😎 “Hot Smartglasses” — Gucci’s Google deal. A16z’s CNN dupe. $40 Half-Chicken economy. +In-Car Toilet

0:28This is Nick. In the meantime, I hope Jack mentions, it's my Q1 birthday. It's like you never remember, man. Are you kidding me? Why have I not set up a recurring calendar invite? How do you not have a calendar? You know, a quarter gift, a quart of champagne, a quarter cupcake. In the meantime, happy Q1 birthday to all the 22ers who celebrate. Jack, what have we got on today's T-Boy? For our first story, after 11 falling quarters, Gucci just found a sugar daddy to save the fashion label. It's Google. Gucci and Google, they're doing smart glasses. For our second story, Andreessen Horowitz, the world's most famous venture capitalist, just launched a 24-7 news show on X.

1:06And here's why. The clips are the content. And our third and final story. It's a New York City restaurant that's selling a half chicken entree for$40. Oh yeah? But Costco sells a whole chicken for$5. And Yetis, that's caused outrage on the internet. So we'll tell you who to really blame. But Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a mix. No one else is doing that mix. Best mixing business. Funny little secret about Nick, he does a great car salesman impression Jack, what do I gotta do to get you into this thing? It's fully loaded, we got an AC, a 7-disc CD, changer, massage sheets, heated seats, and...

1:39A toilet Sorry, what was that? Yeah, a toilet, get this yetis, one Chinese car brand just patented the in-car toilet It's not a thing yet, but it's been patented, so it's coming It's gonna be a thing, because nothing slows down a road trip quite like a bathroom pit stop And nothing ruins an upholstery like trying to pee into a Coke bottle. You tried to go number one on the 101. We've all been there, done that. So the company is called Series, and their SUVs of the future could come with a button that slides the in-car toilet under the passenger seat while you're driving like magic. And the system includes an exhaust pipe.

2:14Thank goodness. And a collection tank that must be emptied manually. That's unfortunate. So give the Chinese credit. They're no longer number two in innovation. They're number one. Puns intended Yeah, this is not the Model T This is the Model P This is a chassis for your chassis The biggest innovation in cars since Cigarette lighter that doubles as a electric charger I was going to say the left turn Besties, oh and it's voice activated I think they're going to have to collab with Toyota To get the built-in bidet though, Nick Your move on the backseat bidet Toyota Your move, Jack Let's hit our three stories Fifteen years before this song Two boys from the northeast met in the dorm They had an idea to cause a cultural storm It's the best one yet, but the best is the norm.

2:57Jack 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.

3:13Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

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5:25For our first story, Gucci is having its worst moment in the history of handbags, but it's found a brand new sugar daddy. Can Gucci and Google make smart glasses finally cool. Ah, Yetis, let's start by sprinkling on the context. Investors, overall, not rattled by the war in Iran. Stocks are at all-time highs, but investors in luxury stocks are rattled. That's right, LVMH, their stock is down 25 % just so far this year. Because dudes in Dubai aren't buying $1 ,000 crocodile belts right now when their country is being attacked. And that is why Gucci looks more like Foochie these days. Gucci, their sales are down half from their all-time peak.

6:05Gucci, owned by Kering, has seen sales fall 11 straight quarters. In fact, Gucci's gone through three different creative directors in just the last three years. The Cleveland Browns can't find a quarterback. Gucci can't find a creative director. 2021, Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, they did a whole Gucci movie. It was Oscar bait. We watched it. Now, that didn't win an Oscar. No, it didn't. But it did mark the peak for the Gucci brand in real life. It has, because Gucci forgot the golden rule of luxury that Jack and I always talk about. Aspiration and accessibility don't mix You can't have a velvet rope and then let everyone through it After the movie, Gucci dropped prices, increased the number of retail outlets they were in And became a little too accessible And once Gucci started showing up in airport stores and on resale sites at a discount Gucci lost its glam So last week, Gucci announced a 360 turnaround plan And key to their turnaround was to find a sugar daddy Oh, and they found a sugar daddy in the tech industry Gucci and Google announced they're hooking up to launch AI smart glasses targeting a 2027 launch.

7:09It's a classic beauty and the beast partnership, is it not, Jack? This is the most fashionable thing a tech company has ever done by our count. So Google is going to handle the internals of this new product. Yeah, Google's going to do the Android operating system, the Gemini AI, and the Pixel camera. All built into the frames. Gucci is going to handle the externals in the deal. The Italian style, the luxury legitimacy, and to distribute them in 500 retail stores. Basically, Google's bringing the chip and hopes Gucci brings the hip. And you gotta give Google credit. They're learning from their mistakes here.

7:39Do you remember Google Glass, the original smart glasses from 2013? Jack, the ultimate tech punchline? It set smart glasses back like 10 years. But Zuckerberg cracked the code, avoided the destiny of Google Glasses by hooking up with Ray-Ban. That's right. Zuck has sold 7 million Meta smart glasses just in the last year. And this year, Meta is adding Oakley. So you got Oakley smart glasses for sport use cases and Ray-Ban for lifestyle. So let's look at the situation. On the battlefield in smart glasses, it's Meta Ray-Bans versus Google's Gucci coming soon. Which reminds us of a takeaway we did five years ago.

8:14Oh yeah. The ugly test. If a tech wearable makes you look ugly, it's not going to sell. Besties, you ever seen an Apple Vision Pro in the wild? Once. Yeah. And the guy, he was like gesturing to himself making a scene. And then he was texting through his iPhone. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Gucci and Google? Google wants to become the Android for eyeballs. So Yetis, looks like Google is zucking Zuck's playbook here. They're partnering with an existing proven cooler glasses brand. But there's one big difference. Google is developing AI glasses with three different eyewear companies at the same time.

8:50Get this. in just the last year, Google has partnered with Warby Parker, the$95 accessible glasses company. And they're also developing smart glasses with the startup Gentle Monster, which sells$300 fashion forward frames. And now Google's got a smart glasses deal with Gucci. Probably$700 if we had to guess. This is top of the line. I mean, Jack, that's the whole consumer spectrum. Google now owns the entire smart glasses price ladder. Because they're following the same strategy they did with Android. Yes. Android powers high-end Samsung phones, Pixel phones, Motorola phones, and low-end Chinese phones as well.

9:25Besties, it's just like they did with Android. Google is trying to be the operating system of everyone's eyeballs, no matter the size of your wallet. For our second story, America's most famous venture capitalists just funded MTS, a 24-hour live stream news-ish show on X. And the key bet Andreessen is making is that banks will watch CNBC, tech companies will watch this. Yetis, remember just a few weeks ago, Jack and I told you the story of how OpenAI acquired a tech podcast for a reported 200 million bucks. Well, to quote Harry meeting Sally, Andreessen wants what she's having. Oh yeah, extra pastrami.

10:06So Andreessen Horwitz launched MTS this week, short for monitoring the situation. Monitoring the situation is a popular internet meme acknowledging that chaos is all around us and we're all just monitoring the situation. As in, pause the pod, Jack. I am checking Instagram to monitor the situation. Yeah, it's a really kind of like legit way to describe your mindless feed scrolling and like the three second pause you did on the news update. Sorry, mom, I'm situation maxing right now. And now there is a live stream 24-hour show on X that is adopting that meme as its official legal name. It's called MTS.

10:44And it's like CNN had a baby with Twitch raised in Menlo Park by the two product managers who launched Clubhouse. And that 24-hour live stream just got funding from Andreessen Horowitz, a.k.a. A16Z, America's most famous venture capital. And what exactly does this look like if you watch this brand new, crazy hybrid CNN internet? A 100 % knockoff carbon copy of TBPN. Which was OpenAI's new tech podcast, but this thing is way longer. We're also not sure podcast is the right word because both TBPN and MTS are live streams on X or YouTube, which that's not really what a podcast is. They're not really listened to after the recording.

11:25They're listened to live. TBPN is three hours long and MTS is 24 hours long. Although, Nick, they're not really watched live either. We'll get to that in the takeaway. Besties, both of these shows cover news focused on tech and politics as it is happening in real time. And unlike our show, which is 20 minutes for your once daily news digest, these shows are intended to be always on background content. Although, Nick, I said always on, it's specifically designed for people always on X, that social media platform. Exactly. Here's how Andreessen Horowitz, which also helped Elon buy Twitter, described their investment in this new media brand.

12:02He said, of course, X is and always has been the real world. Or at least X is the place where the people who run the real world make sense of what's happening. And then in Andreessen's announcement post, they said MTS is CNN, but on X instead of cable. That's the model here. Now, we should point out, this is definitely Silicon Valley navel gazing. If you watch these shows, it's techies talking to other techies about tech, and it's broadcasted on tech. As tech happens. And the big question is if they can expand beyond that valuable but niche audience of techies looking and chatting to techies. The other big question is, is the future of news guys chatting on their computer but live?

12:41Which leads to an answer, which is our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Monitor the Situation? The clips are the content. The clips are the content. Yetis, we watched some of MTS yesterday. And Jack, why don't you sprinkle on some context? What did we see, man? What did you see? So on the side, there was a guy, an unnamed guy on his laptop, like looking stuff up on the internet as he shared his screen. He was just trying to fill the time. It's a lot of time to fill. And besties, that makes clear what the business model is here. It's CNBC or CNN, but at a one one hundredth the production cost.

13:17No central studio space, no expensive on-air talent, and no lawyer to protect the journalist because MTS and TBPN don't have any journalists. The business model is hoping that tech offices leave it on in the background all the time and that ads are then being sold, which show up on those screens. And further, since this is on in the background of tech offices, it's easy to book tech leaders who want to talk to other tech people about their product. And when the interesting stuff happens for a few minutes, they clip it into 60-second videos, which go viral, and then they sell ads on those social media views.

13:51This is a key thing to know about these platforms. Short 60-second clips of MTS and TBPN shared on X and YouTube, those get way more views than the actual shows ever do. And besties, that's why. For this new concept of 24-7 live stream tech news to work, the clips are the content. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

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15:15Upwork. Yeah, and he's the best way to pivot quick. Freelancers. They move fast and they make things. We love full-time hires, but that can take time and money and paperwork, and it's a higher risk if you hire the wrong person. So think of Upwork like Liam Neeson. They find you the person with that particular set of skills, right, Jack? And like Liam Neeson in Taken, they'll be there before you know it. Yeah, what's that line you love about Upwork? The fastest growing businesses aren't doing more. They're delegating smarter. Because Upwork is the one platform to find, hire, and pay. Expert freelancers from software engineering to data analysis to marketing to biz dev.

15:49Upwork gets you access to specialized talent in 125 categories, so you can fill the gaps without full-time headcount. With Business Plus, you can access the top 1 % of talent on Upwork and with AI Power shortlisting. You'll get matched to the right freelancer in under six hours. No endless searching required. To move fast and make things, don't pull a zuck. Just sign up with Upwork. Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That's Upwork.com to connect with top talent or ready to help your business grow. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com, Upwork.com. For our third and final story, we wanna get your thoughts on this.

16:25A restaurant in New York City got roasted, charging 40 bucks for a chicken entree, while Costco charges five bucks. And it's opened up a great debate. Restaurant economics versus grocery economics We'll tell you who's right. But first, let's just share a fact. Everyone you know lived in Williamsburg. They now live in Greenpoint. Fact. And in Greenpoint, in between Van Leeuwen Ice Cream and Compton Sandwich Shop Classics, is the subject of today's story, Gigi's Restaurant. Gigi's Restaurant. They got a bubblegum pink lighting, a disco ball in the center, and they're playing French rap on repeat, baby.

16:59And they just got a killer review from the infatuation, so I'd love to check it out. And after what the owner says was two and a half years of red tape, he finally opened just last week. And he went viral, but for the wrong reasons. Yeah, this is tough. Because a New York City Gen Z city council member with a huge following posted this on Instagram. Here's the Instagram post. $40 half chicken at a wine bar? Really? Now, this is a wine-forward fancy French restaurant, so we're not surprised that the chicken entree is$40. Yeah, very possible at this kind of restaurant. But in this affordability-obsessed political climate, Costco famously sells a whole rotisserie chicken, not a half chicken, for just$5.

17:37And Jack, that Costco$5 full chicken has been unchanged in price for 15 years. So you got a comparison here. A whole chicken at Costco for five bucks or a half chicken for 40 bucks at Gigi's. I mean, do the quick math. This Brooklyn cafe is charging 16 times higher a price on that bird. Shame. This is a clear cut case of greedflation. They deserve to be called out on social media. Bring out the guillotine, Jack. That's actually not the situation. In fact, Nick and I looked at the 533 comments on this Instagram post, and it is a charbroiled debate about just about every economic issue that our country faces right now.

18:15Because yet, he's in addition to studying and living in business. Jack was also a longtime Olive Garden Wine Salesman of the Month and waiter. So Jack, we got to do a restaurant reality check here. Okay, that Costco versus Jeezy's chicken comparison, that wasn't apples to apples. It wasn't even close. No, it wasn't even close. It wasn't even fair. because first, the dirty secret of the grocery business, it's that chicken is a lost llama. Not just for Costco, but for Costco, they lose money on that$5 full rotisserie chicken. They keep it though, because it keeps the members happy and gets them in the door to spend more.

18:48Totally, while a popular entree to restaurant, that's the core product. It must be priced to profit. It must make a profit, which leads to our second issue here. Costco is just a rotisserie chicken, but this restaurant is serving you sides and sauces. So it's a full meal. Yeah. And third, the restaurant gives you atmosphere. Look, nothing against Costco's food court, but the restaurant has music that they must license. They have to import those Parisian tiles, Jack. They have expensive cutlery, and they have a staff that keeps everything clean in spic and span. But the fourth and the fifth differences between Costco and a restaurant, those are the costly ones that are most critical.

19:24We're talking about the rent and the health insurance. Costco enjoys economies of scale, so they secure efficient commercial leases in the suburbs. On the other hand, Gigi's restaurant is one guy renting from one landlord paying$9 ,000 a month, according to the New York Times interview. And it's on prime real estate in the center of one of the hottest streets in Zillennial, Brooklyn. And Gigi's offers employees health insurance and paid time off, which isn't typical of a restaurant. Costco does take care of their employees too, but they can spread employee benefit costs across$286 billion of annual revenue.

19:56So besties added all up, and the restaurant is only making$4 a profit on that$40 half chicken. 10 % markup, that is not something a company should be called out for. That is a small markup. In fact, Gigi's restaurant would be better off tossing away that chicken than selling it for$5 like Costco. Comparing a restaurant's chicken price to Costco's chicken price, that's not even apples to oranges, that's apples to aliens. In fact, the best way to put this was said by the owner of the restaurant himself when he was interviewed by the New York Times for this piece. He said that the disconnect between owners and diners about restaurant economics has never been wider.

20:31So we whipped up this takeaway, and it's hot, but it's medium rare. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in hospitality? Don't blame restaurants for high prices. Here's who you should blame. So yeah, it's funny time here. Jack's actually down in Florida visiting family, where the community seems to be complaining about high prices like it's a national pastime. Can we say that? How was dinner? Well, the cocktail was$18. It didn't really answer my question how dinner was. Here's the truth, though. Restaurants are an unscalable, low-profit business that relies on the most expensive cost, human labor.

21:05So don't blame restaurants for high prices because most break even or barely make a profit at all if they're not closing. Blame our politicians for not getting housing policy right because workers need high pay because rents are so damn high. Blame too much red tape because it should probably cost a lot less just to open and run a food business. Blame the landlord class for their relentless rent increases way above the rate of inflation. Jack, our favorite restaurant in the West Village, Loring Place, they are shutting down after 10 years of incredible business because of restaurant economics they just announced last week.

21:37Were their prices too high? I bet a lot of people complained that they were, but they still went out of business despite being full every night. Besties, in our experience studying business and working in restaurants, If the price of the chicken is too high, don't blame the chef. Don't blame the chef. Don't blame the waiter. Don't blame the owner. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for Ceviche Wednesday and that Florida heat? After 11 straight quarters of sales declines, Gucci has found a tech sugar daddy in Google. For smart glasses. Because Google wants to be the android of your eyeballs.

22:11For our second story, Andreessen launched a 24-7 version of TBPN. It's called MTS. it's a TBP and dupe. They're monitoring the situation. And for these live stream tech shows on X, the clips are the content. And our third and final story, a$40 chicken entree in New York only makes$4 of profit. It's expensive, but don't blame the restaurant. Blame failed housing and healthcare policy, red tape, landlords, and overall inflation. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, happy Fed in Congress day. President Trump's pick to run our central bank got interviewed by the Senate yesterday.

22:49And the key subject that we've grilled for is his$100 million net worth, which presents a potential conflict of interest. That's right, because Kevin Walsh would be the richest ever Fed chair, by far, if confirmed. His wife is the heir to Estee Lauder, and he made investments early in SpaceX and Polymarket. And second, Red Lobster is bringing back the endless shrimp deal that tanked the company. But there are hilariously a few strings attached if they're going to do endless shrimp again and not have it bankrupt the company. Yeah, here are the strings. They won't serve it to go, they won't do it for delivery, and they won't do it on holidays.

23:22FYI, the new CEO famously said that the company was killed by the endless shrimp deal. Yeah, as he put it, I'm ending the deal because I know how to do math. Although I can't believe they ever allowed endless shrimp on a to-go basis. And finally, we got more drama in the running world. Runners welcome, walkers tolerated. That's what the Nike billboard at the Boston Marathon said on Monday. Runners welcome, walkers tolerated. But it caused such anger from some of the walkers that Nike removed it right after the race. Nike's still trying to get their footing back. Little trip up there, but they're running on.

23:58Sorry, walking on too. Now time for the best fact yet. This one, a follow-up fact from our manager, Mike Muni, who is in Disneyland yesterday, taking the day off with his family. We were pumped for him. Mike just got back from Disney and he has a wild fact. The best day to go to Disneyland is Tuesday, April 21st. That's right, because Mike, our manager, has a secret skill in optimizing everything. That's actually why we hired him. And he calculated that the date with the fewest crowds at Disneyland in California is Tuesday, April 21st. It's after spring break. It's after Easter. But it's before Memorial Day and it's before summer, Jack.

24:34It's midweek. It's not the weekend. It's not vacation for anyone. So basically like the third Tuesday in April, boom, that's the day with the shortest lines over at Disneyland. Yetis, you are looking fantastic for Ceviche Wednesday. Jack, you are glowing right now. I know what you're thinking. I know what you're thinking. You know what you're thinking? What am I thinking, Dave? I know nothing grinds your gears more than when you were working at the Olive Garden and people would try to do the never-ending pasta bowl takeout. I know that got to you Every time. Not happening on my watch. I'm protecting that company money.

25:06Oh, yeah, you are. Yeah. Besties, remember to tap to follow and subscribe to the pod. It's free and it means you'll get us every single day. Just tap wherever you're listening. Jack and I will see you manana.

25:20And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Eddie. Jakey Dwyer, the Dartmouth Greenlaxer, living it up in UVA country down in Charlottesville. No one catches a striper like Jake Dwyer. And happy birthday to Juan D. Angel, the sous chef whipping up his famous bloom bash at the San Diego Museum of Art this weekend. And Ava Perez is turning 21 at the University of Wisconsin. Ava Perez, by the way, just legendary longtime Yeti. Happy 54th birthday to Ryan Passmore, turning 54 the day before his son turns 27 in Texas. And Jake Brown down in Ridgefield, Connecticut is turning 13 on his new road bike and listening to the best idea yet.

25:56Jake, let us know your favorite episode. Happy 12th birthday to Easton Larive, who's on his way to school in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Been a Yeti since he was in the fifth grade. We love you, Easton. And Emily Harrison, the HR legend, has got a birthday trip down to Nashville playing some music. Happy birthday to Gwen Ryan in Pennsylvania. And Alina in Milpitas, California, which we also may have mispronounced. And Judy Slavins over in Tatooine. And Ryan Katz, he never misses an episode in New York City, so we never miss his birthday. Happy birthday to Margarita Romana in Portugal. Oh, and now time for a quick correction to the podcast.

26:29Earlier this week, we said Mark had a 850 credit score that fell to 845. It actually fell to 849. We also brutally mispronounced the name of a California town during a birthday shout out and got like 273 DMs about our mispronunciation. The correct pronunciation is Temecula. Not Temecula. Not Temecula.

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