The Best One Yet

🥯 “Shmear Me” — PopUp Bagel’s boom. Zuck’s Smart Oakleys. Stargate’s $500B Hollywood name.

Jan 23, 2025

Tech giants are at it again! Meta is gearing up to launch smart Oakleys and AI earbuds to rival Apple. Meanwhile, Pop-Up Bagels is disrupting the dining scene by prioritizing inconvenience as a clever marketing tactic. In a jaw-dropping twist, Sam Altman is spearheading 'Stargate,' a $500 billion AI project aimed at securing U.S. supremacy in technology. Plus, a quirky historical nugget reveals how catalogs once doubled as toilet paper. Tune in for insights that blend business savvy with a dash of humor!

21:51

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Pop-Up Bagels is disrupting the market by enforcing a minimalist approach that paradoxically drives customer demand and rapid growth.

Meta's development of smart glasses and earbuds highlights its competitive strategy against Apple, focused on data collection over user privacy.

Deep dives

Revolutionary Project Stargate

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank are collaborating on a groundbreaking initiative called Stargate, which represents one of the largest investments in data centers in U.S. history, totaling $500 billion. This ambitious project aims to support the infrastructure needed for artificial intelligence development, significantly outpacing prior historical expenditures, including the moon landing. The initiative is framed with patriotic marketing language, emphasizing job creation and securing American leadership in AI technology. The announcement has stirred controversy, particularly with the notable absence of Elon Musk, who has publicly questioned the financial viability of the project.

Intro

10min

The Rise of Pop-Up Bagels: Embracing Inconvenience as a Marketing Strategy

6min

Meta's Hardware Ambitions: Competing with Apple

6min

Investors Eye TikTok & A Quirky Historical Tidbit

2min

Celebrating Milestones and Delving into Football Analysis

2min

Zuck’s reportedly launching smart Oakleys this year… and a smart watch and airpods next year.

PopUp Bagels is the fastest-growing bagel chain in America… and they prioritize inconvenience.

“Stargate” is Sam Altman’s new $500B AI project… it would be the most expensive thing we’d ever build.

Plus, the medals handed out at the Paris Olympics? They’re losing their gold.

$DNUT $META $MSFT

Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… 🎸 The Fender Stratocater: The Guitar That Invented Rock ‘N’ Roll.

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“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.

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