👊 “Real Housewives of Tech” — Elon vs. Altman. Spotify’s Peloton hookup. Ube’s viral surge. +Wedding Dress Ozempic

0:28This is Nick. Ube is a purple fruit native to the Philippines that Americans have become gaga for. And ube is one example of a business opportunity we call cultural arbitrage. And our third and final story is Elon Musk versus Sam Alton. It kicked off yesterday in a courthouse in Oakland. Yetis, this ain't a legal trial. This ain't a civil trial. This is a spite trial. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what did we tell you? What a mix. Love the show, Jack. The wildest new wedding trend is the Ozempic wedding dress. Uh, more specifically, Jack, the Ozempic Emergency Wedding Dress.

1:04Correct. Because according to the Wall Street Journal, brides-to-be are using GLP-1s before their weddings. Because 1 in 10 weddings now involve a little bit of wagavy these days. But Nick, the weight loss drug works so well So well that their dress doesn't end up fitting on their wedding day. Well, what we're saying, besties, is all this weight change is messing with the dressing. So when brides are buying the dresses, they're waiting as late as possible to lock it in. Because their bodies are changing as much as possible. Get this, rush orders at David's Bridal are up 50 % in the last two years.

1:35Oh, and tailoring requests just hit an all-time high. Bridal stores feel so vulnerable, they've gotten the lawyers involved. Because you do not want to be held liable if the dress do not fit, Jack. So now, when you buy a dress, you need to sign a waiver. No joke. That's right, you can't sue Vera Wang if that dress starts to hang. So the dress said, I do, but the Ozempic said, we'll see. At least the veil ain't going anywhere, Jack. Go Fits, baby. Jack, let's do that. 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.

2:07It'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. Fifty percent, that's a fat tip. T-Boy City on your at list. If you know, you know, because we're here to go. We can't wait no more, so just start the show.

2:26Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor.

2:38Make Mother's Day even more special at Whole Foods Market. Kick off brunch or dinner with quality cheese and charcuterie with no synthetic nitrates. Then go see food. There's an abundance on sale at Whole Foods Market, where it's all sustainable while caught or responsibly farmed. At the bakery, grab seasonal treats like their strawberry pretzel cream pie, and you can't go wrong with a ready-to-heat quiche Lorraine, deviled eggs, and fresh-cut fruits to go. Celebrate mom with Whole Foods Market. This podcast is supported by MidiHealth. Are you in midlife and feeling dismissed, unheard, or just plain tired of the old healthcare system?

3:15You're not alone. For too long, women's serious midlife health issues have been trivialized, ignored, and met with a just-deal-with-it attitude. Many of us have been made to feel ashamed or forgotten. In fact, even today, 75 % of women seeking care for menopause and perimenopause issues are left entirely untreated. It's time for a change. It's time for MIDI. MIDI is not just a healthcare provider. It's a women's telehealth clinic founded and supported by world-class leaders in women's health. What sets MIDI apart? We are the only women's telehealth brand covered by major insurance companies, making high-quality expert care accessible and affordable for all women.

3:55Our clinicians provide one-on-one, face-to-face consultations where they truly listen to your unique needs. We offer a full range of holistic, data-driven solutions, from hormonal therapies and weight loss protocols, to lifestyle coaching and preventative health guidance. This isn't one-size-fits-all care. This is care uniquely tailored for you. At Midi, you will join our patients who feel seen, heard, and prioritized. You will find that our mission is clear, to help all women thrive in midlife, giving them access to the health care they deserve. Because we believe midlife isn't the middle at all.

4:27It's the beginning of your second act. Ready to feel your best and write your second act script? Visit JoinMidi.com today to book your personalized, insurance-covered virtual visit. That's JoinMidi.com. Midi, the care women deserve.

4:47For our first story, Spotify is launching a fitness hub with Peloton, the new music and fitness power couple, baby. Here it is. Spotify already has your running playlist. Now they want your living room homework out too. Yeah, this funny thing about this story, Jack, and I noticed, um, three months ago, we predicted Spotify should launch Spotify Sweat. Yesterday, they grabbed some aloe leggings and they did it. And then some. Because there were already 150 million active fitness playlists on Spotify. So Jack, what was our idea back on January 20th? That they add video workouts. Which are basically podcasts.

5:22And also guided audio workouts to Spotify. Well, starting yesterday, it is here. Fitness with Spotify. The only part of our idea they didn't use was the name, but it's Fitness with Spotify. So now on audio, you can get guided workouts on your Spotify app. Picture choreographed jog sprint interval runs to different music jams. And on Spotify Video, there's a whole library of different workouts that you can do from your living room. Basically toes to top of your head, body weight strength, mat pilates, stretching, yoga class, everything but the reformer. So now when a hot fitness model tells you that the hardest part is already over because you showed up, that can happen on Spotify.

6:02But yet is the first thing that Jack did when he heard this story actually reveals a very interesting business problem. What'd you do? The first thing I did when I heard this story is I canceled my Peloton subscription. Because the flagship content provider for Spotify Fitness is Peloton. That's right. If you want to understand this deal, it's like Taylor Swift hooking up with Travis Kelsey. You got music and muscles in one partnership, Jack. Starting yesterday, for no extra cost, Spotify Premium subscribers now get access to 1 ,400 non-bike Peloton workouts. So the way Jack and I see the strategy here is that Peloton is kind of playing a game of subscriber chicken, if you will.

6:40Peloton will lose some direct subscribers, like me, but they'll gain exposure to Spotify's nearly 300 million paid subscribers. To quote ESPN the Ocho, bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it works out for them. Also, on Spotify's free version, you can now get workouts from dozens of established creators who are not on Peloton. Yoga with Cassandra, Sweaty Betty, Chloe Ting Home Workouts. We've seen them before. They all built an audience on YouTube, but now they're available on Spotify video as well. So the way Jack and I see this for Peloton, it is a self-defensive survival move. But for Spotify, this is an attack move against Apple and YouTube.

7:16It's an attack on YouTube because Spotify poached YouTube creators from their native platform, albeit non-exclusively. And Nick, the new tech power couple of muscles and music? Yeah, Jack? It's Apple music and Apple fitness on one side, Spotify and Peloton on the other. Yeah, basically, Jack, Spotify was on the squat rack and yelled, Spotter, and then... Matty Magiacomo showed up and gave him a spot. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey, hookup buddies of Poloton and Spotify? In media, it's in everything more. The winner will be able to increase prices forever. All right, Yetis, let's talk numbers here.

7:50The old winner of media was cable TV. Americans would drop$100 a month, and that increased every year for cable. So in media, if you're not growing, you're dying, which means every media company is striving for that$100 a month end goal. We can look at all of them like Netflix. They have shows, movies, sports, and soon probably news and they raise prices every year. Disney's bundle has that too and soon Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery will. On YouTube, different strategy is winning. Literally any video you can upload, it monetizes through subscribers and ads. So if Spotify wants to not get eaten by those giants that we just mentioned, they need to grow to cover everything as well.

8:24Well now, Spotify has music, podcasts, audiobooks, and even hit workouts. And they bundle it on one subscription so they can raise the price on it every year. Because you see, Basties and Media, every company is targeting the same thing. The$100 a month cable TV everything bundle. I want to see you sweat!

8:46For our second story, Instagram has turned Ube, the incredibly purple plant, into the viral food of the moment. It's an entrepreneurial trick as old as Taco Bell. Cultural arbitrage. So Yeti's, funny thing, new spot around the corner from us, Q Coffee. Jack, they had a line this weekend that was making Starbucks across the street jealous in Presidio Heights. The reason is a dish called the Purple Pleasure. Yeah, it's an ube tart that was so purple, it's making Grimace jealous, actually. Ube, the purple-colored yam that's native to the Philippines. It looks like lavender on ecstasy. Like if a Ninja Turtle, Barney the Dinosaur, and Ursula in a Teletubbie got together, for dinner, they would be wanting to eat ube all day.

9:28The only purple thing naturally purple, outside of a giraffe's tongue. And this extreme purple plant tastes, well, delicious, and it also tastes like coconut potato. Now, purple is historically the color of the royals because purple is so hard to find naturally. Well, ube is putting up kingly numbers these days. Ube appearances on American restaurants has tripled in the last five years. Ube is now sold by 95 U.S. restaurant chains. It's out there, baby. We have an appetite for aesthetics, especially if it looks like Tinky Winky. But yet here's what Jack and I find fascinating. Instagram is driving an ube shortage right now, and it is messing with the whole Filipino economy.

10:09Ube got its mainstream moment in America in 2022. You may remember the Baskin Robbins ice cream flavor. That was really the big breakthrough. But last year, Starbucks made it go nationwide. They dropped iced ube macchiato while supplies last. And how did those supplies do, Jack? They didn't last. Because the Philippines makes over half of the world's ube and exports half of that to the United States. Basically, the Philippines has an ugeopoly and that's become a bit of an ube burden. Because with the surge in American popularity, prices of ube have doubled. So now Filipinos are turning their backyards into ube farms just to try to meet this huge increase in demand.

10:44And if this story sounds familiar. It is kind of familiar. You know what we're thinking, right, Jack? The great matcha shortage that we covered on the pod last summer. Super similar situation. Green matcha, purple ube, the color of the rainbow. It is a profit puppy, baby. Like matcha, ube faces a biological bottleneck. Because it is a labor-intensive nine-month cultivation process just to grow a single ube. And both are riding the Asian trend. Gen Z, they want K-pop, boba tea, and la booboo dolls. We're seeing it everywhere now. There's even potentially a future Maha angle to Ube. Like Jack, how is Lucky Charms going to make a purple marshmallow without artificial colors?

11:21All natural Skittles, they can't use eggplant skin. They got to use Ube. You got to go all in on Ube. So besties, the way Jack and I see it, the most underrated business opportunity right now isn't AI, it's geography. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the Ube moment? It's an age-old entrepreneurial trick. Cultural arbitrage. Ah, Yeti's arbitrage. That's when something is worth more in one place than in another at the very same time. You can capitalize by buying the thing in the lower-priced market and then selling that same thing in a higher-priced market. Well, cultural arbitrage is when something is popular in one place but not popular in another yet.

12:01Matcha began as a trend in Japan, but now it's a profit puppy here in the U.S. And it's the same with Dubai chocolate, wagyu beef, Taiwanese boba. They all started as common in one region, but they were new, viral, and premium in a new region. Cultural arbitrage as a business strategy goes way back. Taco Bell was started by a guy named Glenn, who noticed how popular tacos were in the Mexican community. Sriracha was founded by a Vietnamese immigrant who saw a lack of Vietnamese chili sauce when he got to the United States. Saunas. That was a huge arbitrage opportunity. Huge cultural arbitrage with Saunas, Jack.

12:34A way of life in Scandinavia, now they're a way of life for many here in the States. Oh, and they are a luxury here. Pesties, we're not saying steal an idea, pretend it's yours, with zero recognition of where it came from. You can't do that. We are saying that what's popular overseas often eventually becomes popular here once it arrives, and vice versa. That's right, like fast food, Jack. It boomed in America first, but now it's a business model with regional options everywhere. It's one entrepreneur's job to make it happen. Call it cultural arbitrage. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

13:31and forgot. You shouldn't have to chase them down. Powered by AI, Bill does all that simply and automated so that you don't have to. ACH, check, credit card, international wire transfers, they probably do carrier pigeon. Bill lets you pay and get paid how you want. Bill is the intelligent finance platform trusted by nearly half a million businesses and over 90 of the top 100 US accounting firms to manage, move, and maximize their money. They've securely processed over a trillion dollars in real transactions. That is proven infrastructure you can actually trust. Talk with an expert at bill.com slash proven and get a$250 gift card as a thank you.

14:05That's bill.com slash proven. Terms and conditions apply. See offer page for details. Top hats, baseball hats, Von Dutch hats. We wear so many hats on this podcast. Honestly, we're not great at all of them. No, we've been avoiding hiring someone to wear those hats instead of us, especially the Von Dutch one, because hiring and training can take forever. Well, proud to say that we are hiring right now at T-Boy, and this is a job for Indeed Sponsored jobs. Because sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 95 % more likely to report a hire than non-sponsored jobs. So besties spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes, less stress, less time, more results.

14:41When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And listeners of the show will get a$75 sponsored job credit to help get your job the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. So just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. That's Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed-sponsored jobs. For our third and final story, it is the biggest billionaire beef in history. Elon Musk versus Sam Altman. Jury selection just began at a court in Oakland.

15:20Bravo would absolutely kill to film this trial because the whole goal in this court room is maximize embarrassment. Yetis, let's start this story with the list of witnesses in the trial because it is truly Jerry Springer-esque. Siobhan Zillis is the mother to four of Elon's children. Also, she was a board member of OpenAI and she's stuck in the middle of this trial. Oh, one of Elon Musk's lawyers, he side hustles as a clown. Literally, no joke. In depositions, we already learned that Mark Zuckerberg side texted Elon during his Doge era, cheering him on. Oh, and Elon's alleged rhino ketamine use, that's part of the trial record too.

15:59So are Elon's appearances at Burning Man. Well, what exactly is this craziness of a trial we're talking about, Jack? Why don't you sprinkle on some context, please? Elon Musk and his AI company are suing Sam Altman and his AI company in federal court. Microsoft is a co-defendant aiding and abetting OpenAI's alleged crimes. And the legal basis for this lawsuit is that Sam's AI company used to be Elon's AI company too. The news is that jury selection was yesterday, trial begins in a few weeks, and opening arguments start today. But Jack, let's travel back in time. It all begins, Nick, in 2015, when Sam Altman was the head of Y Combinator.

16:35And according to Vanity Fair reporting, Sam Altman had become convinced at the time that AI would one day destroy humanity. So comparing it explicitly to the nuclear bomb, Sam Altman asked Elon Musk to help him launch a Manhattan project, but for AI. We have to do this as a non-profit, Sam Altman told Elon Musk, in order to ensure that AI is used for the good of humanity. So Elon invested$45 million into OpenAI and its founding based on that pitch from Sam. Okay, but here's the plot twist. By 2018, Elon thought OpenAI was losing the AI race to Google. Google being Nazi Germany in this analogy, apparently.

17:14And so Elon, out of concern, tried to take over as CEO of OpenAI in 2018. But when he failed, Elon left OpenAI. And that's when things got dirty. Because OpenAI didn't lose to Google, did they, Jack? No, they launched ChatGPT in November of 2022 and has been a household name ever since. And that is when Sam Altman stopped pretending. He changed OpenAI from a non-profit to a for-profit company. So now Elon is suing, arguing that Sam Altman violated the founding agreement that he put 45 million into. And he told Sam Altman in a tweet, if you change the name of the company to closed AI, I'll drop the lawsuit.

17:49What does Sam Altman think about this? He thinks Elon's butt hurt that somebody else is going to win the race to AI, not him. But butts aside, this is straight up billionaire beef. Andy Cohen, get on it. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the courtroom? Billionaire versus billionaire. This is a spite lawsuit. Oh, yeah, it's a spitesuit. It's definitely a spitesuit. Yetis, Elon is demanding$134 billion from OpenAI's for-profit arm to fund its nonprofit arm. And he's demanding the whole company transform to be nonprofit again and to have Sam Altman fired from the company. Okay, but despite everything we just said, the wildest part about this story, Jack, why don't you share it with the Yetis?

18:28The$45 million that Elon invested into OpenAI in 2018, that was a handshake deal. Sit down, stand up, and stay seated, Yetis. There is no paperwork. That's why it is highly unlikely that Elon wins anything. He doesn't have it in writing. What we're saying is that it seems that Elon's goal is to cause maximum embarrassment and to delay Sam Altman's IPO of OpenAI. This isn't about the court of justice. It looks like it's the court of Bravo. Yeah, the best thing to ever happen to trial lawyers is Elon Musk. And now he's unleashing his full force of jurist doctors on Sam Altman. But Sam's no pushover, Nick.

19:04Here's what he tweeted about the lawsuit. Really excited to get Elon under oath Christmas has come in April Oh, Yetis is billionaire versus billionaire Billionaire B if this Is a spite suit Jack, could you whip up The takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Peloton is putting 1 ,400 workout videos In the Spotify app It's part of what we call Spotify Sweat It's a Taylor Swift, Travis Kelsey deal, Yetis And the game plan and media? Add everything Bundle it and one day sell it for$100 a month For our second story, Ube is the hot produce of the moment. The purple Filipino yam is the new green matcha. It's cultural arbitrage.

19:40What's popular elsewhere could be popular here and vice versa. And our third and final story is Elon Musk versus Sam Altman in federal court. Prepare for juicy and embarrassing details about both of these billionaires. Oh, besties, this ain't a criminal lawsuit and this ain't a civil lawsuit. This is a spite lawsuit. But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First wild week on Wall Street. We got earnings from the Fantastic Five, don't we, Jack? Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon all announce earnings at the exact same time this Wednesday after hours. Oh, and then Apple, they report earnings the same time the next day on Thursday.

20:16Plus, Berkshire Hathaway's annual shareholder meeting happens this weekend for the first time without Warren Buffett as CEO. It's Coachella for capitalism. Oh, and by the way, King Charles III and Queen Camilla, they arrive in the United States from Britain for a four-day state visit. Second, Michael Jackson just beat Robert Oppenheimer. Not at MASH, but in the movies. That's right, the Michael Jackson movie just had the best opening weekend ever for a biopic beating the Oppenheimer film. Controversially, the plot of the movie ends in 1988 before the accusations that tainted Michael's legacy. But interestingly, Michael's real-life nephew is the lead star playing Michael in the movie.

20:51And finally, Sebastian Sa of Kenya ran the first ever marathon under two hours. The Kenyan completed the London Marathon in one hour, 59 minutes, and 30 seconds, just barely breaking the two-hour mark. But the real winner was Adidas. Oh, yeah. Because the winner wrote his winning time on his$500 Adidas sneaker that's about to take over every running club conversation. Like we say, yeah, these marketing's what you pay for. Publicity is what you pray for. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Derek Edwards and Meredith Kism from Alabama, who we met at our live show in New York City.

21:27That was a blast, guys. And they gave us this fact. Remember those Mercedes-Benz SUVs and all the Jurassic Park movies? Guess where they were made? They were made in Alabama. To quote Forrest Gump, in Greenbow, Alabama. That's right. In fact, these were the very first Mercedes cars to be made in America. They were done in an Alabama plant and they ended up in the Jurassic Park movies. Unfortunately, not Greenbow. It was Tuscaloosa. Still a win. Either way, Derek and Meredith, thanks so much for flying all the way from Alabama to New York City for the live T-Boy show. Yetis, you look fantastic today.

22:03Jack, you are glowing for T-Boy Tuesday, my friend. If you got a buddy who's seeking entrepreneurial inspiration, send them the story about the ube trend. Actually, you know what? Buy them some ube, then send them the podcast. That way you know it sinks in. To be clear, I'd be happy if you just sent them the podcast. Fine, I'll take Jack's ube tart. Jack, you listen to the podcast. And Jack and I will see you tomorrow.

22:29And before we go, a happy legendary birthday to Matias Valenzuela, a Yeti turning 10 in Des Moines, Iowa. And happy birthday to Bahanti. Also turning 10 years old, this kid has never missed a show down in Dallas, Texas. Thank you for him. And Go Watanabe listens to the best one yet on weekdays, the best idea yet on weekends, and has the best birthday yet in Newport Beach, California. Happy birthday to L.O. Van Gordon in San Francisco, who's eating lasagna and getting into law school. This kid's headed to Lewis and Clark. And Cindy Mayo in lovely Los Angeles. Enjoy the birthday. Happy birthday to Brett Anzi in Long Island.

23:03And Liam Martin. Happy 21st down in Dallas. Happy 28th birthday to Emily Guess in San Francisco. And Nicholas Calcutty. Enjoy the birthday all the way over in Malta. Happy birthday to Hashim Alawami in Saudi Arabia. And Mia Chang just turned four years old in Minneapolis. Plus, she is bullish on Barbie, bearish on bedtime, and compounding interest in this podcast since she was born. Happy anniversary to Anthony and Lisa Scorsese, who's celebrating three years together in Pennsylvania. And a shout out to the entrepreneurial team behind the Dog Pack app in Montreal. The team's been working day to night to launch brand new features.

23:37Congratulations to Vetra Rusev, who got into Tufts, Georgetown, and LSE, but is taking her talents to Johns Hopkins. And finally, a shout out and good luck to Molly, my wife, who's getting a cavity removed today and having a colonoscopy tomorrow. And I have no idea why she scheduled all this in one week. But as your emergency contact, I support you and I can't wait to pick you up from both.

24:01This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Netflix. Nick and I both own stock of Apple, Peloton, and Spotify.

24:15This is Robert Mason, the athletic football show. The men's warehouse is here to make you look and feel good. No matter the occasion from formal to casual dress down to dressed up, their in-store experts will help you find the right outfit for that thing. You got on the calendar and their onsite tailors will make sure the fit is perfect for your body suits, tuxes, sport coats, jeans, shorts, chinos, t-shirts, polos, loafers, sneakers, sandals, underwear. Get ready to look and feel good for anything from head to toe by visiting Men's Warehouse today. Men's Warehouse. Love the way you look.