🌭 “Profit Puppy” — Nathan’s Hot Dog high. Lululemon’s Costco dupe-suit. Cloudflare’s AI shield.

0:28This is Nick. industry. Snag your tickets for T-Boy Live in Chicago. We got a link in the episode description. We cannot wait to see you there. But in the meantime, we can't wait to see you here. Jack, what do we got on the show for today's T-Boy? For our first story, Nathan's hot dog eating contest is tomorrow, the 4th of July. But its stock is at an all-time high. So we'll tell you how Nathan's business is booming thanks, shockingly, to Ukraine. For our second story, Cloudflare just invented the most important breakthrough in artificial intelligence. Because Cloudflare's newest product is a bot-proof vest.

1:03And our third and final story is Lululemon. Lululemon just pulled off the biggest lawsuit of its Lululemon. It is suing Costco. Ooh, besties, this ain't a lawsuit. This is a dupe suit. Because Lulu wants to kill the knockoff forever. Knock out the knockoff. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories for a three-day weekend, Jack. If you're going to the movies this weekend, it's okay to be late. In fact, it turns out 30 minutes late is right on time. Because the average movie in America doesn't begin until a half hour after the scheduled showtime. That's right.

1:39The average film now faces 30 minutes of previews. 30 minutes of previews. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the pre-show content is also their profit puppy. Because theaters are squeezing in 8 to 10 trailers and 4 to 5 commercials in that puppy. It's a promo parade. It's a teaser tornado. Jack, you can't see Jurassic Park without a mattress, beer, and pharmaceutical ad these days. Yeah, if this film lasts longer than four hours, consult your doctor. There's so many trailers, you forgot what film you're there to see in the first place. I think it's a Marvel one. It's always a Marvel one, Jack.

2:11And that extra half hour of ads, it actually drives more concession sales. Because you ran out of Junior Mints before the seventh trailer began. At least AMC is being honest about it, though. They're going to warn you right on your ticket. Here's the news. New tickets are now alerting you that the start time isn't 7 p.m., it's 7.30 p.m. They're like, it starts at 7, but it really starts at 7.30. Yeah, yeah, no problem by us. So you could literally watch the whole TV show before the movie begins. So Yetis, don't worry about being fashionably late to the theater this weekend. Jack and I call it cinematically late.

2:43Because 30 minutes late is right on time. If you know, you know, 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. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice. 50%, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, cause we ready to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.

3:14Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

3:25Monarch. 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 sidewalk? 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. But we love Monarch because it's like a financial advisor in your pocket.

3:54Because 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. Hey, Nick, you've spent 96 bucks at kids' lemonade stands since July.

4:18Yeah, 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. Indeed. Oh, we missed the deadline. My recording device is having issues. Our contractor pretended to be sick. I know he's watching the World Cup matches, Jack. Or how about this? Elon just tweeted something at 3 a.m. that completely changes the takeaway on our second story. We gotta re-record the show. So besties, when workplace chaos hits you, you need the right hire.

4:50And this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed Sponsored Jobs gets you quality candidates when you need them most. We produce a daily episode of this show, 250 episodes a year. Sometimes we need help, we need it fast. So spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Less stress, less time, more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs. And listeners of this T-Boy show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast.

5:21Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this show. Indeed.com slash podcast and mention T-Boy. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. For our first story. On the eve of their Super Bowl, Nathan's hot dog stock just hit an all-time high. Because Nathan's hot dogs found a surprise customer in Ukraine. Now, Yetis, full disclosure here, I'm not a relish guy. Are you, Jack? I realize I don't even know that. Are you? No, but I like pickles, which is basically just the poor man's relish. I don't know what we're going to call that.

6:02I think it's the rich man's relish, actually. That's a primo move right there. Classy co-host, my friend. But America, Yetis, America, we've got three holidays devoted to food. Thanksgiving is devoted to turkey. Halloween is devoted to candy. Fourth of July is devoted to hot dogs. Yeah, cranberry sauce is cute in Thanksgiving, but nothing is more American than stuffing your face with 78 sausages. Like our nation's biggest eater, Joey Chestnut. Which leads to the nation's hot dog eating contest happening tomorrow. It's a Coney Island, New York tradition. It goes back 109 years. It's basically a marketing stunt with mustard.

6:36And somehow Joey Chestnut eats like 70 dogs and buns without throwing up. Well, on ESPN, this has been broadcast since 2001. At its height, it got 3 million viewers. But last year, the 16-time champion Joey Chestnut ditched Nathan's for a Netflix-streamed hot dog eating rival on Memorial Day. Which leads to the news. First, Joey Chestnut is back in the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. And second, Nathan's stock is at an all-time high. And that got us fascinated. Get this, Yetis. Nathan's stock is up 40 % this year. It's the palantir of pork, basically. Actually, it's an all-beef hot dog. It's the Bitcoin of beef dogs.

7:18And it's skinless beef? I didn't need to know about skinless. It's a little TMI. But here's the surprise plot twist, Yetis. Nathan's new market is Ukraine. That's right, Ukraine. The biggest hot dog-loving country outside of the USA. Okay, wild story the New York Times found. Right before the war in Ukraine, a 35-year-old gas station entrepreneur contacted Nathan's. And what was what he requested, Jack? To expand. And now Nathan's is carried in 27 of his gas station stores across the country. Customers know because there's a hot dog statue outside of each gas station. Yeah, the size of a human.

7:55It's like a six-foot-tall hot dog, man. And as Ukraine battles Russian aggression, a hot dog, a Nathan's hot dog, is an affordable and efficient protein option. And interestingly, since it's an all-beef dog, they can sell it to the Muslim communities nearby. It's basically a halal hot dog. Plus, there's something poetic here. Because Nathan's was founded over 100 years ago by a Polish immigrant during World War I. In fact, what was the story we discovered on this, Jack? Oh, this is great. To settle an argument over who was the most patriotic, legend has it that four immigrants held a hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.

8:28That was the original Nathan's hot dog eating contest. But back to today, besties. It turns out it's not war-torn hot dog-loving Ukraine that's driving this huge Nathan's sales surge, is it, Jack? It's what all that reflects. Because Nathan's stock, we discovered, is at an all-time high because it's real businesses and hot dog shops. It's the name. Nathan's. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Nathan's Hot Dogs? The secret sauce to scalability is licensing. Yeah, it is. Nathan's doesn't make most of their money from hot dogs. They make it from letting other people make their hot dogs.

9:06That's right. They sell the rights to use the name Nathan's and Nathan's hot dog recipes. It's not franchising. It's licensing. And we jumped into Nathan's annual report, T-Boy style, and they put licensing as their number one top product. It's their highest margin product. They mentioned it 42 times. Licensing is 25 % of Nathan's sales, but a whopping 75 % of Nathan's profits. That's insane! In fact, only 7 % of their revenue comes from running their own hot dog restaurants. Those things are basically big, symbolic billboards. Running their own restaurants also sets a quality bar that all the licensees must match.

9:41But Nathan's stock? It's at an all-time high, Besties. Not because of the dogs, but because it rents out its name. Nathan's real secret sauce isn't ketchup mustard or chopped up pickles. The Jack special. It's licensing.

9:59For our second story, the biggest new AI product, it's an anti-AI product. Get this, Cloudflare just built an AI fence. Here's their pitch. If AI companies want to train on your content, they gotta pay. Oh, they gotta pay to get in that garden. Now, Yetis, this story really begins with something Jack and I do every day. We use AI every day in our research, right, Jack? If you use Google's AI mode, they will actually tell you how many websites they visit to come up with their AI-generated answer. And what did you notice the other day when you were researching a story, man? Google did nine searches and viewed 229 websites to find my answer, and they did it in like two seconds.

10:41And that is why AI is so smart, because AI can read the entire internet millions of times instantly to get you one answer. According to Cloudflare, Anthropic, one AI company, they read an article 73 ,000 times for each one time they refer someone to visit that website. Now, when you hear those kind of numbers, and if you're an online publisher like the New York Times, CNN, or an independent blogger, you hate this. We repeat, Anthropic reads a New York Times article 73 ,000 times for each one time an Anthropic user ends up on the New York Times. Now, in the past, a Google search would generate website visits directly to your site.

11:21But now that doesn't happen anymore. AI upstreams you and gives you the answer so you don't even need to visit the website. And this is why AI is such a huge threat to the content publishers of the world. They steal and then share your words. So that's why Jack and I got fascinated about this story. Cloudflare, a$60 billion cybersecurity company, just built a fence to block unwanted AI. Basically, they built a digital fence that blocks AI from visiting your website and eating up your content And now you have seen Cloudflare before, by the way, right? Like Jack, it's subtle It's when you go to a website and they're like, verifying you're a human, this may take a few seconds That's what Cloudflare typically does, and they already do that for like 20 % of the world wide web right now But now, they're going to show their clients when AI is crawling their website and how often it's happening And then here's the key.

12:09They're going to give those clients a button they can press to raise a fence all the way up and stop AI from crawling in. Good fences make good neighbors. Yes, they do. Cloudflare made a digital version of a fence, basically the great wall against AI. Like here's how you can picture this in real life. So like Vogue magazine, they use Cloudflare. They're actually a client right now. And they block AI crawling because they don't want ChatGPT to read the latest article they wrote about Jeff Bezos' wedding and then give it to everyone using ChatGPT. Now that fence, that anti-AI fence we just described, that was the news, but here is the plot twist.

12:46Cloudflare also added a cash register to that fence. Okay, so let's extend our example further, Jack. If ChatGPT wants to peep in on that Vogue article about the wedding dress Lauren Sanchez wore, Vogue could let them in and charge for it. It's called pay per crawl. This is the start of a new internet marketplace, and it's a new way for content publishers to make money. It's a micropayment for every single AI that crawls onto your website. Sure, Anthropic. You can check out my website 73 ,000 times, but you have to pay me 73 ,000 times. Yeah, I mean, Jack, to go Harry Potter here, it's like the invisibility cloak of the wizarding world.

13:27Go on. If you're going to fact check me Hermione style, then I'm just going to end the analogy right there. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies with the AI fence over at Cloudflare? Facebook and Google are getting a dose of their own medicine. Yetis, publishers, newspapers, magazines, they thrive for a hundred years by selling ads. But with the rise of the internet, Google and Facebook took over the digital ad market. That changed the media business forever. Instead of selling their own media ads, Google and Facebook took over the ad market. But now Google and Meta are on the other side of the table.

14:03They need content to train their artificial intelligence. And that's what's so ironic about this, right Jack? And this time Cloudflare's pay per crawl is going to come in and make Google and Facebook pay for it. Sebastis, the internet flipped content publishing upside down and now AI is doing the same thing all over again. But this time Meta and Google are getting a dose of their own medicine. If Zuck wants the content fruit of that garden, he's going to have to pay to get through that fence. Now, a quick word from our sponsor. Nutrafol. You know, Nick, anytime I read about hair thinning, shedding, hair issues at all, I'm looking for wood and I'm knocking on it.

14:46And why is that, Jack? Because the males in my family have growing foreheads. It's giving Peyton Manning. So far, you are avoiding it, but what's the status right now, Jack? I don't want to just cross my fingers. So I actually started using Nutrafol men six months ago. Okay, get this. We did a hair and makeup for an interview last week and no joke, the hairstylist said to Jack, you have great coverage. I heard it. That was pretty, pretty good because Nutrafol is the number one dermatologist recommended hair growth supplement brand and it's the number one hair growth supplement brand personally used by dermatologists.

15:18Because hair health isn't one size fits all. Nutrafol offers different formulas for both men and women at any age or stage of life. And now the Nutrafol women's formula has been upgraded to its most advanced version yet. It's 100 % vegan, biotin-free, comes in a smaller capsule size to make your daily routine easier. See thicker, stronger, faster-growing hair with less shedding in just three to six months. And right now, Nutrafol is offering our listeners $10 off your first month's subscription and free shipping when you visit Nutrafol.com and enter promo code T-Boy. That's Nutrafol.com, spelled N-U-T-R-A-F-O-L,.com, promo code T-Boy.

15:51NetSuite. Yetis, you know what no one does anymore? Hand out free quality reading material. Except our buddies over at NetSuite, apparently. You'll see what we mean in a second. Yeah, because they know that AI isn't just opening up new business opportunities, it is messing with your whole life right now. AI is making you answer all sorts of questions and make decisions about your work and your life. And all that curiosity is what's behind NetSuite Next, the next generation of the business management suite trusted by over 44 ,000 companies. But tech is only part of the story. How people and teams work together at your company is the other part of the AI story.

16:22So you got to download NetSuite Next's new expert-created business guide today. It's called Aligning for the Agentic Era, How AI is Changing Everyday Work. And right now, it's absolutely free to you. In this guide, you're going to see how AI could really reshape work across your company and how you can prosper from it. If we needed this product, it's what we'd use. So if your revenues are at least in the seven figures, go to netsuite.com slash tboy. Get your For our third and final story, the biggest showdown in business right now, it's Lululemon versus Costco. Lululemon is hoping to set a legal precedent.

17:04They're trying to cancel dupe culture. They're trying to down the dupes. Yeah, it is. Two years ago, Jack and I did a wild story on this show. It was the Luludupe Exchange. What was this, Jack? They were encouraging people to come to Lululemon and drop off a dupe and then trade it in for the real thing. Yeah, like you could bring in Amazon knockoff Lululemon Align leggings and then they would give you actual Lululemon Align leggings. It was a pretty boss move by Lululemon. We thought it was pretty cool. Instead of getting mad at dupes, they kind of owned it. Well, two years later, Lulu's not playing Mr.

17:40Nice Gal anymore, are they, Jack? Yeah, Lulu's mad. They hired the lawyers. Round up the lawyers, guys. But they're not going after Sheehan, Zara, or the dude on Canal Street selling knockoffs. They're going for the biggest knockoff seller of them all, Costco. They're suing Costco, the$400 billion behemoth that is 10 times bigger than Lulu. So Lululemon is going for the jugular. They're trying to knock out the knockoff. I like what you did there. Now, if a court decides that Costco's knockoffs are illegal, that would set a legal precedent affecting the entire dupe industry. But we should sprinkle on some legal context.

18:15Jack, sew it on for us over there. Counterfeiting is when a product lies, like claiming it's made by Lululemon even though it's actually not. That is illegal, should not happen. But dupes, that is an honest, lower-priced knockoff, and it generally is legal. So when companies sue a knockoff, it's historically been unsuccessful unless it's like a blatant counterfeit. Yeah, like Adidas has sued dozens of companies, including H &M, for making shoes with three stripes on them, but Adidas has lost most of those cases. But Lululemon is alleging that Costco copied everything about their clothing. Everything but the price.

18:51And that is key. What Lulu is saying is this ain't no dupe. This is a clone. In the 49-page lawsuit, Lululemon alleges that Costco copied five specific products. And the New York Times analyzed these two products side by side. The Costco version and the Lululemon version. They had the same zipper, the same pocket shape, the same waistband, even the same specific crotch stitching. According to the lawsuit, Costco even uses Lululemon's trademark color known as Tidewater Teal, a color shade that only Lululemon uses. Costco, you couldn't have grabbed a thesaurus on that one? Yeah, true. The only product difference was the material.

19:29Lulu was Primo fabric, Costco was Costco fabric. So add it all up, and the real difference is the most strategic difference, the price. Costco's versions were 90 % cheaper than Lululemon's. I mean, Jack, I'm scanning these things right now. Lulu's ABC khaki pants are$130, but the Kirkland version is just$20. Lululemon's half-zip pullover is$118. Costco's is$7.97. Costco's just like giving these things away at this point. This is why people love Costco, but Lululemon does not love Costco. Now, Costco wouldn't do this, we should point out, if consumers didn't demand it. The dupe has become a badge of honor in today's consumer culture.

20:09There's Reddit pages and TikTok hashtags dedicated to spotting and finding and sharing dupes. You're not just buying Kirkland leggings because they're cheap. You're buying them because they're a status symbol that you found a deal. Just like Lululemon is a status symbol that you can afford it, Costco's version is a status symbol that you found a deal. Or those pickles you put on your hot dogs, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Lulu? The Freerider era is officially finished. Yetis The first thing Jack and I thought about When we saw this Lululemon dupe crackdown Was actually Netflix Remember the Netflix password crackdown?

20:45Totally Two years ago, Netflix ended password sharing And the result? Well, the following week Netflix had four of its biggest sign-up days In the history of the company And like Netflix, for years Lululemon turned a blind eye And didn't mind consumers having some fun But we're now in a different era from the 2010s and there is more competition for every dollar. It's not just Netflix and Luloo cracking down. Amazon cracked down on their generous return policies. So across industries, we're now seeing a crackdown on customer-friendly habits. The Freerider era is finished.

21:22Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Which is kind of the real Friday. America's Nathan's Hot Dogs was founded by a Polish man and it's growing now thanks to a Ukrainian man. But Nathan's real secret ingredient to scaling? It's licensing the name. For our second story, Cloudflare is helping companies stop AI from crawling and stealing their content. It's with an AI fence, and it's given Google and Facebook a little dose of their own medicine. And our third and final story, Lululemon is suing Costco for selling five products that are 90 % the same, but 90 % lower price.

21:54Lulu's trying to cancel the dupe because the Freerider era is sadly over. But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, President Trump announced a trade deal with Vietnam. Vietnam will not tariff anything that they import from America. But we will tariff everything made in Vietnam at 20%. This deal provides some clarity. It's less than the 46 % tariffs that Trump announced on April 2nd, but it's still high. It's up from 0%, so it could increase the price of the sneakers that are made in Vietnam. And second, Tesla reported its second straight quarter of shrinkage, a 14 % drop in Q2, a 13 % drop in Q1.

22:35Now, the last quarter, Tesla blamed the falling car deliveries on a factory changeover. But this time seemed pretty clear. Consumers from both political parties are kind of tired of Tesla. By the way, show me the Chinese EV brand. They sold 200 ,000 EVs in three minutes. And finally, Jurassic Park's seventh movie debuts tonight. Apparently those dinosaurs keep having babies, man. But the first movie was actually the source of a big Hollywood bidding war back in the early 90s between the two most famous directors. Steven Spielberg outbid James Cameron to get the film rights to the original Jurassic Park book.

23:11Spielberg paid$2 million and created Jurassic Park the movie. James Cameron made Titanic and Avatars 1, 2, and 3, so he did fine. Life finds a way to keep making these Jurassic Park movies. Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Aunt Sammy from lovely Washington, D.C. The biggest 4th of July tradition, even bigger than hot dogs, is fireworks. The rocket's red glare. The bombs bursting in air. But Independence Day is actually dependent on China. Get this. China makes 99 % of our consumer fireworks. Actually, all consumer fireworks. It's the biggest monopoly since the invention of fire by the cavemen.

23:50Oh, and wildest part, 99 % of those 99 % of all fireworks are made in one Chinese city. Liu Yang. It's the fireworks capital of the world. And honestly, it makes sense. China controls the market. Because China invented the firework a thousand years ago. Gunpowder walked so that firecrackers could run. Now, unfortunately, we still have 30 % tariffs on all those Chinese fireworks. But it doesn't make them 30 % less loud. Yetis, you look fantastic today. Oh, and by the way, even though tomorrow is a national holiday, Jack and I ain't leaving you hanging, are we, man? We're not throwing away our shot.

24:26No, we're not. And why is that? We are dropping a full episode of The Best Idea Yet on this feed on Hamilton the Musical. That's right. Hamilton the Musical. The entire untold origin story of the billion-dollar Broadway show. So if you're driving to the beach today, jump over to The Best Idea Yet right now for some road trip listening. But if you're stuck in traffic tomorrow, just stay right here and Jack and I are serving up Hamilton. The musical. And we promise we won't do any singing. Yet. Although Lin-Manuel Miranda will.

24:59And before we go, a happy third birthday to Yeti Arav Mehta over in the Bay Area. Congratulations, little Arav. Arav, make this a big one. Make it the best one. And Rebecca H., turning 25 years old down in Texas, is doing a solo trip to New York City. Rebecca, you're going to have a blast on this one. And a big shout out to Kelsey Black from Pflugerville, Texas, who for the second year in a row, her bookstore was nominated for the best retail shop in Pflugerville, Texas. You know where our vote's going. And Giannisini and Chris Winkler just got engaged down in Cabo. Guys, congratulations. Let's see some of those beautiful ring picks.

25:34Happy anniversary to Colleen and Jin Chang in New York City. And Estefani DiMaio in Crestkill, New Jersey is a brand new mom. Mamacita, mama, and a mom. And a big shout out to Audio Dave Sonnefeld in Austin, Texas, who failed his New Year's resolution to start smoking, drink more alcohol, and work out with sex. Congratulations, Dave. And Kelvin Liu down in Ontario has got the anniversary of his first day. Kelvin, congratulations to you guys. It was beautiful. And a big shout out to Natalia and Liam Lupa from Muskegon, Michigan, two siblings who love T-Boy so much, especially our episode on Donald Duck Diplomas.

26:15Oh, the triple D, that one was fantastic. Quack, quack to Natalia and Leah.

26:24This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix, Reddit, and Amazon. Nick owns stock of Lululemon. And we both own some Bitcoin. Bitcoin named Ben. Hotels.com. Yetis, you know what our live T-Boy tour really means? Well, it means a lot of things, but it includes a lot of hugs with Yetis at our post-show party. Yeah, it does really mean that. But it also really, really means a lot of travel. Like we hit seven cities this year. We got another seven to hit next year. And we booked those trips with Hotels.com. It's a funny little insider info. Jack and I, we actually like to book our own work travel. Because we've got preferences.

26:56I want a room that's pet friendly. I actually bring River on my road trips because she helps ease my nerves. True story. You see, Hotels.com lets you filter for that and filter for hotels with nice gyms, breakfast included. Jack is very particular, by the way. Yeah, I'm kind of a diva. So you don't need to open a dozen tabs figuring it all out. Just use Hotels.com. And you can book your work trips faster, set your preferences once, and then results are tailored to your business needs. Like how we need space for an emergency recording studio in the room, just in case. Besties, you can join Hotels.com's free rewards program to book once, win twice.

27:27Get instant discounts and earn rewards for future trips. So book your next business trip at Hotels.com. Book now at Hotels.com. Loyalty members, you gotta be 18 or over. And dogs can't be loyalty members. Yet.