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This is Nick. This is Jack.
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It's Wednesday ceviche Wednesday, February 11th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T, boy.
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The top three pop business news stories you need to know today.
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All right, I'm P2P right here. Jack. I'm P2P. I'm pumped a pod.
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I'm R2P.
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What's RDP?
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Ready to pod.
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Okay, pump to pod. Ready to pod. You wanna hit the show? We got three fantastic stories, my friend.
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For our first story, one dating app is spreading across Stanford just like Facebook spread across Harvard.
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Date drop. It's used by 75% of Stanford students. And it shows the model for 202026 dating.
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For our second story, 106-year-old Eddie Bauer just filed for bankruptcy. Pour one out for your down jacket.
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If you want to know what killed Eddie Bauer, it wasn't capitalism. It was crapitalism.
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And our third and final story, MrBeast acquired Step, a teen finance app. The bank of MrBeast is now a real thing.
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And with it, MrBeast now has 7 million teens hooked up for 19 years. And we got the data to back that up.
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But yetis, before we hit that wonderful.
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Mix of stories, I mean, like we said, P2P. R2P. Love the PODJ.
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We just saw the craziest signal yet of froth in artificial intelligence.
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Because get this, investors are now offering AI companies 100 year loans.
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To sprinkle on some context, Google is investing $185 billion this year on AI in data centers.
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Yeah, but not even Google is profitable enough to pay for all that, man.
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So now Google is launching their first ever Century Bond.
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I'm sorry, Century bond, Jack.
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An IOU that's not to be paid back for 100 years.
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A full cent.
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If you buy this bond from Google, you'll see your money again in the year 2126.
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We repeat, you get paid back in the 22nd century.
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In 2126, your great, great grandkids will be doing spring break on like Venus.
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Jack, in 2026, our hands will have evolved without pinky fingers.
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By 2026, McDonald's soft serve machines will actually be fixed.
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The guac will be free because there won't be any avocados.
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Besties.
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Most investors don't even know what they're doing this Friday night.
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And yet they're okay making a date with Google for 100.
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Artificial intelligence. Investors want it so badly, they're basically just giving their money away.
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So, besties, if you're still looking for A Valentine's Day gift. Buy her a Google Century Bond.
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Because nothing says forever quite like a ridiculous 100 year financial product.
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It says our love will outlast big tech.
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I don't know why she walked away. I got her two of them. 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.
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50%.
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That's a fat tip. T boy city on your at Liz if you know, you know. Cause 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, Yetis. Jack had a lifelong dream of owning a ski house. But then he married a skier who's better at skiing than him, which put.
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The pressure on to really own a ski house.
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Okay, but still, a ski house is very expensive. So what helped make Jack's dream doable? Airbnb.
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I bought the chalet in 2024 and I use it very often with my own family. But when we're not using it, I host it on Airbnb. Especially those three day weekends when ski houses are in most demand.
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The additional income Jack earns from hosting his home on Airbnb, it helps make owning the secondary property residence day weekend coming up. Nick. A lot of people want to go skiing.
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Jack. I've done a ton of skiing this season already. I want to go to Florida with my family. The extra income I earn from hosting on Airbnb helps offset those travel costs.
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Four adults, four children from just outside Boston. Boom. They just booked a stay on Jack Chalet.
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Primary home or secondary home? If you've got space, you've got opportunity. Hosting on Airbnb helped make my dream possible.
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Besties. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much@airbnb.com host how many times have you wished you could be in two places at once? With Wix, you practically can. Wix's website builder is packed with powerful AI tools to make running your business online easier. Build a full site just by talking with AI. Get an AI agent to manage your.
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Sales and marketing, or work like a 10 person team, even if it's just you. So you don't need superpowers to get everything done.
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You just need Wix. Try it now for free@wix.com. For our first story, the fastest growing dating app in America started at Stanford and has expanded to all the Ivys. It's Date Drop.
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Why are two thirds of Stanford undergrads using this dating app? Because Tuesday at 9pm is drop time.
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Mark your calendars. Yetis. This story really begins with one single graduate student named Henry Wang who built a survey last semester.
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66 questions about your values, your lifestyle and your politics.
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You fill out the survey and then he feeds the results into an algorithm. And what's the goal, Jack?
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Find someone compatible for you to date.
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Complicated survey, simple formula. You and that Cutie have a 99% compatibility. You me equals us.
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But here's the key. The app only matches you with one person per week.
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Okay, but Jack, here's the bigger key. All the matches on the Date Drop app are revealed at the same time. Tuesday, 9:00pm that's why it's called Date Drop. Exactly. Most dating apps, they are a never ending scroll of tinder fatigue sadness out there.
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Date Drop, on the other hand, has created a weekly event that you get together with your friends for to see who your match is this week.
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No joke, there are Date Drop tailgating parties. Jack, what has been the result of this 9pm Tuesday moment?
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Super bowl level insanity on Tuesday across campus at 9pm Two thirds of undergrads are using this app.
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Jack and I dove in T boy style. The way we see it, this is the Labubu effect in action.
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It's like a mystery box, but for matching dates.
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Just like Supreme Drop sneakers, they're dropping your future Mr. Or Mrs. Right.
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And we think this is a huge moment because like Zuckerberg's Facebook escape to the Harvard campus, Date Drop has hit escape velocity too.
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That's right. Date Drop is now at all the ivies at mit. It is scaling across those schools faster than a nice clean pair of boat shoes and chinos.
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Soon you can probably sign up even without a Edu address.
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Jack, how are MIT engineers hooking up up this Valentine's Day with the date.
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That dropped last night at 9pm on the date Drop app.
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And here's the news. Yetis, this isn't just the most viral dating app in America. Day Drop. This one man startup just raised $2.1 million in venture capital funding.
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Yeah, the smart money is on the smart date matching.
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Maybe an AI CupID can solve the Tinder fatigue that's been dropping the dating app stocks.
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But this isn't the first academic love algorithm, is it, Nick?
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Good point, Jack. Harvard's had their data match since 1994. Same concept, but that was all on PA with human beings doing, like the manual matching for that thing.
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Speaking of Harvard.
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Yes, Jack.
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Where Facebook was born in 2004, date drop has another wild similarity with Facebook.
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Jack, are you thinking about accusations of stealing?
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Because in 2017, the marriage pact was also founded at Stanford. Used a very similar questionnaire to do the same thing. Find you a date.
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In fact, the Marriage Pact just sent a cease and desist letter over to Date Drop.
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But like Zuckerberg said to the Winklevoss twins, Date Drop is saying, talk to my lawyers. I'm not quitting this. This is my billion dollar idea.
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But besties, Jack and I were curious still. Why has this become the fastest growing dating app in America? And the answer? It matches with our takeaway. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Date Drop?
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The biggest value isn't the product, it's the anticipation.
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Oh, Yetis. They're just like so many cool forces behind Date Drop. We've told you about some of them. Like how in a world of infinite options, there is power in curation.
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There's also the labub, the mystery box concept that leboo pioneered that can apply to anything.
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But fundamental to Date Drop success is the idea of having to wait an entire week for your first date.
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That's right. The real value of Date Drop is not the reveal. It's the seven days leading up to it.
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Just like HBO stole the Zeitgeist for eight weeks with weekly drops of Game.
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Of Thrones, Date Drop dominates the Zeitgeist on each campus. It expands to with Tuesday night date Drops.
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But what we're saying is that HBO owns Sundays, Date Drop owns Tuesdays.
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The Date Drop product may or may not have been copied by someone else's.
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Idea, but it doesn't matter because the biggest value isn't the product. It's the anticipation. For our second story, Eddie Bauer went from the outdoor luxury chic of the 90s to bankrupt. Today.
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Pour one out for Eddie Bauer, which rose thanks to capitalism, but fell thanks to crapitalism.
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Eddie Bauer. I mean, Jack, if we're going to build a Mount Rushmore of outdoor brands based in the Pacific Northwest, they gotta be up there. They gotta be one of the faces.
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Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're on there. Rei, Columbia, Arc', Taric, Eddie Bauer. All Pacific Northwest. All punching above their parker.
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Are you kidding? Filson got snubbed on your list. Oh, boy.
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True. Filson did get snubbed.
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They were ensconced in flannel besties to research this story, Jack and I went to the about page on eddiebauer.com and sadly, it still says we're just getting started.
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Sadly because actually the business is over. True, the brand founded by the man of the same name, Eddie Bauer, in 1923 just declared bankruptcy.
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Thank you for clarifying his name, Jack. Eddie Bauer founded that company in 1923 after he contracted hypothermia on a winter fishing trip up in the state of Washington.
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He nearly died. So he created technical outdoor apparel to help future fishermen and outdoorsmen.
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Then he got life insurance. And then Eddie Bauer patented the first ever down jacket, hence their logo being a goose.
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Eddie Bauer also outfitted the first American to ever climb Mount Everest and outfitted.
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The US army for their first Air Force bomber jackets during World War II.
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But the symbolic summit of their business was in the year 2002 when they had 500 stores. It's all been downhill from there since.
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Then because on Tuesday, Eddie Bauer announced bankruptcy. They're closing their seattle headquarters and 200 stores unless they can get a buyer asap.
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RIP Eddie Bauer. But we're gonna relive their glory days.
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Yeah, Jack, take us back to the 90s when we were growing up, man.
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Eddie Bauer pioneered a concept that has inspired Kim Kardashian today. The collab.
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The collab. It begins with Eddie Bauer. You see, Eddie Bauer, his son and later General Mills and a called Spiegel all owned the business in the 20th century.
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All of those Eddie Bauer owners invested money, took risks, innovated the brand and product and launched and delivered profits, including the first Collabs.
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Like in 1984, they launched the Eddie Bauer Edition Ford Bronco, Ford Explorer and later Ford expedition cars.
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From 1984 to 2010, High End Eddie Bauer Edition Fords turned heads in the ski mountain drop off zone.
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I mean, Jack, nothing pairs better with a third home at Stowe than an Eddie Bauer Ford vehicle.
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The two tone color on the outside, the leather interior on the inside.
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But they didn't stop there. Eddie Bauer launched Eddie Bauer Home, a warm and cozy home goods business through a partnership with Lane Furniture.
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They also launched Eddie Bauer Optics, Collab Sunglasses in partnership with Oakley.
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And they launched Eddie Bauer Mountain Bikes in partnership with giant mountain bike company.
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Today at Skims partnering with everybody. 25 years ago it was Eddie Bauer partnering with everybody But Jack, we should.
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Point out, starting in 2003, Eddie Bauer kind of became, well, it became a.
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Corporate because its owner at the time, Spiegel, declared bankruptcy due to an unrelated credit card business that was poorly managed.
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What was the result, Jack?
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For the last 23 years, Eddie Bauer's owners were focused on cutting instead of adding.
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Basically corporate hypothermia. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Eddie Bauer?
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New term crapitalism. When PE sucks away all the value from a business.
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Yetis, from 2003 to 2009, Eddie Bauer was owned by Wall street banks who they just wanted to get their money back.
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And after that, it was owned by a PE and what's essentially another PE company.
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Now, the interesting thing about private equity is their business model is kind of like house flippers. They buy a bad company, they make it good, and then they sell it as a profit.
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Yeah, sometimes they do that, Nick, but other times, they buy a good house, they don't give it the upgrades it needs, they neglect it. They extract all the value from it, like the copper pipes inside, and leave the house for dead.
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Well, that's the position Eddie Bauer found itself in. It had become a brand of suburban malls. It wasn't cool, it wasn't trendy. It was simply meh when private equity took over.
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So did those PE owners invest in Equal E Commerce to revive the brand's growth? No, they didn't.
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Nope. They set up an Amazon page and visits to eddiebauer.com fell and flatlined for 10 years.
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Did they invest in fulfillment to meet the higher expectations of consumers in the E commerce era? No, they didn't.
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Nope. Gordon the Trust Pilot. Bad customer service gave EDDIE BAUER Just 1.3 stars out of 5 stars.
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Did they sign Bear Grylls as a sponsorship dude to try to bring some cool back to the brand?
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Obvious move. I love your call, Jack.
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No, they didn't.
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Eddie Bauer became not cool with bad customer service and the result was bankruptcy.
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What Eddie Bauer needed was capitalism. Investments into the business for long term growth.
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But what it got was crapitalism. Private equity hollowed out the brand like a carcass in the woods. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.
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NetSuite.
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All right, Jack, you know how in every superhero movie they find the one future saving all powerful object?
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It's usually some kind of crystal.
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Episode, because soon they will be. The guide's free to use@netsuite.com tboy that's netsuite.com tboi monarch our new Year's Resolution Plan Uary we plan and book all our travel for the whole year in January.
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And the reason we could put all that spending in one month is our favorite budgeting app, Monarch.
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See you in that transaction tab. Jack, what's going on in that transaction tab?
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Use code tboyonarch.com for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year@monarch.com with code T boy for our third and final story, MrBeast just acquired a teen finance app. Step the bank of Mr. Beast is now officially a thing.
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By switching to teen bank accounts, Mr. Beast is pivoting from attention to retention.
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Yetis Last year, Jack and I dove in T boy style to the old US Patent and Trademark office. And what did we notice about a curious MrBeast trademark application? The man with 500 million followers had the intention to enter quote banking, investment and Crypto services.
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I just dropped a golden Ticket in a room full of scorpions. If you find it first, you get a high yield savings account. Is that the business model?
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First one to tackle Jamie Dimon wins a billion dollars.
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I'm gonna bury myself alive. But now we're seeing why. Because the world's most popular YouTuber acquired Step this week, a teen finance app with 7 million users.
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I'm sorry, Jack. Pause. The population Beast Industries. Other ventures include Feastables, a snack brand, Beast Philanthropy, its nonprofit arm Beast Games, a reality competition series on Amazon prime.
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Video, plus the profit puppy, the YouTube channel.
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Next up, MrBeast plans to launch a wireless service, basically a viral version of Verizon.
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MrBeast is becoming the unilever of Gen Z. But Step is the first business he's acquired instead of building from scratch.
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And since Jack and I sold the business to Robinhood and were there for three years, we know a thing or two about fintech apps.
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So we're jumping in T boy style of this latest MrBeast acquisition.
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You see, besties. There's an ironic plot twist here about the financial technology app Step. It's funded by the new money.
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Step is backed by celebrities who got rich young but were never taught how to manage their money.
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Alex Rodriguez, Steph Curry, Jared Leto, Will.
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Smith, the Chainsmokers, Charli d'. Amelio.
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Each of whom wishes they could have taught their younger selves what to do with money.
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Step tries to do that for them or improve the financial future of the next generation, as they put it.
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Yeah, it's Mr. Beast Line. But funny thing, Jack and I have noticed over the years about fintech apps. To understand the target of a fintech app, look at the iPhone sample mock up on their website.
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You see every fintech company from Robinhood to Coinbase to Brex to Ramp. They show a mockup of the user account and how it looks on an iPhone on the website.
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And whatever balance they show on that sample picture of the app on an iPhone on their website, that's the signal that tells you who they're really targeting.
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Does the mockup show an account balance of a thousand? $100,000? A million dollars?
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Well, on Steph's website, its sample user has an account with $50.
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Yes, because this is for teens. They have 7 million teens signed up. That's a lot. But haters will point out that the typical user has just 50 bucks or so.
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So the big question, how will step and Mr. Beast make money off of a 15 year old who only has allowance money? Like, can Mr. Beast build a business based On Girl Scout cookie sales. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy, Mr. Beast?
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Teen bank account. Forever bank accounts. And the data proves it.
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Yetis, Jack and I have shared with you the window of loyalty. We know you love that takeaway. Basically, brands want to win the love of young people because that love lasts a lifetime.
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Nobody loves their banks, to be clear, but bank relationships last a lifetime, too.
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According to a recent survey of a thousand Americans, 50% of people considered switching banks in the last year.
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But the majority of those people opted not to because it was way too much of a hassle to switch your primary bank.
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Didn't you, like, consider doing this the other day? And then, after six hours, gave up.
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I was tempted by a bank that would give me 3% interest, even on my checking account. But, nick, I have 30 automatic payments going in or out every given month.
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That's the hotel California situation. You can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave the result.
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According to Bankrate, the average checking account in America is held for 19 years.
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Years besties. Mr. Beast will try to boost the 7 million users of STEP to 70 million by promoting it across his social channels and investing in new features.
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J.P. morgan and Charles Schrock. They don't care about $50 bank accounts.
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No, they don't. But teen bank accounts are often forever bank accounts, and the data proves it. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for ceviche Wednesday Date drop.
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Is used by 5,000 of Stanford's 7,000 undergraduate students, basically the entire single population on campus.
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The product didn't make it go viral. It's the seven days of anticipation that did.
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For our second story. Eddie Bauer was the epitome of outdoor luxury chic in the 1990s, but today, today, it's bankrupt.
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Capitalism powered its rise, but crapitalism powered its fall.
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And our third and final story. Beast Industries now owns Step, the fintech app targeting people in their teens and twenties.
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And those same teen users today will be titan users in 20 years. And then Mr. Beast will add this to every app. Exactly.
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But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.
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First, a happy, heavy earnings week. To all those who celebrate. Spotify stock jumped 15% because users were just all ignoring that price hike.
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Apparently, Robinhood stock fell yesterday as the fall in crypto prices has suppressed trading.
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Activity and Lyft dropped. Lyft is now worth just one Lyft because they did launch teen accounts, but that was two years later than their.
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Rival Uber, second hims and hers and Novo Nordisk stock have lost so much value you'd think they're on Ozempic.
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Yeah, get this. Both of these GLP1 companies have GLP1 miracle weight loss drugs. But both stocks are off 65% from their all time highs. Why?
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The GLP1 drugs that used to cost $1,000 a month just like two years ago, are now available for as little as $50 a month.
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It's a weight loss drug price war. Great for consumers, but terrible for profits and shareholders.
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And finally, more super bowl drama. Michael Bay is suing Cadillac, claiming that Cadillac stole his ideas for their super bowl commercial.
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You see, Cadillac is the new F1 Racing team with their first ever Grand Prix coming up this March 6th.
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And to get Americans hyped about, they talked to Michael Bay, the famous director of all those Transformers movies.
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But then Cadillac didn't end up hiring Michael Bay to do their super bowl commercial. They allegedly stole his ideas and used them in the ad instead.
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Not cool, Cadillac. Not cool if true.
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Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Savannah Westwood from lovely Orlando, Florida. And earlier this week we told you it was the 100th birthday of Black History Month. So Savannah, Savannah got us a good one.
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Savannah's fact is about Robert Smalls, who became the first black captain to command a US Naval vessel after he stole a Confederate ship during the Civil War.
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I mean, can we sprinkle on some context here? 1862, this enslaved man takes a Confederate ship and then delivers all its cargo up to the north to the Union forces.
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And his bravery helped convince President Lincoln to allow black men to serve in the U.S. navy and in the U.S. army.
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But Robert Smalls didn't stop there. He eventually went on to become a congressman for the state of South Carolina in the U.S. house of Representatives. And he did it for nine years.
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Small and last name, huge in accomplishments.
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Yetis, you are looking fantastic for ceviche Wednesday. Jack, you are glowing over there too. And what is the best way to help grow the show?
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Share the show with your friend who would love the best one yet.
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H y H T B O y that's how we grow the show. What does that stand for?
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Have you had the best one yet? Drop a link to today's today's episode in your group chat.
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Then if you really want to nail Valentine's Day, buy that Google 100 year bond.
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Your great, great, great, great great grandchildren will appreciate it.
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And that's what you put in the note. You nailed it, Jack. That's what you put in the note. Jack and I will see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday and congratulations to YETI Avery Walton in Kingwood, Texas. She's getting married next month to a dude named Nick. And she she is on a roll right now.
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Happy 48th birthday to Fred Vallis in California who's listened to 500 episodes of this pod.
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And Josh Platz has a birthday and a new job over in Beaver, Pennsylvania.
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Happy birthday to Jessica Fishler listening on her commute right now in Atlanta, Georgia.
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And Dinesh Barvani and his mother in law are enjoying the same best birthday in El Segundo, California.
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Happy birthday to Ryder Pank turning big 8 years old in California.
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And Molly no Diff has got a great name and a great birthday celebrating in New York City.
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And happy birthday to Emily Bryan, high school teacher at WHS who's turning 30 in Westminster, Maryland.
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And a shout out to Terrell Caraman who's driving their daughter to school and just got promoted in Fresno, California.
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Happy three year wedding anniversary to Ryan and Rachel down in Atlanta.
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And Caroline and Nick Alves just got engaged in December. And Jack, they already chose the wedding venue. Congratulations. It's the hardest part.
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This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon and Lyft. And Nick and I both own stock Robinhood and Spotify.
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Episode: “9pm Mystery” — Date Drop’s college takeover. MrBeast’s teen bank. Eddie Bauer’s crapitalism. + Google’s 100-Year Bond.
Hosts: Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell
Date: February 11, 2026
On this fast-paced edition of The Best One Yet, Jack and Nick break down three big pop-business headlines:
They kick things off with a mind-boggling sign of AI investment mania: Google’s new 100-year bond. Throughout, Jack and Nick serve signature high-energy banter and sharp analysis, with memorable moments and clever takeaways.
[01:03 – 02:21]
[04:31 – 08:34]
[08:48 – 13:17]
[15:52 – 19:42]
[22:05]
Jack and Nick deliver not just headlines, but the business and cultural storylines behind each. If you want ideas to drop at brunch or Zoom, this episode is packed with conversation starters—whether it’s how TV strategies inspire dating apps, why PE firms can kill brands, or why winning a 16-year-old's bank account is a 19-year jackpot.
For the full experience—including the jokes and running bits—don’t miss Jack and Nick’s banter in the episode!