Hey Yetis & Besties,

Math problems… on lampposts? It’s not a prank — it’s actually a hiring tactic. One startup’s been posting advanced equations all over the city to “Nerd-Snipe” engineers. Solve the puzzle, get an interview. It’s like Good Will Hunting, but make it tech.

ICYMI: TBOY is going LIVE in Chicago! Wednesday, July 23 at 7PM @ The Vic Theater. Grab your ticket here 🎟️ 🎟️ 🎟️ 🎟️ 

📉 Google just got rocked by Apple’s courtroom confession

Alphabet stock fell 7% this week after a bombshell from an unlikely place: the witness stand.

Apple exec Eddy Cue testified in Google’s antitrust trial that Apple is “actively looking at” changing the iPhone’s default search engine. Right now, Google pays Apple $20B/year to be that default. Why change? Because searches in Apple’s safari browser fell for the first time EVER, likely as people asked a chatbot instead. If Apple made chatGPT the new go-to? That could nuke Google’s core search business.

Flashback to November 2022 🚨 ChatGPT launches → headlines scream “Code Red” at Google. Why? AI chatbots answer questions better than search. Less clutter. Fewer ads. Follow-up queries. So Google added “AI summaries” up top, but it never truly reinvented the experience.

The Takeaway: Google is facing its “DVD Moment.”

One of our favorite business stories: Netflix once ran a DVD-by-mail biz… then streaming came. So Netflix split the teams, literally. The DVD team moved to a different building so it wouldn’t hold back Netflix’s new streaming biz… and it worked.

Google? It’s still protecting Search, like Blockbuster guarded rentals. But habits are changing. People are slowly drifting away from Googling — by Chatting instead. Google has a chatbot, Gemini, but it hasn’t gone all-in on promoting it.

So the question is: Will Google kill its own Profit Puppy before someone else does? This is Google’s DVD Moment.

🪦 Russell Westbrook… just launched a funeral startup… powered by AI

Yes, that’s a real headline. Sounds morbid, but we promise it highlights a smart use of AI most people wouldn’t expect…

NBA star Russell Westbrook is now the cofounder of Eazewell, a funeral tech startup using AI to tackle one of life’s most chaotic moments: planning a funeral. It’s a one-stop shop that handles everything deathly — calls funeral homes, compares prices, confirms availability, helps find financing, even manages invites. ⚰️ 

For example, Eazewell just showed us these options in San Francisco:

• Duggan Funeral Home: $4,300

• Green Street Mortuary: $5,700

• Cremation: $1,600

Death is recession-proof — and funerals are expensive and confusing. People are often forced to make big decisions quickly, with little information or price transparency. Where there’s mystery, there’s margin (and the death industry is full of mystery).

But here’s the question facing Eazewell — and any AI chatbot focused on one topic…

The Takeaway: In an AI world, do verticals still matter?

The internet gave us verticals: Business niches with a specific audience & goal.

• Zillow for houses,

• Yelp for restaurants,

• Expedia for flights.

But with ChatGPT, Claude, Meta AI, and other general-purpose AIs, we’re asking a new question: Will we use different chatbots for different tasks (1 for travel, 1 for school, 1 for funerals?), or just one general chatbot for all tasks (just ChatGPT)?

Reply what ya think.

👯‍♀️ Tell a Bestie:

• 🧠 Instacart CEO leaves for “smaller role” at OpenAI.

• 🍺 Molson Coors’ worst quarter in 4 yrs… because in this economy you’re too anxious to drink.

• 🐑 New Zealand’s sheep-to-humans ratio dips as synthetics shear the wool market.

• 📺  Netflix is getting a homepage glow up this weekend (it’s giving TikTok feed)

• 💔 Match swipes left on 13% of staff.

• 🥤 Pepsi is now #4 after Sprite… Dr. Pepper… and (of course) Coke.

• 💸 Banker bonuses may shrink due to trade war… no bonus for you.

• ⛪ Pope Leo merch is already hitting shelves. Holy drip.

• 🍫 Hershey is looking for a tariff exemption. Choco deserves special treatment.

The Best Idea Yet  💋

Juicy Couture began with $200 to solve a maternity fashion problem — then it became a Y2K icon. Track suits, J.Lo, and a $200M exit. This one’s dripping in velour. 

Check out the the newest episode of our weekly podcast The Best Idea Yet…. and then share it with your mom for Mother’s Day.

Listen to The Best Idea Yet for a weekly deep dive into the viral products you’re obsessed with.

And one more thing. Call your mom on Sunday. And if you or a Bestie are in Chicago, grab your tix to our next live show — it’s gonna be the best one yet.

—Nick & Jack