🙋‍♀️ “Power Pause” — Millennial Moms-preneurs. KFC vs Dave’s Hot Chicken. Vibe Coding’s AI drama.

0:28This is Nick. select auto-download. And if you're listening on Apple, tap the little arrow button on the top right of the show page and select auto-download. And in the meantime, we'll give you five seconds to auto-download the show while Jack impersonates Adam Neumann getting a cookie crisp. Cookie crisp. Yeah, that's exactly what I was hoping for, Jack. There you go. Yetis, thank you for auto-downloading the show. Jack, what do you say we hit the pod? What do we got for today's T-Boy? For our first story, KFC basically invented fast food fried chicken, but now it's fallen to number four in the category.

1:03Dave's hot chicken is next to pass KFC because of one strategy we subscribe to. Make the lawyers uncomfortable. For our second story, all the big tech drama this week is about one thing. Vibe coding. Jack, I think it's vibe coding. So we'll tell you all about what vibe coding is and what it has to do with windsurfing. Again, Jack, I think it's vibe coding. And our third and final story. We're in the middle of a female founder boom, and it's driven by millennial moms. Because working women having a baby are embracing the power pause. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories.

1:42Love a mix of stories, Jack. Yesterday, we asked you T-Boy Trivia. What is the most expensive Michelin-starred restaurant in the world? A reminder, it costs$2 ,130 per person. So what city is it in? Paris, New York, Tokyo, Singapore, or Dubai? Now, Jack, a lot of the Yetis thought Dubai. I think everyone thought Dubai. I figured Dubai too, but it's actually Tokyo. That's right. The Ginza Kitafuku restaurant of Tokyo has three Michelin stars and will cost you 2 ,000 bucks. If you want to eat their 12 courses of crab, it costs you over 300 ,000 yen per person. But Jack, pause the pod for a second here.

2:24there is a bigger story here, is there not? The Michelin star. The Michelin star. That restaurant guide happens to be the most famous review system in the world. There are only 151 three-star Michelin restaurants on earth. And for the last 100 years, Michelin has maintained its status as restaurant kingmaker by not changing. Same stars, same standards, same anonymous reviewers sneaking into restaurants and reviewing them without their knowing. Is that a spy? Why is he eating with a hat on? I'm stressed. But few know that the Michelin Restaurant Guide actually began with two brothers trying to save their family business.

2:58Their family's tire business. Or that the Michelin Restaurant Guide helped the Allies win World War II. American soldiers were grateful for a French map that they could understand. Or that when Michelin reviews restaurants in a city, sales of tires there jumped. Jack, the connection between cars and restaurant reviews. It is insane. It is insane. And it's the latest episode of our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. So yetis, to learn all about the mysterious business of the Michelin Guide, tap the link in this episode description for our 45-minute episode. Let's get to the T-boy. Today's show is fantastic, Jack.

3:33Voila, chef's kiss. 15 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. 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 because 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

4:12another 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. Another 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.

4:44Now, 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. Now 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.another9.com to run one of your own.

5:15That's www.franchise.another9.com. Monarch. Yeah, it is. You know my first money lesson? It was where to put our lemonade stand. I was wondering, it was on the Upper East Side. Do we do it on Lexington Avenue or Park Avenue? Wait a second. New York City has lemonade stands on the sidebar? They didn't. We were pioneers, Jack. Lexington Avenue is more commercial. Park is more residential. So what did we learn, Jack? Families are willing to pay more for lemonade. So you set it up on Park. Yeah, we did it on Park. Besties, no one gives you financial lessons in life. You end up figuring most of it out as you grow up.

5:45But we love Monarch because it's like a financial advisor in your pocket. Because every minute, it's tracking your savings, spending, investments, and more. For instance, Monarch's goal tracking feature shows if you're on track for that summer trip to Santa Fe. And it tells you what percent of your income is going somewhere that's a surprise. I open Monarch all the time because it takes the mental load off tracking my finances. And whether you're single, you're in a family, or you're dinking it up, Monarch's the way. Our personal fave, the AI Weekly Recap, a once-per-week gut check on what you did with your money.

6:09Hey, Nick, you've spent 96 bucks at kids' lemonade stands since July. Because 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. For our first story, KFC has fallen out of the top three chicken chains in America, and it's about to get passed again. Because Dave's hot chicken is so hot, you have to sign a waiver to eat there. Seriously, you do. Now, Jack, in order for us to really tell this fried chicken story, can you please share your new electric vehicle charging hack with us?

6:52Yeah, we charged in Manchester. It was about a 40-minute charge from 9 % to 100%, which is pretty good in my opinion. Just enough time to give Wilder a haircut. There was a super cuts in the parking lot with the charger. We got water, a haircut. It was hilarious. Jack, I hear that's when Supercuts does its best work. And after that, I stopped by my first ever Dave's Hot Chicken right next to Supercuts. And Dave's Hot Chicken is one reason why KFC's Colonel is not smiling these days, figuratively and literally. In our opinion, the Kentucky Fried Chicken Colonel should be frowning. Yes. Because KFC's US sales have fallen for five straight quarters.

7:29And you You know what, besties? The newest data is finger choking bad for KFC. KFC is no longer the number one chicken chain in America. In fact, it's fallen to number four. We're talking the colonel who basically invented fried chicken back in 1930, no longer on top. He's fallen to number four behind Chick-fil-A, Popeye, and Raising Cane's. Uh-oh, Jack, why did the chicken cross the road? To not go to KFC, apparently. I think the chicken was leaving the KFCs, actually. Apparently they're not even cooking them there. But yet he's, why is the competition eating KFC's lunch while you are not? Three reasons.

8:04KFC's stores are old, the customer service is poor, and bones. More on the bones in a minute. But in the meantime, the real story isn't KFC falling to number four. It's the number five chicken chain that's about to pass them. Dave's Hot Chicken. Founded in 2017 by a comedian and a former Michelin-trained chef in lovely Los Angeles. Dave's Hot Chicken started in an East Hollywood parking lot with a few folding tables and portable fryers. Okay, get this. One of the Dave's founders told Guy Raz on How I Built This, he didn't even like chicken. And just five years later, that glorified tailgate barbecue situation was named America's fastest growing restaurant chain.

8:44That's right. Dave's Hot Chicken is expected to pass$1 billion in revenue later this year. Michael Strahan and Samuel L. Jackson both invested, but the chain recently sold to private equity for about a billion dollars. Now, Jack, could you please sprinkle on some context here like it's 11 herbs and spices, my friend? KFC is almost 100 years old. So yeah, it's still four times bigger than Dave's hot chicken is. But we got to point out that Dave's business is doubling each year while KFC's business is slipping each year. So if this pace continues, Dave will pass KFC in 2027. By the way, Jack, before we hit the takeaway, we got to tell the Yetis about the bones because we promised about the bones.

9:20KFC is famous for their bone-in fried chicken. I eat it growing up. But that's one reason why KFC is struggling right now. Consumers have trended towards boneless chicken. And that's all that Dave sells. Boneless Nashville hot chicken. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over in the chicken wars. Make the lawyers uncomfortable. Okay, Yetis, a wild growth hack that's been growing Dave's chicken is that if you want the spiciest chicken sandwich, you must sign their waiver. Dave's hottest spice level. You get to choose from like six different spice levels. The hottest one is called Reaper, which for 10 years was the Guinness world record holder for hottest chili pepper.

10:01Jack, you know how much hotter it is than a jalapeno? Like a thousand times. 800 times hotter. You were on target. You were on target. So to order the Reaper chicken, you must release the restaurant of liability. Yeah, like you can't sue Dave's if you die. It's hilarious. I didn't order it because I'm a father of three and couldn't take that risk. But I can confirm that the cashier had a bunch of waivers for those who ordered Reaper sauce. Now, besties, this is partly a marketing stunt, but it definitely made the Dave's legal team uncomfortable. And that reminded Nick and me that the coolest ideas we've ever had, our lawyers did not like those ideas.

10:37Like after we sold our first company to Robinhood, if we had a good idea, and it was probably an edgy idea, we would definitely get an email from legal. Hey, Nick and Jack, love your idea to do that thing, but we're going to have to have a chat about it. Just grabbing some time on your calendar. Just grabbing some time on your calendar. Yetis, if you're not getting pushback from legal, then you're not pushing your creative boundary. Just remember, Dave's hot chicken is beating KFC because they're making the lawyers uncomfortable.

11:07For our second story, the biggest drama in tech right now is Winsurf. Open AI failed to buy the company, so the co-founder quit and then joined Google. As the AI talent wars rage, we're looking at the most lucrative AI product, Vibe Coding. Vibe Coding. But Jack, let's go back to the month of May, when Open AI, the biggest AI company in the world offered to buy an AI startup called a windsurf for 3 billion bucks. Windsurf's a great name, you said? Why is that? Because it's already a verb. They don't have to become a verb. Windsurfing's already a verb. And OpenAI's offer gave the two companies a two-month exclusive period to hash out the final terms of a deal.

11:50Which is pretty standard for an acquisition deal. Well, Nick, last week, that two-month exclusive period ended with no deal. Awkward. And then just hours later, Google snatched them. That's right. Google didn't buy the company. They just hired the CEO, co-founder, and a few other key people from Windsurf. So this is not a normal deal. All that Google really wants is the top two AI dragons who co-founded and CEO Windsurf. They don't care what happens to the company Windsurf. They just want a few people. The two top people that Google is getting from Windsurf are AI wunderkins, who graduated from MIT in 2017.

12:27They're just 30 years old, Nick. And they're part of an elite and rare pool of tech talents that knows how to build AI products. We call them AI dragons. Dragons. And with Zuckerberg paying$100 million a year to these dragons, like they were NBA players or something, Google's probably paying them$100 million too. Reminds me of the Yankees in the 90s, Jack. They're just tossing out millions of bucks for some big biceps out there. What's happening right now, Nick, is basically AI companies are buying human brains. Right. So that they can build artificial brains. Now that is unprecedented, Yetis.

13:02So Jack and I had to ask, what were OpenAI and Google locking horns with each other about all week long? Vibe coding. Because vibe coding is what Windsurf does. Vibe coding. Yetis, what is AI best at? Repetitive, time-consuming, and mind-numbing tasks, like coding. Well, Windsurf developed an AI that lets you describe software or a digital feature that you want, and then the AI writes the code to create it. Just like you can say, hey, AI, write me a sci-fi novel, but written like Emily Dickinson was the author. Oh, well, vibe coding is the same concept. You'd say, hey, AI, code me an app that coordinates all my contacts' birthdays and then sends them a present.

13:43It'd be a nice app. It would be a nice app. Maybe we should vibe code it. Now, in the past, a human engineer would put on like a noise canceling headset, grab some Cheetos and some Red Bull, and code for hours to develop that app that we just described. Actually, make it a monster. I'm going to be up all night. But now with Vibe Coding, AI can do all that coding. So Vibe Coding can save companies a ton of money on labor and engineering costs. But Vibe Coding also potentially allows new stuff to get coded that otherwise would never have come into existence. Because when you don't have to pay a dozen engineers to develop a new app, the ROI of new app development becomes a lot nicer.

14:20You could save a lot of money on that ramen, Jack. Jack. So what's the takeaway for all our buddies vibe-a-coding out there? The latest debate in AI, will it kill jobs or will it create them? Now, Yetis, a couple months ago, Jack and I covered a story about the CEO of Anthropic who made a dire prediction for all of us. He said that half of white-collar entry-level jobs would be gone within five years because of artificial intelligence. And you know what? Many CEOs agree. They've said their companies will have fewer workers in the future because of AI. It's like a corporate Ozempic. But yesterday, NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang, stepped up to argue the opposite.

15:01He said that AI is a net job creator. And Jack, let's look at history. Like every time jobs get eliminated by tech, workers use the freed up time to pursue new ideas. Well, Jensen says that as white collar workers save time thanks to AI, they'll create new products, new services, maybe even entirely new industries with all of their freed up calendar space. Yeah, like vibe potting. Like we're vibe podcasters right now, I think. So the hottest sector in AI is vibe coding, which will reduce the number of coding jobs. But will AI be a net job killer or net job creator? That is still up for debate.

15:37Now a quick word from our sponsor.

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16:44Nature 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. Do 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 dumber. So Nature Raised Farms is built on the simple belief that food shouldn't be complicated.

17:16Especially 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 made with no seed oils or artificial ingredients. You know what you're getting. So you can make a simple decision, get on with your day without stressing about the chicken parm recipe. Because that recipe is really simple and so should be your chicken. Nature Raised Farms, it's built on a simple belief. Food shouldn't be complicated. For our third and final story, no one's talking about it yetis, but we are quietly in the middle of a female founder boom, and it's being driven by millennial moms.

17:53Because new moms in their 30s are embracing the power pause. The power pause. Trigger warning, besties. But remember the Zoom calls you had to take during the pandemic? Remember that, Jack? Desperate to find a quiet place in your apartment. You're wearing pajamas on the bottom. You might go to the bathroom during the Zoom and you hope you turned that camera off. Oh, and then Jack, you can hear your boss's toddler refusing to eat their avocado slices at lunch, screaming about it at top volume. Well, the shriek of that six-year-old not at school because of the lockdown is why 2020 had a she session.

18:27A she session. Yetis, that's when the pandemic forced three times more women than men out of the workforce. And that's also when the percent of women identifying as stay-at-home mothers grew by 60%. No nanny, preschool clothes, and the playdates with future buddy Timmy, those got canceled. So during the pandemic, moms more than dads stepped out at work so they could step in at home. Now, since then, besties, women have bounced back into the workforce with an Athena level of energy. 2023 and 2024, women powered back into the workforce, hitting work percentage rates higher than ever in history in America.

19:06Kids are back at school, so she's back to her commute, but there is a fascinating plot twist here. Women aren't going back to their old jobs necessarily. They're launching their own. Here's the news. Millennial moms are driving a startup moment. Between 2019 and 2023, women started businesses at twice the rate that men did, according to Wells Fargo. We're talking a female founder boom here. You are twice as likely to be getting a pitch deck if you're a venture capitalist from Patricia than you are Paul. Oh, and Nick, there's more data. According to Gusto, 49 % of all new business applications last year were from women, the highest percentage in American history.

19:46Basically what you're saying, Jack, is we've gone from a she session to a she startup. She is starting up right now. Are you a mama? A mama. See the norm, the CEO. But there's one more interesting detail in the data we want to tell you about. Oh, I gotta hear this, Jack. What do we got? What do we got? This new batch of female founders, they're not hiring teams. Many of you are solopreneurs. No co-founder, no hires. You're a one-woman business. She's doing it her way, and the reason is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies part of the female founder boom? The trend for women in business having a baby is the power pause.

20:25Yetis, that's not our term. The Power Pause is actually a new book by Naya Roach about this specific trend within a trend. And it's specifically referring to millennial moms who've achieved corporate success. They may have a high-pressure, high-paying job. They may have an MBA or a law degree. And here's the key. They quit those jobs when they're at the pinnacle of their careers to have a baby. That's the pause part. But instead of rushing a return to office while the newborn is at home, they start their own business. That's the power part. The vision is a balance of flexibility and ambition. Not a stay-at-home mom, but also not a grind up the ladder over a JP Stanley Sachs.

21:01Instead, women doing the power pause are becoming consultants or freelancers who are flexing their marketable skills, but also dictating their own schedules. Basically, millennial women are going from girl boss to her own boss. It's the power pause, and it's the new option for millennial moms having a baby. Capitalize on the business skills that they built, but on their own lifestyle terms with their own LLC. And just like that, she started expensing the family's internet, cell phone plans, snacks, furniture.

21:38Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? KFC has fallen to the number four fried chicken company in America by sales. And Dave's Hot Chicken is right on sale. Dave's hot sauce liability waiver is a reminder that the best ideas make the lawyers uncomfortable For our second story, Google beat OpenAI to get the top AI people at Windsurf, which does vibe coding Vibe coding, it leads to the latest debate in AI Will it kill jobs or create them? NVIDIA's Jensen says create And our third and final story Within the female founder boom we're experiencing right now is the power pause The trend for women in business having a baby is the power pause.

22:20But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the trade war almanac. Here's the latest on Trump's tariff whiplash. Yesterday, Trump threatened 100 % tariffs on any country that buys Russian exports. President Trump also announced yesterday he's giving Ukraine Patriot missiles, a sign that he's turned against Putin in the war in Ukraine. He wants Putin to agree to a ceasefire, and he's threatening him with tariffs and sanctions if he does. Meanwhile, the port of Los Angeles had its busiest June ever, as importers are trying to beat those tariffs. Second, Bad Bunny, the rapper from Puerto Rico, is about to boost the Puerto Rican economy.

22:59Yeah, by$200 million. This is epic. The hip-hop artist is returning to his home island for a 30-date residency on the island's biggest stadium. And analysts are expecting this to boost the local economy of Puerto Rico by 200 million bucks. New strategy to get out of a recession? Just host some government-subsidized rock concerts. Hey, Beyonce, we need you over in Newfoundland. Hey, Taylor, 2023 was amazing. Can you help us with 2026? And if you give lower rates. And finally, Levi's jeans just confirmed the trend that we saw on Google search last month. In Levi's' latest earnings report, they said they're getting a boost from jort sales.

23:36More Americans are jording it up or just buying jeans and then cutting off the bottoms and getting rid of them. Wall Street confirmed it. Jorts are back. Now time for the best fact yet. This one's sent in by Satoshi and from the blockchain. This weekend, a new person joined the top 10 list of wealthiest people in the world. Now we don't know if it's a man or a woman, and we don't know who this person actually is or if they are even alive. Because that person Nick is talking about is Satoshi Nakamoto. That's right, Satoshi, who created Bitcoin on the blockchain in 2008 and authored a white paper all about the cryptocurrency.

24:10It's believed that Satoshi mined the first 1 million Bitcoin for themselves at the beginning of this whole Bitcoin creation. And that 1 million Bitcoin is now worth$120 billion. Which puts Satoshi at number 8 on the list of world's richest people. Ahead of Bill Gates, Jensen Wang, and Michael Bloomberg. And yes, a new Bitcoin high was reached yesterday, 120 ,000. Congratulations to Bitcoin Ben. Yetis, you look fantastic for T-Boy Tuesday. Jack, you are looking lovely over there as well. We should tell the besties, by the way, during the commercial break, we vibe-coded that birthday app that we mentioned.

24:48Isn't that amazing? We already have it. It's already up. Incredible. You can send gifts to your buddies automatically through our new birthday app called Party Pooper. It's already done. Jack and I whipped it up in like 10 seconds. Vibe-code it. Besties, go and enjoy our weekly show, The Best Idea Yet. We got an insane episode right now on the Michelin star. I'm still laughing about this birthday app, dude. The party pooper. Perfect. So go enjoy our weekly show, and Jack and I will see you tomorrow.

25:18And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Faradzameh over in Michigan doing investments and celebrating the best birthday yet. Happy 34th birthday to Rene Bueno in Glendale, Arizona. And Sidney Wong in Orange, California, the director of finance at the Viv Hotel, has got a epic birthday celebration. Congratulations to Emily and Ross Kay in Austin, Texas, for having baby number one. And a thank you to all the lawyers out there for not suing us because of our takeaway about making legal uncomfortable. And finally, a big shout out to Jason L 'Oreal of Manalist New York for being the best husband ever and buying flights and tickets to the T-Boy live show in Chicago.

25:59go. Jason cannot wait to see you guys in that front row. Drop a comment if T-Boy Live is doubling as date night for you next Wednesday. And Jack and I will see you tomorrow. This is Jack. I own stock of Levi. Nick and I both own stock of Spotify and Apple, and we both own some Bitcoin. Gusto. Yetis, there's nothing more satisfying on a Friday evening than celebrating the wins of our company from that week. Like how we triumphantly completed payroll paperwork right before the tax deadline. Just kidding. That's not a one to celebrate, but it is an annoying thing that we did have to do. Yeah, we did.

26:34Because 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 benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote, friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay higher onboard and support your team from anywhere. So save time with built-in automated tools like offer letters, onboarding documents, direct deposit, and more. And it's super simple to switch to Gusto. You can just transfer your existing data to get up and running fast and don't even have to pay a penny until you run your first payroll.

27:03Because you're not toasting a Negroni on Friday to celebrate that paperwork. Nope. So besties, try Gusto today at gusto.com slash tboy and get three months free when you run your first payroll. That's three months of free payroll at gusto.com slash tboy. One more time, gusto.com slash tboy.