🦋 “Open 9-5” — Dolly Parton’s gas station. Oura Ring’s over-optimizer. Instagram’s ex-stalker. +Diet Coke vs Coke Zero

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Best One Yet

Episode: 🦋 “Open 9-5” — Dolly Parton’s gas station. Oura Ring’s over-optimizer. Instagram’s ex-stalker. +Diet Coke vs Coke Zero

Date: May 29, 2026

Hosts: Nick Martell & Jack Crivici-Kramer

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Overview

This TBOY episode features a lively, pop-business news roundup covering:

• Dolly Parton’s entry into gas stations as destinations
• Meta’s (Instagram) new paid subscription features
• Oura Ring’s IPO plans and wearable wellness backlash Plus, fierce debate on Diet Coke vs. Coke Zero and rapid-fire business tidbits.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Diet Coke vs. Coke Zero: The Great Soda Showdown

[01:31 – 03:02]

• America’s latest polarization isn’t Pepsi vs. Coke, but Diet Coke vs. Coke Zero—even though both are Coke products.
• Key stats:
  • Zero sugar sodas accounted for 52% of all soda sales growth last year.
  • Diet sodas have been flat for two decades.
  • Coke Zero Sugar surpassed Diet Coke in sales for the first time.
• Audience divide:
  • “To Diet Coke fans, Coke Zero is a creepy new lab concoction.” (Jack, 02:29)
  • “To Coke Zero fans, Diet Coke is a Franken soda lab concoction.” (Nick, 02:33)
• Marketing split: Coke Zero pitches “barbecues, baseball, and first dates,” while Diet Coke sticks to “the classy boomer crowd.”
• Pepsi’s woes: Market share slipping while Coke battles itself.
• Memorable moment: “I’m having Diet Coke, but only at the movie theater.” (Nick, 02:54)

---

2. Dolly Parton’s Destination Gas Station

[05:37 – 10:20]

• Dolly’s business empire: Spans music ($120M catalog), production studio, theme park (“Dollywood” = $400M), now expanding into hospitality with a new gas station.
• Motivation: Lifelong road travel inspired Dolly to create a “not-greasy,” pleasant pit stop she wished existed.
• “Dolly’s Tennessee Travel Stop” (Opening June 24th, TN):
  • Gas, EV chargers, super-clean bathrooms
  • Restaurant, coffee shop, general store
  • Theme park extras: Outdoor dog park, BBQ restaurant, patio, trucker lounge
  • Major differentiators: Live music stage with all-day performers, Dolly’s actual tour bus, selfie-mural by local artist
• Strategy:
  • “If we’re that much better than the competition… we don’t need as many [locations].” (Jack, 08:18)
  • Compares to Buc-ee’s (55 locations, $5B revenue): “People have changed their driving habits to make sure their pit stop is at Buc-ee’s.” (Jack, 08:42)
  • Make the gas station a planned stop, not just a detour.
• Takeaway:
  • “The live experience economy is overflowing.” (Jack, 09:19)
  • “In a digital, AI-driven world, people want human connection more than ever.” (Jack, 09:40)
  • Live music increases “wallet-opening” – making the stop an experience, not a chore.

---

3. Instagram’s $4/month “Stalker” Subscription

[10:26 – 14:53]

• New features:
  • Instagram/Facebook Plus for $4/month allows users to:
    • View others' Stories incognito (no more awkward ex-spotting)
    • Extend Stories to 48 hours
    • Use high-tier “super emojis”
    • Easily see who viewed your Story
  • But: No ad-free experience offered.
• Surprising/Disappointing omission:
  • “Meta’s subscription doesn’t include the one feature we’d actually pay for—to go ad-free on Instagram.” (Jack, 13:00)
  • Ad revenue is too important. Meta makes $26/month per US user from ads.
  • “Would you pay $26/month for ad-free Instagram? That’d be your most expensive subscription of all.” (Jack, 14:33)
  • “Advertisers will pay more to access us than we’re willing to pay not to see them.” (Nick, 14:48)
• Behavioral stat:
  • 48% of US social media users make impulse purchases from ads.
  • On average: $754/year in impulse buys traced to Instagram.
  • “Instagram’s not actually free. We pay $100/month in unplanned shopping.” (Jack, 13:13, paraphrased)

---

4. Oura Ring: IPO, Gender Shift, and Optimizer Backlash

[17:06 – 21:47]

• IPO news: Oura Ring confidentially files to IPO, targeting >$11B valuation (comparable to Cartier).
• Product: $350–$400 smart ring requiring $6/month subscription.
• Growth:
  • 3M rings sold last year, 2x previous year.
  • Amex gives $200 credit for buying, appealing to luxury card holders.
• Customer surprise:
  • Largest buyers: Pentagon (for soldiers' vitals) & now women (shift from male-dominated; ovulation/menopause tracking is big).
  • “Last year, Oura Ring went through a gender flip.” (Nick, 19:08)
  • New Oura 5 ring: 40% smaller, designed for smaller hands/fashion.
• Skepticism on ‘pleasure to measure’:
  • “We don’t wear health trackers… [because of] the pleasure to measure tradeoff.” (Jack, 17:18)
  • Viral story: “Stephen Bartlett… said he’s not gonna have wine with friends anymore [due to poor sleep scores].” (Nick, 20:34)
  • “Optimizing sleep at the expense of the things that make life worth living.” (Jack, 20:56)
  • “None of those wearables measure how awesome it was to order one extra drink at the cocktail bar with your buddies…” (Jack, 21:25)
• Conversation starter:
  • “Are we over-optimizing at the expense of the stuff that makes life great? Is it optimization saturation?” (Nick, 21:41)

---

5. Notable Quotes & Moments

• “Dolly Parton, America’s ageless, apolitical, anti-AI serial divapreneur.” (Jack, 05:51)
• “When a gal is playing her guitar on stage, our willingness to pay increases. Even if it’s a gas station.” (Nick, 10:09)
• “Meta’s AI power bill is more than Chernobyl right now.” (Nick, 12:39)
• “Would you pay $26/month for ad-free Instagram? That’d be your most expensive subscription…” (Jack, 14:33)
• “The pleasure to measure tradeoff. There’s a cost to that good night’s sleep.” (Nick, 20:19)

---

6. Quick Business Headlines

[22:33 – 23:55]

• Spotify splurges $100M on Jay Shetty’s podcast; partners with Netflix for video.
• Anthropic surpasses OpenAI as world’s most valuable AI lab ($900B valuation).
• Lululemon founder Chip Wilson settles with company after year of public attacks; agrees to add his board picks and a public truce.

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:31 – 03:02 | Coke Zero vs. Diet Coke debate, stats, and marketing
• 05:37 – 10:20 | In-depth Dolly Parton gas station business story
• 10:26 – 14:53 | Instagram/Facebook Plus feature analysis; ad-free debate
• 17:06 – 21:47 | Oura Ring IPO, female focus, and pleasure-to-measure critique
• 22:33 – 23:55 | Fast headlines: Spotify, Anthropic, Lululemon

---

Final Takeaways

• Dolly Parton's gas station reinvents the pit stop with music & experiences, maximizing “experience economy” overflow.
• Instagram’s new “stalker” premium disappoints—ad revenue outmatches what users would pay for ad-free.
• Oura Ring typifies the ‘pleasure to measure’ tradeoff; society may be over-optimizing at the expense of joy.
• Let us know where you stand: Are you #TeamDietCoke or #TeamCokeZero? And has optimization gone too far?

---

For more details or to join the live TBOY tour, check the episode description links. The pod closes with fun facts and birthday shoutouts, but those are for the real Yetis.

Transcript

[A]

This is Nick, this is Jack.

[B]

It is Friday, The Real Friday, May 29th. And today's pod is the best one yet. And this is a T boy, the

[A]

top three pop business news stories you need to know today.

[B]

Well, here we are. It's official. Live tickets on sale right now, starting today.

[A]

I am so excited for the second leg of the IPO tour, our in person offering. We're going to San Francisco on Wednesday, September 23rd.

[B]

Boston just inside Boston, Wednesday, October 14th.

[A]

And we're finishing it off with Seattle on Wednesday, Wednesday, November 4th.

[B]

It could sell out any moment. Grab your tickets now. We got the links right here in the episode description.

[A]

These live shows are the Magnus opum of tvoi.

[B]

Oh, we're already prepping the wardrobes. But Jack, in the meantime, while everyone's snaggin their ticks, we'll pause the pod.

[A]

Are we letting them buy the tickets right now? Is that the pause?

[B]

All right, we're ready, Jack. Three fantastic stories for today's show. What do we got on the T boy?

[A]

For our first story, Dolly Parton's newest release is not a song, it's a gas station.

[B]

The country music star is coming out after mobile baby.

[A]

For our second story, Meta just launched Instagram plus a $4 a month premium subscription.

[B]

It lets you stock your ex's pics incognito, but doesn't offer the one thing we'd actually pay for.

[A]

And our third and final story is Oura Ring. Oura Ring filed to IPO and they unveiled their daintiest ring ever. It's 40% smaller, but Jack and I

[B]

think we are over optimizing on our optimized health. We'll tell you how.

[A]

But yetis before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

[B]

What a mix of stories. Love the mix. For the real Friday, the biggest debate

[A]

in America right now isn't red versus Blue, liberal versus conservative, or Ciara versus Amanda for that matter. Oh yeah.

[B]

If you know, you know. It is Diet Coke versus Coke zero.

[A]

And that's a big deal historically because the biggest brand beef and soda has been Coke versus Pepsi.

[B]

Coke versus Pepsi. Two different sodas, two different companies.

[A]

But today we're split between two cans from the same brand.

[B]

And the numbers are gonna give you a cavity.

[A]

Besties zero sugar sodas made up 52% of all soda sales growth in the

[B]

US last year, while traditional diet sodas have been flat for two decades now.

[A]

And now Coke Zero sugar is pays to pass Diet Coke and sales for the first time ever.

[B]

And people are getting pissed.

[A]

Or people Are thrilled. It's a very polarizing subject.

[B]

It's kind of a half, half situation.

[A]

If you know, calorically, these are the same products. Zero calorie soda, but categorically.

[B]

Oh, these are vastly different products.

[A]

Two cans with the same purpose are somehow attracting totally different audiences.

[B]

You see, to Diet Coke fans, Coke Zero is a creepy new lab concoction.

[A]

To Coke Zero fans, Diet Coke is a Franken soda lab concoction.

[B]

Yeah, you guys actually have more in common than you realize. So Coke is promoting Coke Zero for barbecues, baseball and first dates. That's the marketing play.

[A]

While they're pushing Diet Coke to the classy boomer crowd. Who doesn't want to try out this new thing?

[B]

In the meantime, Pepsi is watching from the sidelines as its market share shrinks.

[A]

In the meantime. Meantime, I'm having Diet Coke, but only at the movie theater.

[B]

And we see you, Dr. Pepper fans. Don't ratings bomb our show right now because of this one.

[A]

Yeah, just let us know in the comment which size you're on.

[B]

Now we'll hit our jingle, which is 30 more seconds to buy your tickets to our live shows. 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 a 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 read to go. We can't wait no more. So just start the show. Start the show. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor,

[A]

Monarch.

[B]

All right, Yetis, you're never gonna be able to guess how many accounts Jack has linked to monarch. 31. Are there even that many, like, financial products out there? Yetis, he's got credit cards, checking accounts, brokerage Accounts, Retirement Accounts, 529 College savings

[A]

accounts for each kid. And my nieces and nephews. Nick.

[B]

Okay, I'm rounding up. Does that get us to 31? Where are we?

[A]

Don't forget my mortgage, my house, the car I own. They're all linked. And all their values in Monarch, you see, besties.

[B]

Jack actually linked everything to Monarch one year ago during a little bit of spring cleaning.

[A]

Until I used Monarch, I had a very messy, very chaotic spreadsheet. But now they're clean, synced, and automatic.

[B]

Basically, Jack went full Marie Kondo on his finances, and he did it with Monarch, which can do your financial spring cleaning for you.

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Get your first year Monarch for half off just 50 bucks with promo code

[A]

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[B]

That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with code T. Boy Dell Yetis. Dell PCs with Intel inside are built for the moments that matter.

[A]

For the moments you plan and the ones you don't. Yeah.

[B]

Built for the busy days that turn into all night. Order food at 2am Study sessions, you know them.

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The moment you're working from a cafe and realize every outlet is taken and

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[A]

That's why Dell builds tech that adapts to the way that you actually work.

[B]

Built with a long lasting battery so you're not scrambling for the closest outlet.

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And built in intelligence that makes updates around your schedule, not in the middle of it.

[B]

They don't build tech for tech's sake, they build it for you.

[A]

Find technology built for the way you [e-mail] DellPCS built for you.

[B]

For our first story, Dolly Parton's next big business. Her gas station opens June 24th down in Tennessee.

[A]

Because live entertainment is so big right now. So big you can now watch a concert while filling up your car.

[B]

Dolly Parton, America's ageless, apolitical, anti AI serial diva preneur.

[A]

She actually turned down an offer when she was young from Elvis Presley to ensure that she owned her own record masters. Dolly Parton's music collection is worth $120 million. But she also has a Broadway musical, a film and TV production studio, a hotel, and Dollywood, the theme park in the Smoky Mountains worth an estimated $400 million.

[B]

But pause the pawjack cause we gotta top one more off on the list.

[A]

A gas station. And Dolly explains why. She says, I have spent all my life on the road, specifically on a tour bus.

[B]

And she describes the thousands of gas stations she stopped at as in her words, greasy.

[A]

The gas station. Isn't it just awful?

[B]

Actually, the way Jack and I see it, the gas station is part of the holy trinity of terrible retail drugstores,

[A]

wireless stores and gas stations.

[B]

Yeah, it's basically like ExxonMobil and Shell colluded to make every gas station bathroom have a floor that's sticky.

[A]

And they colluded to offer 17 different types of beef jerky. Yeah, but no seltzer. Like, I just want a can of seltzer. I want to point out one of

[B]

those was turkey jerky, but that's a story for another project. Besties, what Bali's doing here is she's

[A]

filling a void with a gas station that doubles as a destination.

[B]

Which means Jack and I have to ask the obligatory question. Which Dolly, we know you know you were coming.

[A]

Is it open 24 hours or just nine to five?

[B]

Hey, Jolene, fill her up. But besties, this is what Jack and I find fascinating. She just revealed the map and yeah, this gas station is so big, by the way, it needs its own map.

[A]

The map of this gas station looks like a theme park. It's called Dolly's Tennessee Travel Shop, and it opens on June 24th. And it includes some must haves that you'd expect at any gas station.

[B]

Like any gas station, the gas, the electric vehicle chargers and the bathroom with not sticky floors.

[A]

It's got other table stakes features you see at any i95 Pit Stop, like a restaurant, a general store, and a coffee shop.

[B]

But then there are the differentiators that escalate this into theme park territory.

[A]

It's got an outdoor dog park, it's got a barbecue restaurant, it's got an outdoor patio with seating, and it's got a trucker lounge.

[B]

But here's where we hit the Epcot Magic Kingdom level of industry.

[A]

It includes some category breakers, like a performance stage that books live music all day.

[B]

It's got Dolly's famous tour bus you can walk through and a mural painted by a local artist for your selfie.

[A]

Yetis. There are 145 gas stations in the U.S. dolly has one that's very differentiated, but it's just one. She can't scale this to compete with the gas station industry in any meaningful way.

[B]

But she doesn't have to. And this is what she's thinking.

[A]

She's thinking, if we're that much better than the competition, which Dolly's gas station does appear to be, then we don't need as many as the competition.

[B]

You want the proof? Let's look over at another company we've covered on the pod. Buc EE's.

[A]

Buc EE's is a beloved gas station chain of the south and the Midwest of the United States.

[B]

But here's the catch for BUC EE's. There are only 55 locations in America, and yet they're bringing in 5 billion bucks in revenue.

[A]

People have changed their driving habits to make sure that their Pit stop is@BUC EE's.

[B]

Apparently the urinals are such high quality, people will travel just to go to the bathroom at a BUC EC E's.

[A]

It's the BUC EE's effect. You don't stop for gas anymore. When you're running low on fuel. You stop for gas at the exit that has a Buc EE's well.

[B]

Similarly besties, Dolly's travel stop aims to make the pit stop part of the vacation that you actually planned for.

[A]

You put it in the gps. It's a stop on your road trip.

[B]

Because remember, if you can turn a detour into a destination in any industry, that's a profit, puppy. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Dollywood?

[A]

The live experience economy is overflowing.

[B]

Yetis live music. It opens up people's wallets. And nobody knows this like Dolly does.

[A]

When live music is happening, you order that extra drink. You say yes to your son who's nagging you for a souvenir.

[B]

Besties. In an increasingly digital and AI driven world, people want human connection more than ever.

[A]

And we've got proof in Live Nation's numbers. The receipts. The huge concert producer has smashed ticket sales records for four straight years since the pandemic.

[B]

And yet tickets to live events are incredibly expensive at ATH all time highs. Just look at the World Cup.

[A]

So Dolly sees overflowing demand for live experiences.

[B]

The overflow.

[A]

And she's supplying it here with a gas station by booking musicians at this gas station around the clock.

[B]

Here's the strategy. Instead of Dolly doing more concerts, she's building a new venue in a place where you'd never expect it.

[A]

Because when a gal is playing her guitar on stage, our willingness to pay increases.

[B]

Even if it's a gas station. Besties look out for other venues not known for live events. To stick a microphone on a stage.

[A]

Because live music opens wallets and the live experience economy is overflowing.

[B]

For our second story, Zuck is launching subscriptions for Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp.

[A]

For four bucks a month, you can secretly snoop on your ex. We see you, but you can't get the one feature you actually want.

[B]

We will explain, but Jack, in order for us to tell this story, could you please transport us back to January when we had a wild reveal on this podcast?

[A]

We covered news that Instagram was testing a new subscription tailor made for jealous exes.

[B]

Yeah, like it would let you look at the Instagram story of that person you used to date without them ever knowing it.

[A]

Now, that test is only in Mexico, Japan and the Philippines. But it must have gone really well

[B]

because Zuck is now launching it worldwide for everyone to use.

[A]

It's called Instagram and Facebook Plus. The both cost four bucks a month, and it includes the incognito x stalking feature.

[B]

Nice. Okay, that's kind of cool. Well, here's what else it includes. It also includes stories that got extended.

[A]

You can make your story last for 48 hours instead of 24, so people have more time to see them.

[B]

Also, they're adding more reactions.

[A]

Instead of those five emojis you can react to a story with. There's now an animated heart option. If you buy this subscription, it's like a super emoji.

[B]

And then of course, there's the reverse stalking. We call it spot your stalk.

[A]

If you get this subscription, there's gonna be a search bar to see who's viewed your story. Instead of an unsearchable list, you have to scroll endlessly through.

[B]

Basically out of law besties. Kinda underwhelming. Is that what we're gonna say, Jack?

[A]

Totally underwhelming. These features only apply to IG stories, nothing else.

[B]

I guess Zuck really wants to know what his freshman girlfriend from Harvard is up to right now.

[A]

I wouldn't call her his girlfriend. That's actually the girl who refused to accept his Facebook friend request.

[B]

But you weren't there, Jack, so you

[A]

don't know the details. By the way, Instagram's very verified blue check mark, that's still a separate subscription, which is at least 12 bucks a month.

[B]

But besties, here's what Jack and I find fascinating. The bigger news, because for the first time, Meta is gonna charge ya for AI.

[A]

Zuck is closing its bar tab.

[B]

Yeah, guys, sorry.

[A]

Round it up.

[B]

We're paying the tab.

[A]

As we've discussed on the show many times, computing AI is incredibly expensive.

[B]

If you're a company right now, you got AI sticker shock.

[A]

The compute cost me how much?

[B]

Oh, it's not just the enormous cost of the data centers and those $35,000 per a piece Nvidia chips that you gotta pack in there.

[A]

It's also the elect. Meta's AI power bill is more than Chernobyl right now.

[B]

So Meta I. It's no longer an all you can prompt buffet anymore. They are adding a paywall. Last call, guys.

[A]

Called MetaOne. And after you reach your free limit, you gotta start paying at least eight bucks a month.

[B]

But besties. What really surprised us is one thing that Jack and I can't stop Thinking

[A]

about it's really what disappointed us. It's that Meta's subscription doesn't include the one feature we'd actually pay for to go ad free on Instagram.

[B]

Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Meta?

[A]

Instagram's not actually free. We pay 100 bucks a month in unplanned shopping.

[B]

All right, Betsy's unverified but very legit fact Jack and I have. If Instagram had zero ads, the average American would have twice as much savings as they do today.

[A]

Again, that's an unverified fact, but I bet you it's true.

[B]

And we can back it up.

[A]

Because how often do you open up Instagram and five minutes later you bought something because of an ad that was super tailored just to you, and then you're like, oh, I forgot I even bought that thing. And you regret it.

[B]

For the yetis watching on YouTube right now, if you like Jack's cute maroon top, that was a splurge he did from a little scrolling action the other day.

[A]

Now, there's actually a study that confirms this. In 2023, Bankrate found that 48% of US social media users, we make impulse purchases based on ads we see on social media.

[B]

That 48%, we splurged 754 bucks that year on those social media induced impulse buys.

[A]

We repeat, half of us spend about 1,000 bucks a a year on Instagram because of the ads.

[B]

And because we make so many of those impulse buys, advertisers, they need to be there on Instagram, which leads to

[A]

this crazy hero stat. Get this. We calculated that meta makes 26 bucks a month per US user on ads.

[B]

And you know what that means. Besties. To justify offering an ad free Instagram, Zuck would have to charge you 26 bucks a month as a subscription.

[A]

Would you pay 26 bucks a month for ad free Instagram? That'd be your most expensive subscription of all.

[B]

Probably not. It's more than Netflix. And that is why Zuck will never give us an ad free option. The ad money is just worth more.

[A]

Advertisers will pay more to access us than we're willing to pay not to see them.

[B]

And besties. That's why Instagram is not actually free to use. We all pay 100 bucks a month in impulsive shopping. Now a quick word from our sponsor. Top hats. Baseball hats. Von Dutch hats. We wear so many hats on this podcast. Honestly, we're not great at all of them.

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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.

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Well Brad, to say that we are hiring right now at T boy. And this is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

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So just go to Indeed.com podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast.

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That's indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

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This episode is brought to you by Bilt, the intelligent finance platform that helps businesses scale with proven results.

[B]

Look. Yet he's paying and getting paid. That is a pain for small and medium businesses out there.

[A]

Did you send the invoice? Did they see it? Did you remember to remind them to remember to pay it?

[B]

Oh, I totally forgot Jack Besties. If you drop the ball on any of those, you don't get paid and you're missing out on cash flow. And unless your customers are mind readers, which they aren't, they're probably just busy and forgot you shouldn't have to chase them down.

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See Offer page for details for our third and final story before your weekend. Oura Ring they filed to go public and launched a new ring that's 40% smaller.

[A]

But we don't wear health trackers, do we Nick? And we don't because of the pleasure to measure trade off the besties.

[B]

Can we talk about the Fitbit of fingers, the peloton of the pointer?

[A]

The Oura ring is a $350 wearable that somehow tracks your whole body just from the pulse of your pinky basties.

[B]

You cannot get engaged in San Francisco unless you propose on a Presidio hike with an Oura Ring man.

[A]

Wait, they don't sell diamond or rings, do they?

[B]

Get down on one knee and tell me how many steps you got today, Jack.

[A]

Oura Ring confidentially filed to IPL last week. And if it does IPO this year, they'll be targeting a valuation more than their $11 billion private market valuation.

[B]

Jack, can you sprinkle on some context? To 11 billion bucks for a circular ring company? Please.

[A]

That's on par with Cartier, the jewelry

[B]

company company that makes real rings. You see or is 13 years old. Cartier is 177 years old.

[A]

Why do investors love this new startup so much more than the icon of Cartier? It's the tech.

[B]

Because not only do you pay 350 bucks for the ring, you pay 6 bucks a month in perpetuity for the subscription Tiffany's. They can't pull that off.

[A]

The ring is worthless without that subscription.

[B]

So aura, they've sold 3 million rings last year, up 100% from the year before.

[A]

And most of those customers probably American Express Platinum card holders because Amex has

[B]

given you a $200 credit for the ring. If you got woo, you're probably a Chase Sapphire guy.

[A]

But back to Oura Ring neck. Their growth strategy. Can I say it reminds us of Lord of the Rings?

[B]

Trust us on this one, Frodo. We got an explanation.

[A]

Because the customer range at Oura Ring is wider than the Fellowship of the Drinks.

[B]

It's like dwarves, hobbits and wizards. Oh my God.

[A]

You're the elf.

[B]

I'll take the elf. You see, the biggest surprise when you study the customers of Oura Ring is that their biggest buyer is the Pentagon.

[A]

The US government gives our soldiers Oura rings to track our soldiers health.

[B]

But Jack, who's the next biggest buyer of oura rings?

[A]

20 to 30 something women who use it to track their ovulation.

[B]

Because here's the plot twist. Last year Oura Ring went through a gender flip from majority male customers to majority female.

[A]

So to ironically quote Sheryl Sandberg, Oura Ring is now leaning in.

[B]

Which is why this week they launched their smallest smart ring in history. Oura 5. 40% smaller than the Oura 4.

[A]

And the simple reason the Oura is a pretty big ring.

[B]

It is a big ring.

[A]

It might look normal on a man hand, but it looks kind of big on a smaller woman's Dainty. Finger.

[B]

So they spent the last couple years miniaturizing the tech to fit in a metal band 40% smaller.

[A]

The same data gets delivered just on a daintier ring.

[B]

Plus, you don't want a bigora ring competing with your big engagement rock on the same hand again, when are they gonna launch Diamond Ora Rings Besties? The newest feature in the ring, by the way, it's menopause tracking.

[A]

They'll give you a pre hot flash heads up based on your metrics.

[B]

So, from what we can see, Aura is leaning into its lady era.

[A]

But there's one that we're wondering about when we get access to that IPO paperwork, so.

[B]

Jack. Oh, one sec. I gotta get 150 more steps. One sec. I'll just be a second. Wait.

[A]

Why don't you just start marching in place for the rest of the show?

[B]

All right, I got you. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Aura?

[A]

It's the pleasure to measure. Trade off. There's a cost to that good night's sleep.

[B]

Yetis, there is a viral clip right now of the diary of a CEO podcast host. He had a couple glasses of cabernet one night, and he said it ruined his sleep score for the week.

[A]

The result? Stephen Bartlett said he's not gonna have wine with friends anymore.

[B]

You see the problem there, besties? He's prioritizing a sleep score in an app over a fun night out with his friends.

[A]

Look, using the oura ring to track ovulation as like, a form of birth control. Great idea. But it's possible that this trend of optimizing all our health metrics with data tracking wearables is a fad.

[B]

And Jack, what could cause that fad to break?

[A]

The realization that we're optimizing sleep at the expense of the things that make life worth living.

[B]

Jack and I call this the pleasure measure Trade off.

[A]

And if we're right, this moment, could mean peak sleep health metric optimization.

[B]

I mean, think of all the wearables on you right now. Your iPhone counts your steps, your AirPods count your sound levels, and your whoop counts your respiratory rate.

[A]

Your Fitbit counts your calories. Your eight mattress captures your temperature, and your oura ring captures your blood oxygen levels.

[B]

And each wearable isn't just measuring, but scoring. Designing your life around one number.

[A]

But none of those wearables measure how awesome it was to order one extra drink at the cocktail bar with your buddies.

[B]

Or stand for the encore at the Dolly Parton concert the other day.

[A]

Or watch the final out of the baseball game and witness the fireworks after the video.

[B]

So besties, this is the conversation starter Jack and I want to leave you with for your weekend brunch.

[A]

TABLE Are we over optimizing on all this sleep optimization at the expense of the stuff that makes life great?

[B]

Is it optimization? Saturation? Tell us where you stand on the pleasure to measure trade off. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us?

[A]

For the Real Friday, Dolly Parton is opening the coolest gas station you'll ever see.

[B]

Glazic. She's capturing experience, economy overflow. So this gas station has a concert

[A]

stage for our second story. Instagram plus is four bucks a month and lets you see who viewed your story. Unless it's your ex and they're paying for the incognito pro hockey player and

[B]

he won the Stanley Cup. Are you kidding me?

[A]

Yeti Zuck will never let us use Instagram ad free because advertisers will pay more than we will.

[B]

Third and final takeaway. What do we got, Jack?

[A]

Oura Ring filed to IPL and has flipped from men to women as the main customer.

[B]

It's the pleasure measure. Trade off. Let us know where you think.

[A]

But besties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today.

[B]

First, Spotify is back in its splurge era. They just dropped a reported 100 million bucks on a single podcast.

[A]

That podcast is on purpose with Jay Shetty, the lifestyle and meditation guru who has such a soothing voice. But here's the plot twist.

[B]

It ain't just Spotify. Netflix is teaming up as well, taking video off of YouTube to go to Spotify and Netflix.

[A]

Yeah, they opened up a split watch account to pay for this hundred million dollar bill.

[B]

Yeah, so Jay Shady, the monk to the star is getting 100 million bucks to move a show from YouTube to Spotify and Netflix, by the way. Spotify, Netflix, you know, just kiss already, just merge. You guys love each other. Clearly. And second, Anthropic today officially passed OpenAI as the world's number one AI lab.

[A]

That's based on their fundraise that just closed and values anthropic at $900 billion.

[B]

It's the most valuable private startup in the world ahead of OpenAI $730 billion valuation.

[A]

And their chatbot cloud just launched an updated model that's allegedly more honest, or so it says.

[B]

And finally, Lululemon's fight is over. They just announced a settlement with their biggest enemy. Ironically, their founder, Chip Wilson has been

[A]

battling his old company all year. He even took out an ad in the New York Times calling for the board and the CEO to be changed.

[B]

Yeah, Lulu stocks down 60% in the last year. Chip thinks the brand has no product mojo anymore.

[A]

So Lululemon agreed to add three of Chip's preferred board members. It's a ceasefire. In exchange, Chip agreed to not publicly attack his company for 18 months.

[B]

Now time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by legendary yeti Dylan Steinfeld from lovely Atlanta, Georgia.

[A]

Now, as a quick reminder, we were talking about SpaceX's IPO and we said that one of the goals for Elon, the board will give him a gigantic bonus if he starts a city on Mars and has a million people in the population.

[B]

Yeah, and we said that city on Mars would be called New New York. Well, well, here's the fact from Dylan.

[A]

Hey, Nick. Hey, Jack. Dylan Steinfeld from lovely Atlanta, Georgia, here. You recently said on the pod that nobody has done New New York yet. So here it is. Did you know Futurama holds the ultimate zombie record as the most resurrected animated series ever set in New New York and created by the Simpsons mastermind Matt Groening, it was cancelled and revived four separate times across Fox, Comedy Central and Hulu. Undeniable viewership data proved this cult favorite was simply too profitable to stay down.

[B]

The big question is whether regular York will just become Old York at some point and complete the whole circle. Yetis, you've looked fantastic all week. Jack, you are glowing and we would love to get to see you glow in person.

[A]

So snag your tickets right now to the IPO tour's second half of the year shows. San Francisco, Boston and Seattle.

[B]

We got the links in the episode description. Snag your tickets all weekend long and Jack and I can't wait to see you live. And before we go, happy birthday to legendary yeti Zuri Turner, their first month as a yeti and celebrating in Orlando. And Jeffers Chen from Guangzhou, China is celebrating while scuba diving under da sea for the birthday. It's pronounced under Dussi Hin Su Yoth Paris is turning 30 years old down in Redmond, Washington.

[A]

Happy 25th birthday to Sam Chiaza in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

[B]

And Senh Langyrick is turning 17 years old in Nara, Japan.

[A]

Happy birthday to Stephen B. Sipping a hazy IPA right now in Oregon.

[B]

And Julie Enfield enjoy that 52nd birthday down in Tucson, Arizona.

[A]

Happy birthday to Kate Opiker in Singapore.

[B]

And Molly Rubin from West Hollywood is celebrating the golden birthday in Punta Mita, Mexico.

[A]

Congratulations to Ron the Boilermaker Zeltwanger, who retired after 25 years at first Source Bank.

[B]

And Miranda Fairbanks and Caroline Buckheight are having the best weekend yet, eating several bagels and getting 10,000 steps and a lot of doctors cakes in New York City.

[A]

And a big shout out to Claire Bottarocco, who wore the T Boy hat across pretty much all of the coolest places in Italy.

[B]

Yeah, if there is a Roman ruin, the T Boy pink slam and salmon hat has been there, thanks to Claire. Claire, you're the best one yet.

[A]

And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a tea boy.

[B]

Celebrate the wins.

[A]

This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix, Nick owns stock of Lululemon. And we both own stock of Peloton and Spotify Security program on spreadsheets. New regulations piling up, an audit dread. It's time for Vanta. Vanta automates security and compliance, brings evidence into one place and cuts audit prep by 82%. Less manual work, clearer visibility, faster deals, zero chaos. Call it compliance. Or call it compliance. Get it. Join the 15,000 companies using Vanta to prove trust. Go to vanta.com calm.