🕵️ “The Spy Who Shagged Me” — Jensen’s affair. Skims Advent recall. NFL’s cleat disruptor. +Pineapple Pizza Lawsuit

0:28This is Nick. For our first story, the most expensive scandal ever. NVIDIA's CEO confessed yesterday to an affair with an alleged Chinese spy. This is the$1 trillion affair, but is Jensen Wong too big to fire? For our second story, Skims just launched an Advent calendar, but it's going viral for being so, so bad. Because Kim Kardashian missed the Sunday school lesson on Advent, Inc. And our third and final story is two Heisman-winning first-round draft pick quarterbacks are wearing cleats that are banned by the NFL. Caddocks made the cleats, but they couldn't have paid for this marketing. But besties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

1:06Whoa! Mix of stories for T-Boy Tuesday. Love the mix, Jack. Greatest crime in business isn't fraud, embezzlement, or insider trading. No, no, no, no, no. The greatest crime in business is putting pineapple on pizza. And that legal matter was just before the Australian courts. Get this. Italian chef Davide Tamarula was asked to make pineapple pizza for a guest, but he refused. Then he was asked to add pineapple pizza to the menu, but he refused. Then a$15 ,000 corporate catering gig asked for pineapple on their pizza. And yet still, he refused. Some say the customer's always right, not Chef Davide.

1:43So he conscientiously objected to this menu request, pineapple pizza, three times and was fired by his boss as a result. And Davide took his employer to court for wrongful termination. Here's his claim. Putting pineapple on pizza is and I quote, an insult to his Italian culture. Da Vinci would have vomited Jack. His lawyers believe that Australia's anti-discrimination laws protect him from this obscenity on the pizza. Rosa Parks, Nelson Mandela, Chef Davide? Rebel? Yes. Martyr? Maybe. Hero? That's for a court to decide. In the meantime, Yetis, pineapple pizza is now the biggest international economic drama since the trade war.

2:21Because Chef Davide may lose his work visa because of it. But do you know where pineapple pizza actually began? It's not Italy, not Australia, and it's actually not even Hawaii. And it's not Michigan either. I see you Domino's Pizza fans. Happy T-Boy Tuesday, besties. The answer is at the end of this pod. Let's hear our three stories. Hold the pineapple!

2:5450 % 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

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4:49For our first story, NVIDIA's Jensen Wong just admitted an extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy. This is the spy who shagged me literally, but the big question, is Jensen too big to fire? Cue the Hulu documentary because besties, last month we covered the bombshell report from the New York Times. A customer of NVIDIA's is a spy for the Chinese Communist Party. Even more alarming was the pics that were straight out of CNBC TMZ. Photos showing an executive of that company whining and dining with Jensen Huang. Now, a couple weeks ago when we covered the story, NVIDIA responded to those New York Times allegations saying what, Jack?

5:30There wasn't anything unusual or unexpected about the relationship. Basically, there's nothing to see here. Ah, but the biggest company on earth and a Chinese spy? Congress was not convinced. So last week, they asked Jensen for a closed-door briefing on his relationship with this woman, Alice Huang. They happened to have the same last name, and facing potential for testimony under oath, Jensen confessed on Sunday in a public letter. Here's part of it. I owe my family and all of you an apology. I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did.

6:03I am deeply sorry. Left unsaid in that letter, it's that the affair was with the alleged Chinese spy. Now, in fairness, the New York Times report from two weeks ago says that Jensen did not know she was a spy when he was whining and dining her. But still, it's not just heartbreaking for the family. It's a double whammy for the family. Because the letter to employees that was published on Sunday includes his son, his daughter, and his son-in-law, who all work at NVIDIA as well. They're all on the payroll. Now, Bessie, it's our very first take when we heard this. Whoa, it's a check. Jensen Wang, the king of AI, the favorite executive of this White House, he thought he was untouchable.

6:42It's like he just went too far. He got too cocky. His leather jacket, he thought it was too cool, like Icarus soaring close to the sun. Thought he could do anything. Our second impression? Jensen's credibility as a leader shaping our country's AI policy is shot after the scandal. Look, Jensen had convinced the president to loosen some trade restrictions to China that the Biden administration had put into place. But now we know he was sleeping with one of his Chinese customers and lied about it, only admitting the truth after Congress got involved. Remember, Jensen has stressed the importance of, quote, engaging the Chinese customer, but now we know what he means by engaging.

7:15Yeah, this was like the most literal customer relationship management in all of tech history, Jack. That's right. Here's our third impression. Terrible judgment from such a smart person. I mean, Jensen just shot his way up on the naughty list for this holiday, Jack. Not only was he sleeping with a customer, it was a customer who was publicly under investigation for circumventing our trade restrictions. Which means it's not just an affair, it's a corporate and national security issue. So, Nvidia's board on Sunday, which was wrong in their previous statement just a couple weeks ago, nonetheless made a statement on Sunday that it had no reason to believe that either national security or Nvidia secrets were compromised.

7:52Okay, but Jack, not to go full screenplay on this, but like, Nvidia's board doesn't know if Jensen left his computer open when he was in the bedroom with her. Or if the president texted Jensen when he was in the bathroom, leaving his phone right there for the alleged Chinese spy to see. Or if the emoji that he was texting may have been indicating more than one thing exactly. So NVIDIA is opening its own independent investigation right now about the whole matter. But still tragic for the family and also tragic for the stock. NVIDIA fell 5.5 % on Monday. It's now down 22 % in the last month. Bessie's had it all up and this affair has cost NVIDIA billions and more damage could still be here to come.

8:28Because there's no fling with more strings attached than the one with a spy from the country's greatest adversary. This is literally the most expensive hookup ever and it doesn't even involve a nice car. A couple winners of this scandal, by the way, Dario, whose AI pro-regulation position, looks better now that the laissez-faire AI guy is in this scandal. And Google is also kind of a winner here because they decided yesterday was the perfect timing to announce their new chips that compete with NVIDIA. Not GPUs, FPUs, faithful processing units. Yeah, this is the Coldplay Kiss Cam times a trillion, literally.

9:03So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies over at NVIDIA? Is NVIDIA's CEO too big to fire? Now Yeti, is that Coldplay Kiss Cam affair? That CEO resigned. And the CEOs of Intel and McDonald's, they've resigned or were fired for extramarital workplace misconduct as well. But in this case, sleeping with a customer who is also a suspected Chinese spy? Yeah. In an industry, AI, that's been compared with the nuclear arms race, feels like an HR email is an insufficient reprimand for Jensen. This was the ultimate CEO mistake, but Jensen is currently the ultimate CEO. He's created the most valuable company on earth, the first ever to hit a$5 trillion valuation.

9:43He's got a direct line to every big tech CEO, policymaker, and American president. And he's built NVIDIA so that he himself is the keystone figure with over 60 direct reports. And yet, according to NVIDIA, as of this recording, Jensen will continue as CEO despite the ultimate mistake. The investigation is ongoing, and Yale professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, he puts the chances of NVIDIA firing Jensen at 50-50. But if he survives for this ultimate lapse of judgment and public dishonesty, we know why. It's that NVIDIA is Jensen. He's too big to fire. for our second story skim's new advent calendar was so bad that kim kardashian sent an apology email with every company sending an advent calendar right now here's how not to do them everything kim kardashian touches is marketing gold except that one crypto scam she got an indictment for the crypto scam i must forget about that one jack well kim created marketing call a second time last month, the Skims Advent Calendar.

10:46The$5 billion apparel biz launched an Advent Calendar last month for$148. What do you get in that thing, Jack? 12 accessories for the 12 days of Christmas. Now for the Advent uninitiated, this is a Christian four-week countdown to Christmas that's kind of become a corporate thing. So what will you find inside of Kim Skims' first ever Advent Calendar? Disappointment. Not just because there are 12 gifts instead of 24. Pretty sure there's 24 days in the advent. Feels like we got shortchanged, Jack. The gifts were junk. Scrunchies, keychains, hair ties. The stuff that's stuck in your couch cushion right now.

11:18As one influencer put it, I can get these at a Dollar Tree. Nick, if you empty my wife's purse upside down right now, you'll get the contents of Skims Advent Calendar. You know, I can never find anything in here, Jack. The feedback from customers was so bad. Skims is now issuing refunds. You can get your$148 back if you send it back. Or just keep it and you'll get a$150 store credit. What we are saying, besties, is that this is the first ever faux fur elastic headband recall. But the bigger story here is that the Advent calendar has gone from religious treat to capitalist trick. Jack, why don't you sprinkle on some context for us over there, please?

11:54Advent is Latin for arrival, as in the arrival of Christ. And during the Middle Ages, it began as fast, not feast. Advent calendars were a reminder to pray and fast. Starting the fourth Sunday before Christmas, it was an early religious Google Calendar invite to not eat food. Yeah, like religious Google Cal reminder. But in 1908, a German publisher realized that where there are eyeballs, there's attention. So he became the first to commercialize it. Gerhard Lange sold the first ever advent calendar you could actually buy. He put little pictures in each of the 24 advent calendar doors. Now that was 1908.

12:28By 1958, chocolate arrived. Cadbury's candy advent calendar is way more popular than the German little picture one and the Latin don't eat food one. Yeah, this one with the chocolate was a profit puppy. But now the advent calendar has had a full on capitalist glow up. Get this, Tiffany's Jewelers sells one advent calendar for 112 grand. We're talking a different jewelry piece in each of the 24 advent doors. The humble elves can't compete with that. No, they can't, Jack. Oh, and in the last year, Advent calendars have become a holiday must-have for brands. Lego's got one. Jim Beam's got one. Swarovski Crystal's got an Advent calendar.

13:05By the way, you stuck the landing on the pronunciation, Jack. Best one yet. And Nick, I just found Victoria's Secret. 12 days of thongs. That's a product you can buy. It is the smallest of the Advent calendars. So it's not shocking that Skims got in. What is shocking is that they got in so wrong. And our takeaway feels so right. So Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies who are Advent curious? The Advent Calendar is the ultimate free sample because it's a paid sample. Yeti Skim's mistake was trying to profit directly off the Advent Calendar by jamming unwanted products in there and upcharging it for the Christmas packaging.

13:40But the Advent Calendar should be treated like a free sample. It should be about generating future sales. We call it the ultimate free sample because customers pay. So the brand is not forced to take a loss on the Advent Calendar. But since each calendar is 24 doors, those are 24 opportunities to market your brand. in creative different ways. So you could make your advent calendar as a traditional free sample. Just a taste, not enough to satiate. It's going to lead to future sales. Or you could treat it as a feedback test. Offer a flavor or style you haven't launched yet and then see what the response is.

14:10Or treat it as a word of mouth marketing hack. Small sizes make it easier for the buyer to dish them out to their friends. Or go a step further, make it a viral hack. Maybe stick a lab grown diamond in one of the boxes for a cheaper price. That'll get attention. Willy Wonka golden ticket style. Not everyone has a lab-grown diamond, but one of them does. Charlie, you're getting an advent calendar. Brand advent calendars. They're not about maximizing today's profit. If you do that, it'll disappoint. It's about enticing people for future profit. That will delight. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

14:43This episode is brought to you by Rover. Yeti's quick clarification on vowels here. River is the name of Jack's dog. Rover is the name of our sponsor. River is an anxious dog. I don't know why, Nick, but she's always been nervous with strangers. Basically, besides sleeping in between my legs, a plushy dog bed is the one place where she is soothed, even though she rips that dog bed apart every single few months. Which is why Jack's the only person with a plushy dog bed subscription. He gets a new dog bed every three months. But Rover is the marketplace that connects pet caretakers to pet owners.

15:16And the first sitter we used on Rover was River approved. She looked after Jack's dog when the family traveled to New York and Jack had River bored at a sitter's home. Naturally, we brought her plush bed. The sitter sent us pictures during the trip, which brought us huge peace of mind while we were in Central Park. So besties, next time you can't bring your pet somewhere, use Rover. That is River approved. Exclusively for new users of Rover, use code BESTONEYET20 for a$20 discount off your first booking. Valid only on eligible bookings. Offer expires January 24th, 2027. Terms apply. That's Best One Yet 20 for 20 bucks off your first booking.

15:49You know what's a fun habit? Getting to hang with you guys every day on this show. It's what we do. Another fun habit? Listening to audiobooks about habits. Like Atomic Habits, the legendary piece about building habits that better your life, right? And the Atomic Habits audiobook is on Audible. We're excited to collab with Audible because it's how we find our road trip companion. The written word, spoken. So besties, you can create a habit of enjoying audiobooks while you multitask. Which I believe is chapter three of Atomic Habits. That's right, Jack. Wash pots and pans, awkwardly fold those fitted bed sheets, floss your teeth while you're winding down listening on Audible.

16:22If your hands are full while listening to Audible, then you're doing it right. So summer's not over. Replace doom scrolling by listening to an audiobook that a human put all their thought and effort into. Audible. It's stories that speak to you. And new members can start listening with a 30-day free trial at audible.com slash tboy. That's a 30-day free trial at audible.com slash tboy. Take it from a couple guys with a lot of habits who have become your habit. For our third and final story, there is a new football cleat on NFL fields, despite the league fining players for actually wearing them.

16:54Why are two starting NFL quarterbacks willing to break those rules to wear Caddix's startup cleats? Nick and I will tell you. We got the answer. But besties, first, take a seat on the bench and go cry your tears in some Old Bay Under Armour. That was more aggressive than I thought, Nick. But yes, the hot new sports brand from Baltimore is Caddix. Why don't you sprinkle lots of contacts here, Jack? Non-contact injuries are in some ways the worst injuries in sports. Like our buddy Timmy had one of these. You know, an ACL, an Achilles tear, because your cleats had too much traction? That sucks. You go down even though nobody hit you.

17:27Well, Caddix knows that elite athletes will pay big money to protect their bodies, so they created a new type of football cleat. And they trademarked the term smart studs, spikes that have a little bit of flex so your foot can slip out instead of twisting your leg. So far, they're for lacrosse and football players. And these smart studs were designed to reduce those non-contact injuries. Super Bowl winning quarterback Joe Flacco, he's an investor in the startup. Tom Brady's trainer, he's a health advisor in the startup. And so was a lawyer because this tiny startup Caddx has patented the heck out of this tech.

17:58It's a tiny company, just$2 million in annual revenue. And yet it's seen by tens of millions of Americans every Sunday. Because here's the news, besties. Caleb Williams has been wearing them all season long, despite racking up fines for each and every play. The biggest drama this NFL season isn't the tush push, intentional grounding, or replays. No, it's fashion, honey. Because the number one draft pick and Heisman winner from USC is the greatest quarterback hope for the Bears since Jimmy Harbaugh. And yet in week six, Caleb Williams broke the NFL's rules. He was fined almost$12 ,000 for wearing an unauthorized logo on the field from Caddx.

18:34I'm sorry, whistle on the play, Jack. Actually, flag on the play. Only logos of Nike, Adidas, and Under Armour are allowed on NFL cleats. The lawyers control the equipment, and they charge for access. Which leads to week seven, when Caleb Williams wore those same shoes again. The NFL jacked up the fine to$24 ,000. This guy's not noticing. Now, week eight, Caleb wears those shoes on the field again, but he does black out the Sharpies, so he's not technically violating the rules. Yeah, he wants to win the NFC North, not the headlines. He thought it was becoming immediate distraction. But for Caddx, that's not advertising that you pay for, that's publicity you pray for.

19:08So the founder offered to pay Caleb Williams' fines, just like Nike used to pay Michael Jordan's fines. Remember that story? We did a Nike's first Jordan sneaker? What was the whole drama of that, Jack? The NBA had a requirement that players could only wear white sneakers, but Nike gave MJ black sneakers and said, we'll pay the fines for you. It was a huge thing. But let's go back to week number nine this past weekend in the NFL. What did we see, Jack? fellow first round draft pick and Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow strapped on his Caddx cleats for the Cincinnati Bengals. Small sample size besties, but teams with quarterbacks wearing Caddx cleats are now 5-0 this season.

19:45You don't have to be Chris Collinsworth to know that that's some correlation and maybe even causation right there, Nick. We'll have to kick this to Troy Aikman for some confirmation, Jack. But in the meantime, we've got two Heisman winners, two number one draft picks, and two fans of this startup's illegal football cleats. The wildest part, Neither of these quarterbacks is paid to wear those Caddix cleats. They're just fans. Which makes me think, Jack, you know how you were a second string backup, ready to go quarterback back in the day? Always ready to go. Maybe we could have made you a starter if I just had found you some contraband equipment.

20:15But in the meantime, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Caddix? You don't need to get an NFL QB. You just need 1 ,000 true fans. Yeti's the ultimate sign that your product has product market fit. and said people are willing to break the law to use it. But there's another way you can make it as a creator. Find a thousand true fans. That comes from Kevin Kelly's thought leadership essay back in 2008. If you can get to a thousand true fans, then you can make a living. Well, Caddx founder Jack Rasmussen said this. We didn't build a marketing machine. We built a cleat that's designed to keep athletes safer.

20:50Well, that got Caddx to a thousand true fans, mostly college athletes. And now all 32 NFL teams have ordered up bears. So you don't need an NFL QB to notice your product. You don't need a viral TikTok moment either. Besties, to make a living on your idea, you just need a thousand true fans. Jack, could you whip up the take, Miss Force, for T-Boy Tuesday? Jensen Huang confessed to an affair with the woman U.S. authorities suspect is a Chinese spy. Most expensive affair ever. It's impacted his family and the stock, but not his job title, because Jensen is too big to fire. For our second story, Skim's advent calendar bombed.

21:28Customers got an email offering a refund or store credit. The advent calendar is the ultimate free sample because it's a paid sample, but it's about future profits, not today's. And finally, Caddix. It's becoming a household name thanks to their patented smart spikes and NFL quarterback fans. But you don't need a quarterback to buy your product, besties. You just need a thousand true fans. Now you're going to say you just need a backup quarterback. Jack, you're my backup quarterback. But besties, this pod's not over. yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the founders of Poppy, the prebiotic soda brand, just launched their next thing, Jetty.

22:02Poppy sold last year to Pepsi for$2 billion. So the founders are funding this next venture, Jetty, all by themselves. Interesting they chose hydration because that's a crowded category. And their last drink, Poppy, had created a new category with prebiotic soda. But we think there's a bigger story here to the success of second-time founders. If you want a story on that and the surprise data behind it, comment refill in today's episode. Second, the NCAA is doing what everyone knew they would eventually do, chase more money with a bigger tournament. They're expanding college football's playoffs to 24 teams effective next season.

22:35And they're eliminating the conference championship games altogether, replacing them with the first round of this huge playoff tournament. It's a five-year, $1.7 billion deal with old ESPN. And it makes me even more proud that I went to the SEC championship game in 2008 when Tim Tebow beat Nick Saban's Crimson Tide, back when he was a backup quarterback. And finally, Beehive, the newsletter service that we actually use for our T-Boy newsletter, is ending job titles across their entire company. From intern to CEO, they're all just employees now. Yeah, nothing has broken LinkedIn more than this update and this news.

23:11Fans of the policy say it creates a level of simplicity that gives people more ownership. Haters say it creates confusion and cuts motivation. And all of us are saying it's a reason to post on LinkedIn and a nice job going viral. Now time for the best fact yet, which was whipped up by Jack and I, as we promised you at the beginning of the show. We mentioned the lawsuit over pineapple pizza and asked, where does pineapple pizza come from? Obviously it doesn't come from Italy, like Naples would never. And not Australia, despite that being a legal topic right now. Most of you would assume it would be Hawaii because this is often called Hawaiian style pizza when it has pineapple on it.

23:47And the fact that pineapple and ham are both famously abundant on Hawaiian islands. No, but get this. Pineapple pizza was actually invented by Canada. That's right. A chef in Canada was the first to create this controversial combination in 1962. Actually, a Greek-born Canadian cook named Sam Panopoulos, you can thank him and blame him for the concept. It's or blame him, not and blame him. I think after you try it, Jack. You do both. He just visited Italy and wanted to do something different with pizza. So he put together sweet pineapple with savory and the acidity of the pineapple offset the density of the meat.

24:22Little did he know that 64 years later, his invention would cause an international constitutional cuisine crisis down in Australia. Yetis, you look fantastic today, Jack. You are glowing over there, my friend. And Yetis, we've been on tour. We have. We've been asking you to buy tickets to our show. We have. We're going to pivot because there's no more shows. So why don't you drop down and give us five stars and leave a review. Nick and I are really interested in what you think. Not only do we love reading each and every one of your reviews, it actually helps grow the show because the ratings and reviews help drive us up the rankings.

24:53Just like Uber, five stars for five stars, baby. Because we're your backup quarterback and you are our backup quarterback. Okay, again, yeti, interpret that as a compliment, okay? because we're all everyone's backup quarterback.

25:14And before we go, a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, Tim Roberts, having a Betty-in birthday in Oregon. That means he's turning 63 and was born in 1963. Happy birthday to Willow Dobbins in Philadelphia. She's turning 10 and listens to this show every night. Willow, we love you. And she died over in Boston celebrating the best birthday yet. Just as I said, Boston. Happy birthday to Jamie Talbot, the musical wonder of Utah. And Nick Alves turning 32 years old down in hotland Atlanta. Happy birthday to Varshan Van Dam from India, celebrating their 31st birthday in sunny San Diego. And Catherine and Jimmy, happy one-year anniversary over in Brooklyn.

25:48Happy one-year anniversary to John and Danny Gill in Michigan. And Johnny Anderson, the legendary Yeti, is back from deployment. He's living in Colorado, already adopted a puppy. Little guy, his name is Rusty. And happy end to Diwali, to all those who celebrate. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. celebrate the wins.

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