprising context we should sprinkle on. Get this, the French have the same number of national holidays that we do. That's right. 11 holidays in France, 11 holidays in America. That's surprising because French has a reputation for always being on vacation. But they also have an explanation for that reputation, Jack. And the explanation is faire le pont. Ah, faire le point, a French term with a uniquely French meaning. It means make the bridge. Basically, if the holiday is in the middle of the week, the French turn it into a four or five day weekend.

2:32They make a bridge for the holiday to the weekend. So if Ascension Day, I don't know what that is by the way, but if Ascension Day falls on a Thursday this year. Then you take Friday off too. And if New Year's Day is on a Wednesday. Then you take Thursday and Friday off too. Or do you take Monday and Tuesday off too? Well, you do both, Jack, and then the whole country ends up taking the whole week off, and boom, productivity dropped in France. It's not a holiday. It's a Halloween week in France. Oh, yeah. You still get paid for taking those days off. So technically, the French have the same number of holidays as we do.

3:04But then they make a bridge and basically round up. They faire le pas. And that's hurting the economy. Jack, feels like someone's going on strike next week. Let's hit our three stories. I hope you don't need to take a train in France because the train's not running.

3:47First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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4:49because we pioneered it for him, Jack. Resties, write your own story with Monarch. Use code T-Boy at Monarch.com to get your first year of Monarch Core half off at just 50 bucks. It's 50 % off your first year at Monarch.com with code T-Boy. Another nine. Yetis, we've all heard of side hustles. You find a way to make extra income on the side of your day job. But what if your side hustle was more of a side leisure? And what if it involved hitting golf balls every minute of the day? I think that's called a hobby. Actually, no, this is the real idea behind launching a franchise of Another Nine, the ultimate indoor golf experience.

5:24Another Nine is a network of golf simulators open 24-7. The business is built around private simulator suites that guest book by the hour. And it's powered by the same TrackMan technology used by the PGA Tour. Now, Bessies, we're not talking about playing golf here. We're talking about a franchise opportunity to open up one of these things and run it. And it'd be semi-passive income. There's no staff needed on site, so there's some management required while the golfers are swinging woods, but not so much management that you need to commit to this fully. Actually, Another Nine was started by a couple of guys with young kids who just wanted to play more golf anytime they wanted.

5:55Now they've got 70 locations and want to add more. You could be number 71 by launching Another Nine Franchise near you. So head to www.franchise.anothernine.com to run one of your own. That's www.franchise.anothernine.com.

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7:09For our first story, David, the most protein-y protein bar that we covered a few months ago has gone more viral by going more protein. David just launched a cod bar. Cod bar. Yes, a protein bar that's just a filet of fish. Yetis, Jack and I take the stories we whip up for you on the pod and we post them on social media. And our story about the David bar went viral on Instagram in June. If you followed us because of that post, hi, this is the podcast. Thanks for checking us out. That's Jack. I'm Nick. Great to meet you. Thanks for being with us. You're now besties and yetis. But as a reminder, David is a protein brand known for a super high protein protein bar, and it's got bicep busting numbers right now.

7:53The guy behind the David bar previously founded and sold the RX bar. So David bar is his second bar. They've raised 75 million bucks. They're worth$725 million, and they're doing 100 million bucks in revenue right now. And the name was inspired by the statue of David in Florence, Italy. Some subliminal messaging here, Jack, if I brush up on my art history a little bit. Eat this protein bar and you'll have perfect abs like those tastefully nude Renaissance sculptures. Yeah, Leonardo da Vinci, he was munching on these when he was making a flying machine. Fig leaf, not included in the protein bar.

8:26Now, after Jack and I covered David, there was a little bit of drama that hit the food industry. David Barr got sued by the competition for buying the supplier of the key protein ingredient, basically for becoming a monopoly. Because it was only with that special ingredient that David could jam 28 grams of protein into a single bar. But here's the new news. And it's wild. David's newest protein bar is fish. Yep. It's codfish. Fish. Literally a tiny rectangular shaped filet of fish. That is the biggest plot twist in food, Jack, since that Domino's Oreo pizza. It's the biggest plot twist in food since the Merritt, the meat-based carrot.

9:05Or my soda when my parents mix soda and milk. So Nick and I are asking the same question you are. Why is a protein bar startup acting like the seafood section of your local Kroger's? Well, Jack, why don't we sprinkle on a little context over here? David's differentiator is its high protein ratio. Their flavors aren't unique at all. Exactly. You buy the David Bar for its 75 % protein to calorie ratio. You don't buy it for the mocha peanut butter flavor. But now it sells filet of Pacific codfish, individually wrapped in the shape of a protein bar. We are not exaggerating. We dove in T-boy style.

9:38You can buy a box of four, six ounce flash frozen wild cod Pacific filets of codfish. You keep it frozen until you're ready to eat it. And the one ingredient is cod. That's it. It's like straight up no boo in your fridge, but a protein bar. So what's David doing? Are they trying to push pure fish as an alternative to a protein bar or protein smoothie? Like Jack, if you get home from berries, are you supposed to boil a haddock for your post-workout protein? Maybe. Customers thought though that this was an accidental leak of an April Fool's prank. We almost did too. If you're leaving SoulCycle, you really want to stick your face into some sushi immediately?

10:12But then we thought about it and we realized this is actually brilliant. There's a strategy here. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at David? Sometimes you got to sell a virtue signal. Yetis, David Barr doesn't want to be seen as a protein bar company. They want to be seen as a protein company. And cod happens to be one of the most protein-rich foods in existence. Get this, zero sugar, 100 calories, 23 grams of protein per filet. Besties, if you heard those numbers in a protein bar, you would buy it. This cod bar has an even better protein-to-calorie ratio than the OG David protein bar does.

10:48What Jack and I think David is proving here, in an almost comical way, just how committed they are to the protein focus. There's no way Khloe Kardashian's protein popcorn startup would ever sell fish, regardless of the protein stats. It's kind of a vendetta here too, Jack. Like if you said they had only processed protein bars, this is the most natural protein there is. As long as fish is the most efficient way to deliver protein, David will do it. So we think this codfish is about the message, not the money. David Barr is selling a virtue signal and the virtue is protein. That is flexing some marketing muscle.

11:26For our second story, big money, big tech, and big energy just threw a birthday party for the city of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is getting$90 billion from 20 companies to transform into Steel City 2.0, the Austin of the East. Now, yet is the new Republican senator from Pennsylvania is a man named David McCormick. and he is a former hedge fund manager. But on Tuesday, he organized and emceed the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit hosted at Carnegie Mellon University. As Jack and I saw it, this was basically a business wedding, wasn't it, Jack? Government, tech, and energy are getting married in a throuple situation in the city of Pittsburgh.

12:09Now the guest list, ooh, some pretty exciting guest list appearances. He invited not just President Trump and what appeared to be his entire administration. He also invited Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro. But the majority of this RSVP invite list was executives from America's top three industries, tech, energy, and finance. That is the most finance-y way to say finance. That's what they want me to say, Jack. In the tech industry, this event had the CEOs of Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS, and the president of Alphabet. From the energy industry, you had execs from the biggest oil, nuclear, and natural gas companies in America.

12:46And then from finance. You had BlackRock, Blackstone, and Brookfield. We thought Santa Claus and Mario Lemieux were going to show up at this thing. Wait, why Santa Claus? Why not Santa Claus, Jack? Okay, either way, this is the biggest thing to happen to Pittsburgh since the terrible towel. And together, 20 companies pledged to invest$90 billion in the city of Pittsburgh. With$90 billion, you could have bought 14 lifts. $90 billion? That is one of the biggest dollar investments we've ever heard of for a single city. And it's apropos that it's happening in Pittsburgh because Pittsburgh has been known for steel for over a century and it takes enormous amounts of energy to produce steel, but so does computing AI today.

13:28That's right. So the master plan for Pittsburgh is to build AI computing data servers in and near the city. And power those servers with natural gas that lies underneath Pennsylvania soil. Also, they're probably going to build a couple of nuclear plants. Because you can't get AI without huge amounts of energy. Jack, you can't get either of those without huge amounts of money. Which is why tech, energy, and finance got together in Pittsburgh. Besties, Pittsburgh is famous for the immaculate reception. The most famous football play ever. Well, Jack and I are calling this event the Immaculate Connection.

14:00Because bringing tech, money, and energy together to do AI, that sounds pretty immaculate. Now, we should point out in classic President Trump style, Hell, there were huge numbers here, but it was a little light on the details. So there's no guarantee all of this or any of this ends up happening. But if it does, it could turn Pittsburgh into the Austin of the East. Except instead of barbecue and fried chicken, you get a Roethlis burger. Do you know what's in a Roethlis burger? Protein? I don't. I've never had it. Actually, if someone could comment what's in a Roethlis burger, I'd really love to know.

14:30Black and yellow, black and yellow, black and yellow. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in Pittsburgh? Why do cities become great? The answer is always energy. Energy. Yetis, Jack and I were curious, what results in cities becoming great while other cities struggle? The latest great American city is Austin. The list of companies with headquarters in Austin is truly impressive. And the next great city, it could be Pittsburgh. And the reason is energy. Texas is number one in America for both oil and gas. Pennsylvania is top three for both oil and gas. New York City's energy is its diversity in talent.

15:06San Francisco's energy is its tech and innovation. Austin and Pittsburgh possess those same ingredients, but are bolstered by natural resources. So besties, why do cities become great? The answer is always energy. And Pittsburgh has all sorts of energy right now. Now a quick word from our sponsor. Nature raised farms. Yetis, you walk into the grocery store, excited to cross off your list. That empty shopping cart is an ocean of opportunity. Then you get to aisle six and it hits you. Oh boy. Choice paralysis. Yes, we whipped up takeaways about this on the pod. Too many options. It's like a game of chicken.

15:43Do I go with that chicken or that chicken? Yeah, the irony of having so many chickens to choose from, you cannot choose. This one's raised on a farm. This one's raised on a prairie. Is this range-free or cage-free? Choice paralysis of all these options. It makes us feel dumb. So Nature Raised Farms is built on the simple belief that food shouldn't be complicated. Especially chicken. Definitely shouldn't be complicated. But the freezer aisle, it makes it that way. Too many options, too many additives, a lot of random compromises. But Nature Raised Farms chicken is free from gluten, dairy, and soy.

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16:36Did you remember to remind them to see to pay or remember to pay the invoice? If you drop the ball in any one of those steps, you don't get paid. Nope. And you're missing out on cash flow. You should not have to chase your customers. This isn't tags. So powered by AI, Bill does all that simply and automated so that you don't have to. ACH, credit card, check, international wire transfers. They probably do carrier pigeon Bill Pay if that's how you want to get paid. Bill is the intelligent finance platform trusted by nearly half a million businesses and 98 of the top 100 U.S. accounting firms to manage, move, and maximize your money.

17:07They have securely processed over a trillion dollars in real transactions. That is proven infrastructure you can actually trust. So besties, talk to an expert at bill.com slash proven and get$150 gift card as a thank you. That's bill.com slash proven. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. For our third and final story, LaBooBoo the doll craze just hit an all-time high. But what about the company behind LaBooBoo? It's called Popmart, and it just announced earnings, and it's already way bigger than Mattel. Now, yetis, back on April 30th, we covered the viral craze that is the LaBooBoo doll.

17:48Not the Goo Goo Dolls, LaBooBoo Dolls. And since then, their owner, Popmart, their stock is up 30%. Because Popmart just told investors that this crazy little toy you're seeing everywhere will power their profits up 350 % this year. We're talking about a creepy cute doll the size of a LaCroix. It's like a Furby and a Teletubby had a baby. It's giving where the wild things are. But raised by the trolls of our childhood, Jack. And people attach it to their bags like it's a freaky little keychain. Nothing pairs with a Gucci like a LaBubu. Now, they don't talk, but if they did talk, we think they'd sound like the Jack in the Box from the movie Elf.

18:24That terrifies Will Ferrell. And the hype hack for LeBooBoo dolls is celebrities. Exactly, because Kim Kardashian, Hilary Duff, Simone Biles, they're all enthusiastic boo-boo heads. They are collectors of the boo-boo. Megan Thee Stallion, she just posted like a seven-minute video unboxing her latest haul. And the result? The parent company, Pop Mart, will sell$1 billion of LeBooBoo dolls just this year. To sprinkle on some context, Hot Wheels does$1.5 billion and Barbie does$1.4 billion. So Lububa Dolls is right up there with some of the most famous toys in America. And all that momentum is powering Popmart.

19:00The Chinese toy company actually has 37 stores in America already and is building out 20 more by the end of the year. Congratulations, San Francisco. You're getting one in Union Square. Now, besties, this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. We've covered a lot of viral products on our second show, our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. And the LeBooBoo doll reminds us of two products in particular. And what two products, Jack? Beanie Babies and the Bored Ape Yacht Club. And here's why. Both the 1990s plush animal dolls and the pandemic era NFT had wide variety. And both Beanie Babies and the Bored Apes fueled demand with scarcity.

19:38Owning one of these became a status symbol. Now, last time we covered Labubu, we told you their growth hack was the mystery box. Don't know what Labubu doll you're getting until you open the box up and find out. Well, that's a growth hack because it's how Labubu has created a sense of scarcity as well. And as a result, just like with Beanie Babies, collectors have been buying up Labubu dolls with hopes of selling them someday for a profit. Like how about that human-sized Labubu from last month, Jack? A Labubu doll that's the size of a human sold for$165 ,000 last month in Beijing. We repeat, one LeBubu doll for the price of a Lamborghini.

20:12And that LeBubu frenzy has scaled globally. Pop Mart stock has soared 13x since the start of 2024. So besties, add it all up, and Jack and I gotta ask this question. Will the LeBubu doll become a longtime franchise like Barbie? Or will it just be a short-term fad like the Beanie Baby? Well, from what we're seeing, so far LeBubu has given off bubble vibes, which leads to our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies selling the Lububu dolls? Pop Mart may win the battle, but Mattel will probably win the war. Yeti's Pop Mart, the owner of Lububu, they're now worth more than America's two biggest toy companies, Mattel and Hasbro.

20:53Combined! It's wild but true. Pop Mart is now worth$40 billion on the stock market, which is about six times more valuable than Mattel. But here's what we're thinking. While LaBooBoo dolls may win this year's holiday season sales battle, Mattel will win the war. Because Mattel's brands are timeless. Barbies and Hot Wheels touch deeper and have a more emotional impact than a LaBooBoo doll. Barbie isn't about a doll. It's really about an intergenerational connection between women and careers. It represents more than the dopamine hit you get from opening a mystery LaBooBoo box and then posting that on Instagram.

21:29Barbie's brand is timeless. It is tied to aspiration. While LeBooBoo, it's more like a fashion item. It's still a strong brand, but it's vulnerable to fads. So Pop Mart may win the battle this year, but Mattel will probably win the war.

21:45Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? David, the protein bar brand, launched Codfish, individually wrapped and sold like protein bars. But what David's really selling is a virtue signal, and that virtue is protein. For our second story, Pittsburgh is getting$90 billion of investments from tech, energy, and finance to build out AI. So why do cities become great? The answer is always energy. And our third and final story, LaBooBoo dolls are peak frenzy right now, and its parent is now six times more valuable than Mattel. Pop Mart may win the battle, but Mattel will probably win the war.

22:24But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the United States collected a record$27 billion in tariff fees in just the month of June. Pretty nice for our Treasury Department and for our debt situation. Is there retaliation? Not really. Only China and Canada have retaliated against Trump's tariffs so far. You could argue that the other countries are chickening out, actually, by not retaliating to Trump's 10 % tariffs on the entire world. But while the government has collected$27 billion in tariff revenue, it's paid for by U.S. companies. Second, happy big bank earnings season to all who celebrate.

23:01All the largest banks in America shared financials to kick off the second quarter earnings season, and so far, pretty, pretty good. Goldman Sachs' profits surged to nearly$4 billion in the second quarter, and JPMorgan, Citibank, Wells Fargo, they outperformed too. And the reason? Trading. Stock market volatility means more active traders who made more money. And finally, Fyre Fest has officially been sold for$245 ,300. Because last week we told you Billy McFarland had put Fyre Fest up for sale on eBay. The most controversial non-event event in history could have been yours for$200 ,000. But bidders only raised the price up by 45 grand, so someone is walking away with Fyre Fest for just a quarter million bucks.

23:46Which is just the legal right to sell things under the name Fyre Fest. I feel like we could sell half a million Fyre Fest hats in like 30 minutes, Jack. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by a smiling emoji because it is World Emoji Day today. Emoji were invented in Japan in 1999, but today there are 3 ,790 different emoji options if you include all the colors and the skin colors to choose from. Now Jack, the most popular emoji on earth, what is it? Shocker, the heart emoji. Yeah, the red heart. But more interestingly, what's the least popular? emoji on earth. This is a really fun one.

24:27The least used emoji in the world is hilariously the snail. But even better, the least used emoji in the United States is different. It's the middle finger. How dare you send a middle finger, anybody? I mean, I hope it stays that way. If the middle finger starts climbing in the ranks, then the world's probably in even more trouble than we think. I think what we're saying, Jack, is that no one in history has ever sent a text message with a snail and a middle finger. That's exactly what we're saying. Lucky for the snail. Lucky for the snail. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, you are glowing right now and we've got some big news to share.

25:07You ready for this? Yeah, go ahead. The T-Boy podcast is now made with protein. It now includes extra protein. We have extra protein on the show. Oh, now we're going to double in sales, apparently. Listening to our show, you get an extra serving of protein. There you go, Yetis. So if you haven't yet, drop down and leave us a five-star review. We love reading your ratings. And then tell a buddy, H-Y-H-T-B-O-Y. Have you had the best one yet? Nick and I, we'll see you tomorrow. If you know, you know.

25:36And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti Shane Mandis all the way over on the Upper East Side in New York. This Enneagram 3 is ambitious. Well, he's ambitious to help people. I wonder what his wing is. And Namita Shaw, happy 39th birthday down in lovely Los Angeles. Congratulations to Rui Elias and Daniela Ruiz, who got engaged in Chihuahua, Mexico. They've been listening to the show together for five years. Guys, can't wait to see the ring picks. Congratulations. And Alina, shout out for passing your CFP in San Francisco. Congratulations, Alina. A big shout out to Valerie and Kimmy from the Framer team.

26:14Valerie, have a blast in San Francisco this weekend. Great to meet you. and Glacier Grid, the legendary team that is making restaurants and buildings more energy sustainable. Keep looking fantastic.

26:43Gusto. Yetis, there's nothing more satisfying on a Friday evening and celebrating the wins of our company from that week. Like how we triumphantly completed payroll paperwork right before the tax deadline. Hey, we're just kidding. That's not a win to celebrate, but it is an annoying thing that we did have to do. Yeah, we did. Because if you're an entrepreneur, you're the HR team, the benefits team, the payroll department, and you have to be all those things before your morning coffee. Double digit latte. But you could be doing it all with Gusto. Gusto is an online payroll and benefit software built for small businesses.

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27:37That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash tboy. One more time, gusto.com slash tboy.