🐭 “WaltGPT” — Disney’s OpenAI deal. SpaceX’s $1 Trillion IPO. Savannah Bananas Interview. +Waymo backseat baby

Summary

The Best One Yet – Episode Summary

🐭 “WaltGPT” — Disney’s OpenAI deal. SpaceX’s $1 Trillion IPO. Savannah Bananas Interview. +Waymo backseat baby

Date: December 12, 2025
Hosts: Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell

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Episode Overview

This lively episode of "The Best One Yet" delivers a blend of pop-business news, fresh insights, and engaging interviews, focusing on:

• Disney’s headline-making partnership with OpenAI,
• SpaceX’s record-setting plans for a public offering,
• A candid chat on disruption and failure with the Savannah Bananas' co-founders,
• And a quirky headline involving Waymo’s self-driving cars and the world’s newest “robo-cab baby.”

The tone is playful and light, with the signature witty banter and accessible breakdowns that Nick & Jack fans expect.

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Special Segment: Waymo Backseat Baby (00:22–02:41)

• Key Point: A baby was delivered in a Waymo self-driving taxi in San Francisco.
  • Woman in labor, no Uber or Lyft available—so she hailed a Waymo.
  • Waymo’s remote team noticed “unusual activity” in the backseat.
  • Baby Serge was born successfully; mother and child are both healthy.
• Memorable Moment:
  • “Self driving taxi with a self delivering baby.” – Nick (02:05)
  • “Not hands free driving, hands free delivery.” – Jack (02:07)
• Fun Banter: Joking about what will go on the birth certificate ("the corner of California and Golf").

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Story #1: Disney & OpenAI’s $1 Billion “WaltGPT” Deal (05:08–08:39)

What Happened?

• Disney is licensing 200 characters (from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star Wars, Avatar, and protected props) to OpenAI for use in ChatGPT and Sora videos—starting next year.
• In return, Disney gets $1 billion in OpenAI stock and an option for more.
• All Disney staff will also get access to ChatGPT for productivity.

Details & Context

• Why now? To avoid the fate of music labels with Napster: litigate, but lose innovation.
• Risk: Disney is fiercely protective of its IP but is embracing AI to ride, not fight, the wave.
• Oversight: Disney and OpenAI will form a committee to set content guidelines (e.g., “Hercules holding hands with Jasmine, probably okay. Hercules hooking up with Jasmine, probably not.” – Jack, 07:38).

Notable Quotes

• “Disney protects its characters more than Liam Neeson protects his daughter.” – Jack (07:04)
• “You can win the legal battle but still lose the market war.” – Jack (07:53)
• “[On the Napster analogy] 25 years ago, music labels should have partnered with Napster. So that's what Disney is trying to do today by partnering with OpenAI.” – Jack (08:32)

Takeaway

• Disney is betting on partnership over litigation in a world where AI's genie is out of the bottle.

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Story #2: SpaceX’s Record-Shattering IPO & The “T-Shirt Test” (08:39–13:17)

What Happened?

• Elon Musk confirmed SpaceX will IPO as soon as mid/late 2026, aiming for a $1.5 trillion valuation (raise $30 billion).
• Elon would own 42%—potentially making him the world’s first trillionaire.

Deeper Dive

• Surprise: Elon, who hates running public companies (due to SEC scrutiny and regulations), is making a big pivot.
• Why IPO? SpaceX needs huge cash for AI-powered Starlink satellites (space data centers) and to beat competitors.
• Telco Ambitions: Recent filings: “Starlink Mobile”—SpaceX might launch a consumer wireless service.

The T-Shirt Test

• Brand loyalty test: If people wear your company on a T-shirt, it’s a sign of potential for mass-market consumer play.
  • “SpaceX has an entire merch store… We’ve actually seen people walking around in SpaceX merch. They're just fans of the brand.” – Jack (12:42)
  • “Verizon doesn't have a merch store… And I have still yet to see anyone wearing a T-Mobile T-shirt.” – Nick (12:49)

Notable Quotes

• “Being a public company CEO is like Ferris Bueller being forced to sit down and take an SAT exam.” – Jack (10:23)
• “That fashion choice reveals SpaceX is a legit early threat to the established wireless carriers.” – Nick (13:07)

Takeaway

• SpaceX isn’t just about rockets: the brand’s strength (measured by the “t-shirt test”) signals real consumer loyalty—potentially allowing a play in wireless to rival the old guard.

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Story #3: Savannah Bananas – Innovation Through Failure (15:20–21:31)

Feature: Mini-Interview with Jesse & Emily Cole (15:39–21:31)

• Background: The Savannah Bananas, famous for “Banana Ball”, disrupted baseball by prioritizing fun and creativity—now selling out stadiums worldwide.
• Focus: Their biggest failures and what they learned from them.

Highlights from Jesse & Emily

• Constant Experimentation:
  • “We have failures all the time. People see the shiny headlines, but it's only because we've had hundreds and hundreds of failures…” – Emily (16:19)
• Example Flops:
  • “Human pinata”—dress a person as a pinata for kids to hit (HR disaster).
  • “Horsehead race”—kids tripped by oversized heads.
  • Morning beer festival: “27 people showed up. They had the time of their lives… but it didn’t connect with people as much as I thought it would.” – Jesse (18:13)
  • Wild ideas pared back: players skydiving into the game, riding bulls into the bullpen.

Formula for Fandom

• Jesse’s 5-Part Formula for Creating Fans:
  1. Eliminate friction (make it easy/enjoyable)
  2. Entertain always
  3. Experiment constantly
  4. Engage deeply (do for one what you wish you could do for many)
  5. Empower action (let teams innovate, have fun)
• Quote:
  • “The greatest creators create things that they would love. If you’re not having fun, good luck. Fun is contagious.” – Jesse (20:55)

Notable Quotes

• “We’re willing to fail every night because we know we're going to learn faster to get better for our fans.” – Jesse (18:54)
• “The crowd must have loved that.” – Jack (17:08)
• “Fun is contagious.” – Jesse (20:55)

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Quick Hits: News You Can Use (22:11–24:21)

• Time Person of the Year: AI architects (Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia, Anthropic, Tesla, AMD, etc.)
• Lululemon CEO Change: Calvin McDonald out, criticism from founder for “not cool enough.”
• JetBlue’s First Lounge: Opening in JFK, part of the “lounge obsession” sweeping airlines.
• Military Terminology Correction: Not all service members are “soldiers”—depends on the branch.

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Takeaways Recap (21:31–22:11)

1. Disney & OpenAI: “You can win the legal battle, but you can still lose the market war.” (21:39)
2. SpaceX: Massive IPO, T-shirt test proves brand is ready to take on wireless and beyond.
3. Savannah Bananas: Disrupting sports through open experimentation—failures as fast-track to innovation and fan-creation.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “Self driving taxi with a self delivering baby.” – Nick (02:05)
• “Disney protects its characters more than Liam Neeson protects his daughter.” – Jack (07:04)
• “Being a public company CEO is like Ferris Bueller being forced to sit down and take an SAT exam.” – Jack (10:23)
• “We’re willing to fail every night because we know we're going to learn faster to get better for our fans.” – Jesse, Savannah Bananas (18:54)
• “Fun is contagious.” – Jesse, Savannah Bananas (20:55)

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Final Tone

The episode is fast-paced, smart, and funny, full of pop-culture analogies and candid reflection—designed to arm you with business news you can share at brunch, all delivered with the best dad jokes in business podcasting. If you missed it, you’re now fully equipped to join the conversation.

Transcript

[A]

This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Friday, the real Friday, December 12th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This. Oh, this is a T. Boy.

[B]

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

[A]

But first, yeti's a fun update on our live tour. Jack, you want to share the honors?

[B]

All ages are welcome. A lot of you have asked if you can bring kids. The answer is yes.

[A]

Yeah, we double checked with the venues and they just request that if you're under 18, you bring a parent with you.

[B]

So, Austin, Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles. We'd love to see you whether you're one year old or 100 years old. But if you're a one year old.

[A]

You gotta bring that 100 year old with you. Jax, three stories for today's team. Boy, what do we got on the show?

[B]

For our first story, Disney just booked a $1 billion deal with OpenAI.

[A]

OpenAI strikes back. Take that, Gemini.

[B]

Sam Altman is heading to the Magic Kingdom. We'll tell you all about the trip.

[A]

Second story. What do we got, Jack?

[B]

Elon Musk confirmed this week that SpaceX is IPOing next year. It would be the biggest IPO IPO in history.

[A]

But besties, this SpaceX IPO ain't about rocket ships. It's really about T shirts.

[B]

And our third and final story, the Savannah Bananas have disrupted live sports with a new sport, Banana ball.

[A]

The co founders are Jesse and Emily and they're married. So we brought them both on today's pod.

[B]

But yetis before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.

[A]

Whoa. What a mix of stories to go into the weekend with. Love the mix, Jack.

[B]

Waymo, the self driving car company published a blog post this week titled Delivering More for our Riders.

[A]

Jack, Delivering was a very clever word choice, wasn't it, my friend? Yes, it was.

[B]

Because it was about a woman who on Monday delivered a baby in the backseat of a Waymo.

[A]

They named the baby Serge. Good. Do it, guys. Run with it.

[B]

A nine month pregnant woman in San Francisco went into labor on Monday.

[A]

No Uber, no Lyft. So she hailed a Waymo Robo taxi instead.

[B]

But Waymo's remote rider support team noticed, and I quote, unusual activity in the backseat.

[A]

And Jack, that unusual activity wasn't contracted. That was a kid.

[B]

True story. Yes, the baby was delivered inside the Waymo between traffic lights.

[A]

Self driving taxi with a self delivering baby.

[B]

Not hands free driving, hands free delivery.

[A]

Literally.

[B]

Now a quick update on the mother and the baby. They're both healthy, they're both safe, but they're not taking interviews right now.

[A]

Apparently, the robo cab still can't cut an umbilical cord, so they needed the.

[B]

Hospital and the car. Yeah, they've taken it out of service to give it a good, deep clean.

[A]

But, you know, besties, Jack and I once did a viral recording podcast about robo taxis inside of a robo taxi.

[B]

I think this robo taxi baby being born beats that stunt we did, Nick.

[A]

It does beat us. So, Jack, what's gonna be on the birth certificate for this little guy?

[C]

I don't know, Nick.

[B]

The corner of California in golf.

[A]

Get this kid a Social Security number and a driver's license. Jack, let's hit on 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.

[C]

Jack.

[A]

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, 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.

[B]

Now a quick break. Switching topics to one of our favorite sponsors, Vital proteins yeties.

[A]

One of the three T boy team goals next year is to grow huge on YouTube.

[B]

YouTube means video. Video means people looking at us. That means we gotta look good, Nick.

[A]

Look at this skin glowing, Jack. Look at that hair shining over there. It's thanks to vital proteins, which we add to our morning drinks every day.

[B]

For healthy hair, skin, nails, bones, and joint health. If you're watching right now, check out these dimples. It's vital proteins.

[A]

So go to vitalproteins.com to learn more.

[B]

And where to off your next order by entering promo code T boy at checkout. Audible Yetis.

[A]

I just listened to a wild audiobook on my flight back to New York. Here's what it's called. Gods of New York.

[B]

It's about four men. The four men who ruled New York City the year that you were born, Nick.

[A]

I got to give my parents credit, Jack. New York in 1988 was insane. It was like mob bosses, gang fights, and all these subway cars covered in graffiti. It's like seeing how the city was run when my mom was, like, pregnant with me. I'm blown away by this whole new imagination.

[B]

Now I listen to audible all the time. Whenever I need a break from news podcasts, I escape to an audiobook and simply push play wherever I left off.

[A]

Because audible has an incredible selection of over a million audiobooks, podcasts and audio originals all in one easy app.

[B]

Explore bestsellers, new releases, or find a wild story that takes you back to the year that your mom gave birth to you.

[A]

Yeah, last night while I was doing the dishes, Jack, I listened to a story about the abysmal late 1980s New York.

[B]

Yeah, I feel bad for your dad. At least the Giants were winning back then.

[A]

Besties. There is more to imagine when you listen.

[B]

Sign up for a free 30 day audible trial and your first audiobook is free, so visit audible.comtboy.

[A]

For our first story. Disney just struck a $1 billion deal with OpenAI. Disney gets stock. OpenAI gets 200 Disney characters for three years.

[B]

Call it Mickey GPT.

[A]

Mickey.

[B]

The deal actually looks really risky for Disney, but Disney is avoiding the Napster trap.

[A]

Oh, Yetis, Hollywood is seeing more action these days than a Fast and the Furious 14 movie.

[B]

Fresh after the Warner Brothers Netflix Paramount drama.

[A]

Oh boy.

[B]

Bob Iger and Sam Altman just shook hands in a blockbuster three part deal.

[A]

It's AI in Hollywood, Louisiana and San Francisco. Minnie and Sammy.

[B]

Part one of the deal is that Disney is licensing its intellectual property to be used for pictures and videos on ChatGPT and the video app Sora.

[A]

I mean, Jack, I just tried to make a video of you and me interviewing Yoda for the pod and it got blocked. Just got blocked.

[B]

But starting early next year, it won't get blocked because 200 characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar, Star wars and Avatar, they can star in your AI generated Sora videos.

[A]

But it ain't just the Little Mermaid besties, is it, Jack? It's also the IP protected Disney props.

[B]

Lightsabers, Infinity Stones, Jack Sparrow's compass. They can all be props in your AI generated fake videos. Finally.

[A]

Oh, plus, SORA is getting a feed in the Disney app for the best Sora videos featuring Disney characters.

[B]

Okay, so that's all part one of the deal. Part two of the deal is that Disney is getting $1 billion worth of OpenAI stock, plus the chance to buy more stock in OpenAI later.

[A]

That's right. Yetis Goofy is now a VC.

[B]

And part three of the deal, all Disney employees are getting ChatGPT to improve their productivity.

[A]

Okay, all right. That is like the most boring part of the entire deal. It's like I'm reading that one.

[B]

G. Yeah, it's an HR update.

[A]

But here's the shocker. Yetis, Disney is the FBI of ip, is it not, Jack?

[B]

Disney protects its characters more than Liam Neeson protects his daughter.

[A]

If you put an unauthorized Lightning McQueen on a backpack, Disney is gonna sue you into a galaxy far, far away.

[B]

Disney's particular set of skills is suing the hell out of you.

[A]

But besties, now you can generate a Lightning McQueen axe murder video and Disney, they're going to authorize it.

[B]

Actually, I don't know about that. OpenAI and Disney are creating a committee to decide what type of content is acceptable to have Disney characters in and what content is not.

[A]

Hercules holding hands with Jasmine, probably okay.

[B]

Hercules hooking up with Jasmine, probably not. But we'll see starting in early 2026.

[A]

I'm sorry, Aladdin, I didn't do it. So, Jack, before we get to our happily ever after, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Disney?

[B]

You can win the legal battle but still lose the market war.

[A]

Yetis AI is out of the bottle. As we also learned from Aladdin, you can't just put the genie back in the bottle.

[B]

No matter how many lawyers Disney hires, you cannot control how AI companies and AI users will depict Disney characters.

[A]

So instead of never ending number of lawsuits and cease and desist letters, Disney is making a deal.

[B]

Disney is trying to not do what the music labels did with Napster 25 years ago.

[A]

Yeah, that's the analogy we want to use here. Music labels sued Napster into bankruptcy back then, but they missed the chance to control music streaming from the ground floor.

[B]

25 years ago, music labels should have partnered with Napster. So that's what Disney is trying to do today by partnering with OpenAI.

[A]

Because besties, you can win the legal battle but still lose the market war. For our second story, Elon Musk just confirmed that SpaceX will IPO soon in the biggest public offering in history. 1 1/12 trillion bucks.

[B]

But the SpaceX IPO isn't about rocket ships. Actually, it's really about T shirts now.

[A]

Yetis, our first POD in January traditionally is one of our favorite podcasts. Jack and I will do our predictions.

[B]

Pod our three big business wishes for 2026. We're actually working on them right now.

[A]

In the meantime, here's a little spoiler sneak peek. First prediction, 2026 is gonna be IPO palooza. An initial public outburst.

[B]

It will be the biggest IPO year since there was an act on Wall street.

[A]

And here's why we're thinking it. The Wall Street Journal, the information in Bloomberg reported. And Elon Musk just confirmed that SpaceX is going public.

[B]

SpaceX plans an IPO as soon as mid to late 2026 and plans to raise $30 billion at a $1.5 trillion valuation.

[A]

Jack, can you sprinkle on some historical context, please?

[B]

That would be the biggest IPO fundraise ever and make SpaceX the 10th most valuable company on earth.

[A]

Besties. SpaceX sells to governments, to businesses, to consumers. The ticker symbol, we're hoping. And Mars. Mars.

[B]

And with Elon owning 42% of SpaceX, that would make his wealth over a trillion dollars.

[A]

Elon Musk could be the world's first trillionaire. Forget Rolex, that's enough money to buy the GDP of Switzerland.

[B]

But the surprise here isn't the size of a SpaceX IPO.

[A]

Good point, Jack.

[B]

It's the change of heart in Elon Musk.

[A]

That's right, because Elon Musk hates being a public company CEO.

[B]

Being a public company CEO is like Ferris Bueller being forced to sit down and take an SAT exam.

[A]

Yeah, why is that, Jack?

[B]

Going public comes with rules and regulations, and you just can't say certain things as a CEO.

[A]

As CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk has been sued by the sec.

[B]

Lawyers have to literally approve his tweets before he can push.

[A]

Tweet life moves at you pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around, you may wish you didn't go public.

[B]

That's why when we saw these reports last week, we didn't believe them. We didn't think Elon would ever take another company public.

[A]

So why did Elon change his mind, Jack?

[B]

Because of AI.

[A]

That's right.

[B]

Elon is obsessed with winning the AI race.

[A]

You see, Elon Musk's SpaceX now wants Starlink satellites to have data centers bolted to them in space.

[B]

And building data centers to launch into space and then to orbit planet Earth. That requires a lot of money, and you need that money quickly.

[A]

So if Elon wants to go to Mars and spank Sam Altman and AI, he's gonna need IP Plus.

[B]

On October 16, SpaceX filed a trademark application for something called Starlink Mobile.

[A]

And what are the details of that trademark, Jack?

[B]

It looks like they're trying to build a wireless phone service at SpaceX Besties.

[A]

What if Jack and I told you that instead of AT&T or Verizon, your phone ran on SpaceX?

[B]

Now, right now you need a satellite dish to reliably receive Starlink's Internet service beamed down from those satellites.

[A]

But in the future, you could get five bars of service on your phone.

[B]

From Starlink satel rockets and Mars landings. Those are risky businesses, but your Monthly phone bill.

[A]

Yeah, it's a profit puppy for SpaceX.

[B]

Wall street would want a piece of that cash flow.

[A]

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

[B]

It's the T shirt test. If people will wear your logo on a T shirt, that means you've got a great brand.

[A]

Yetis, Jack and I did a deep dive episode of the Best Idea yet about Harley Davidson motorcycles. Get this. 700,000 people have a Harley Davidson tattoo.

[B]

The tattoo test is one measure of brand loyalty.

[A]

The ultimate test.

[B]

A less permanent one. Will they wear your logo on their T shirt?

[A]

Well, get this. SpaceX has an entire merch store selling hoodies, spaceships, posters and graphic T shirts.

[B]

And we've actually seen people walking around in SpaceX merch. They're not employees, they're not customers. They're just fans of the brand.

[A]

On the other hand, Verizon doesn't have a merch store at and T doesn't have a merch store. And T Mobile does have a merch store, but I have still yet to see anyone wearing a T Mobile T shirt, Jack.

[B]

So how do we know that people would switch their phone service to SpaceX Wireless if it existed? Because they love the brand so much they're wearing the T shirts.

[A]

That fashion choice reveals SpaceX is a legit early threat to the established wireless carriers.

[B]

Not scientific. We don't have data to back this up, but it's one way to study the competitive landscape.

[A]

Yetis, the T shirt test shows that SpaceX has the brand loyalty to take over the phone industry. Now, a quick word from our sponsor.

[B]

For the holidays, I'm hosting people every single weekend, and I don't know any of them.

[A]

What is wrong with you, Nick?

[B]

They're actually paid customers. I'm hosting them at my chalet using Airbnb. I actually have two bookings lined up while I'm away, bringing in really good money for the holidays.

[A]

Oh, okay, I got it. Yeti Jack's been an Airbnb host for the last couple years. He's got a better rating than Santa.

[B]

I'll be at home for Christmas under the Christmas tree. But the day after, I'm heading south to visit the family. And while I'm gone, I'm hosting guests on Airbnb.

[A]

And with the revenue generated on Airbnb, Jack, you're probably booking massages.

[B]

For you and Alex, it's an entire little side business. I have an income statement, Nick. It offsets my cost of travel and ensures I'm getting the most of the assets I own.

[A]

It's a write off.

[B]

All of my guests have been super respectful. Not only do I have a 5 star rating, I have given my guests 5 stars too.

[A]

So, besties, treat yourself with the trip and treat someone else with a stay.

[B]

Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how [e-mail] host this show is brought to you by BetterHelp.

[A]

You know, Yeti's in my family. We go around the table and we vent about which stock we all wish we'd bought last year.

[B]

Nick and my family, we play flag football and the losing team has to wear a suit to dinner.

[A]

Well, okay. One more tradition we have over the holidays, Jack, A therapy session. I do the week between Christmas and New Year's.

[B]

The holidays can be great or they can be stressful. Yeah, you're looking forward to next year. Again, that can be great. Or they can cause anxiety.

[A]

So incorporating therapy into the the holidays can make them a lot more joyful.

[B]

BetterHelp is a network of 30,000 therapists, the world's largest online therapy platform.

[A]

And those therapists have an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 with 1.7 million reviews.

[B]

Tell your therapist what you're anxious about heading into these holidays. Getting it out there will be a huge weight lifted off your shoulders.

[A]

So if you start therapy this holiday, you can support the show by starting it with BetterHelp and using the code below.

[B]

This December, start a new tradition by taking care of you.

[A]

Our listeners get 10% [e-mail] tboy that's better. H E L P. Yetis for our third and final story, we got a surprise. Earlier this week, Jack and I got to interview the Savannah Bananas co founders, Jesse and Emily.

[B]

They're not just co founders, they're also married, a husband and wife co founding team. And they are incredible entrepreneurs.

[A]

They're a couple of co founders. Well, we're gonna publish that one full hour interview episode for you next week right here.

[B]

But in the meantime, there's one clip that we want to share early. It's an incredibly successful business, the Savannah Bananas. But we asked them about their failures and their answer was awesome.

[A]

Here are the wild ways that Savannah Bananas, the disruptors of sports, failed in business and what they learned in addition to all these incredibly successful disruptions and ideas you've had, what are some that you did that didn't work? What are some failures that you tried where you realized it was a problem and you had to end it?

[D]

We have failures all the time. I mean, I think that's one thing that people, People see, you know, they look at and they're like, oh, overnight success. Or they look at and they see the big shiny headlines now. But it's only because we've had hundreds and hundreds of failures that have led us to the things that do work. Some of my favorite ones, well, flashlights. Fun night, I mentioned earlier, but that was a failure, I will say, because it was a very appropriate night.

[C]

We would be cushioned giveaway. And we had a bean burrito contest.

[D]

Just a couple hundred spends, it makes it positive. But we had the human pinata where we dress somebody up in a pinata because costume. And we had little kids hit them with plastic bats and they had to throw candy.

[C]

That was HR Disaster.

[A]

Human pinata.

[D]

We had the horsehead race where we put kids in horsehead costumes and they were supposed to like trot around the bases, but the horse heads were so big that they couldn't see. So they ended up at the outfield. We were like herding these children horses off the field. The lay of gate.

[B]

The crowd must have loved that.

[A]

Yeah.

[D]

Oh, yeah. So, you know, to the crowd, they're laughing at us, but to us, you know, we're looking at clocks and we're looking at HR disasters and we have these things that are going wrong. I would say one of the things that I have continued to say no to, that Jesse is adamant is going to happen, is he wants all of our players to skydive to their positions. And I'm, you know, I'm worried about.

[B]

A lot of things.

[A]

Yeah, a lot of things. Insurance.

[D]

There are failures. There are failures that I try to anticipate that we scale back and don't do. But for the most part, Jesse gets to push those things forward. And we try.

[C]

We've had, I mean, again, like trying to players to ride a bull in from the bull tag. So if you're a bullpen, you're gonna have a live bowl and bullpen. And. But I, I want to jump on one like a big event tap in the morning beer festival. Because you can't drink all day if you don't start in the morning. And so we, we said, all right, whatever is normal, do the exact opposite. And so a beer festival, you know, normally was at night. We're like, we're gonna have one starting at 9am and I think 27 people showed up. They had the time in their life. I mean, it was the best day they'd ever had. But it did connect with people as much as I Thought it would.

[A]

So.

[C]

But again, like, that's you, you, you learn by doing.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

We do 10 to 15 new promotions every single night with each one of our teams. We have six times. So we think about it in a given weekend, we're doing 150 brand new things. This year with six teams. That is crazy.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

But I guarantee we are going to learn faster than any other sports organization. Most sports teams say, hey, we're gonna do fireworks every Friday night. Here's a bobblehead giveaway. Here's our 90s night, here's our 80s night, and I'll take it away. I learned a lot from that industry when I started, but it's so easy to do the same things over and over again. It's so hard to do something that might fail. And we are willing to fail every single night by putting ourselves out there because we know we're going to learn faster to get better for our fans after that.

[A]

Well, Jesse and Emily, you know, when you add all this up, the failures and the successes. Jack and I like to think about business like chefs sometimes. Like, if there are recipes for success, would you say there is a formula for fun? There's a formula for fandom you can follow.

[C]

There's a formula for fandom and I shared it in the book. I think fun is a little bit more complex, but for, for fandom, what we realize. And again, what did Steve Jobs say? You don't, you don't. You connect the dots looking backwards. It's hard to connect the dots moving forwards. And so like, we didn't know this when we started, but when we started looking back on how we were able to create fans, we realized the starting point of all innovation and creating fans is to eliminate the friction. And if you look at any company, you know, you look at what Netflix did to Blockbuster, what Uber did to the Cavs, any company that really creates fans, the beginning, they look at all the friction from the customer point of view, put themselves in their shoes and eliminate it. And so for us, the friction was baseball. Too long, too slow, too boring, you get nickel and dimes. You know, there's ads everywhere. And we eliminated all that. So that's where it started. So first step, eliminate friction. The second one, entertain always. You know, we look at mapping the perfect experience. So reverse engineer, what is a five star experience or Airbnb? Brian Chesky said, What would an 11 star experience be? Then you experiment constantly. The only way you can get better for your fans is if you're constantly trying new things and learning from Doing engage deeply. Do for one what you wish you could do for many. And then finally empower action. You empower your team to try things, to get out there, get out of their comfort zone, to let loose, to have fun and experiment. And so if you put all those together and it's constant, you're doing it every single day. I believe that's how you can create fans. Even if you do one of them, if one company just eliminates the friction of the process. Like if the dmv. Yeah. Said, all right, we're gonna. We're gonna make the waiting room. Not the worst waiting experience ever. They would probably get some fans. Yeah. So that's a starting point. I don't know for fun, Emma, if you've ever thought about that. But, you know, we think of things that, like, are fun for us. I think the greatest creators create things that they would love. And if. If you're trying to do something or get people to buy into something and you're not having fun, good luck. Fun is contagious.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And then it starts with our players and ourselves trying to make the game the most fun. I think.

[D]

Yeah. I would just say that a lot of that comes up in our rehearsals. So people don't know this, but we have an entire rehearsal day before each show. And that's exactly what happens, is our cast and our staff and our players, we jump in and we do these promotions or we act out the choreography or we practice the trend that's going on. And if we have fun, if we're filming each other and having a good time doing it, we're like, okay, this is going to resonate with people tomorrow night, so let's write that into the script. So it's just a lot of testing things out and trying things ourselves and not taking it ourselves too seriously.

[A]

Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the real Friday?

[B]

Disney and OpenAI are business partners. They traded OpenAI stock for Disney's characters.

[A]

Why is Disney doing this? Well, you can win the legal battle, but you can still lose the market war.

[B]

For our second story, SpaceX is planning the biggest IPO in history next year to finance its AI and Martian ambition.

[A]

And Elon's looking at the wireless biz, which they can succeed at based on the T shirt test.

[B]

And our third and final story, the Savannah Bananas have disrupted baseball. They sold out Yankee Stadium twice and Fenway Park.

[A]

Yeah, with their flatulence Fridays, baseball games. Whole lot of successes, but also a bunch of failures.

[B]

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

[A]

First, we just got the Time magazine Person of the Year. But it's not a person, it's persons.

[B]

It's the architects of AI. Yeah, those are the Time magazine 2025 persons of the Year.

[A]

Or as Time put it, this year, no one had a greater impact than the individuals who imagined, designed and built AI.

[B]

The COVID of the magazine shows the CEOs of Meta, OpenAI, Nvidia, Anthropic, Tesla, AMD, and then two others who, honestly, Nick and I don't recognize.

[A]

Either way, a whole lot of market cap in that photo shoot. Jack. And second, Lululemon just announced that the CEO, Calvin McDonald is stepping down.

[B]

Remember, we did a story on Lululemon's founder trolling the current CEO as not cool enough to run Lululemon?

[A]

Awkward. Well, founder Chip Wilson said Lulu needs a fashion guy, not a finance guy, to run the biz.

[B]

So Calvin McDonald is departing next month, and two interim co CEOs are taking over.

[A]

Jack, we started a trend. Co CEOs. And finally, JetBlue is going full Amex. The budget airline is opening up its first ever airport lounge.

[B]

JFK is getting 9,000 square feet of Blue House, a lounge designed to look and feel like a New York City apartment.

[A]

Yeah, this JetBlue lounge is actually going to serve bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches and please don't tell cocktails straight out of the East Village.

[B]

And it's part of the lounge obsession. Everyone's got lounges. Even Southwest is reportedly working on a lounge.

[A]

Which is time for us to announce.

[B]

The best lounge yet.

[A]

The best lounge yet. Here we go. Now time for the best fact yet. This one. A correction set in by an anonymous service member.

[B]

It's from our Top Gun crypto story we did last week.

[A]

Turns out not all active duty military members are called soldiers.

[B]

Soldiers is a specific term that only applies to the Army. Each branch of the armed forces actually has a different word to describe the enlisted people.

[A]

Get this. In the army, they're called soldiers. But in the Marine Corps, you're called a Marine.

[B]

In the Navy, they're called sailors. And in the Air Force, they're called airmen.

[A]

In the Space Force, they're called guardians. And in the Coast Guard, they're called Coast Guardsmen.

[B]

Agents in the CIA are called. Well, you're not supposed to call them anything. And all of these people are called braver than Nick and me.

[A]

Thanks so much for your service, and thanks for sending in the correction. Yetis, you look fantastic today. And we just want to have a special shout out to a few yetis who have dmed us to say they and their whole families are traveling down to one of our live shows next year.

[B]

Amanda Lyons, we see you.

[A]

We do see you.

[B]

Legendary 30th birthday gift from your family for you, Laura.

[A]

We are calling row 12 of the new York City show the Lion's Den because the whole lion family is going to be there. We're so excited to see you there. And to all the besties who bought tickets on the live tour, we can't wait to meet you in person.

[B]

So grab a ticket now. Links are in the Episode Description Celebrate the wins.

[A]

If you know, you know. And before we go, a congratulations to Stephanie and Mickey in Park Ridge, Illinois who just had a new baby named Gracie. Great name. May or may not have been in a waymo we don't know, we don't know. But congratulations guys.

[B]

Happy birthday to Mark Lenneville who's turning 74 in Lampe, Missouri. A bestie since the beginning and a.

[A]

Happy 10th birthday to OpenAI. I guess your 10th birthday present was a deal with Disney.

[B]

Happy birthday to Dan Katz, who ironically also has two cats, so Katz plural is the appropriate name.

[A]

And to Laura Donna Pepe from lovely San Mateo, California, Happy birthday and good luck on the pickleball.

[B]

And happy 24th birthday to Jack Diskin in Woodinville, Washington, who also just got a new job at Charles Schwab.

[A]

And a happy birthday to Harvin Valabanany, turning 32 years old down in Hotlanta, Georgia.

[B]

Congratulations to Tuck Williamson in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, who's graduating with a master's degree in computer science and has been a remarkable stay home dad of 17 years. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Nick owns stock of Lululemon. Dude, if Aladdin saw Jasmine hooking up with Hercules, I mean, that'd be brutal.

[A]

Hercules is huge too. Like, what are you gonna do about that?

[B]

If you like the best one yet, you can listen ad free right now by joining Wondery and the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

[A]

Prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

[B]

And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.

[A]

We wanna get to know you.