Hey Yetis & Besties,

We just noticed something…Katy Perry’s first-ever concert tour was the Hello Katy Tour in 2009. Tickets went on sale right as the stock market was crashing. Between tickets going on sale and the first show? The S&P 500 dropped 30%.

Fast forward to today: Katy just had her biggest month since then. She flew to space, released new music, and last month launched another tour—right when the trade war reignited.

Katy, you’re our firework, but you’re killing our 401(k)s.

Nutella is Pivoting to Peanut Butter in the US 🥜

…its first new flavor in 61 years — but it raises a kindergarten-level question: Should you change who you are in order to make friends?

Back in 1800, Napoleon caused a chocolate shortage in Europe, so Italians improvised: use hazelnuts instead. Chocolate + Hazelnuts = Nutella. Today, Nutella’s owner Ferrero (3rd biggest candy company on earth) buys 25% of the world’s hazelnuts. Europeans spread it on toast every morning… and somehow stay healthier than us.

Nutella’s sales in the US have doubled since 2020 — but to double-double-down, Ferrero is going full “Stars & Stripes” on its century-old recipe.

New product alert: Nutella… with peanuts. It’s called “Nutella Peanut” and hits shelves in 2026. This recipe change, Nutella’s first in 61 years, is controversial — not only because Europeans are zucking our Reese’s. Turns out the biggest business divide between Americans and Europeans is nuts… literally):

• 90% of American households eat peanut butter, eating 8 pounds of peanuts on average per person.

• Just 10% of Europeans do, eating 2 pounds on average.

• And it’s exactly reversed for hazelnuts: Europe eats 4x more than the US.

And the rebrand doesn’t stop there: Ferrero’s also reshaping its iconic Rocher chocolates (from spheres → squares), sponsoring American sports, and even buying ad space in Yankee Stadium.

The Takeaway: Beware of the Walmart Smile.

Adapting to local culture is key in global expansion — but too much change can backfire. Netflix tweaks content. McDonald’s tweaks menus. But Walmart failed in Germany because it made all its greeters smile… and Germans hated it.

Nutella’s challenge? Find the sweet spot between peanut-butter patriotism and keeping that iconic European flair.

☁️ The Startup That Can Literally Make It Rain

Rainmaker raised $25M this month to try to control the uncontrollable: the weather. And, honestly? It’s kinda working.

The founder? 22-year-old Augustus Doriko — maybe the most spiritually-trained CEO in history. He studied under a Catholic priest, a Jewish rabbi, a Sunni imam, and a Buddhist monk. But he might think he is God, because his drones are literally turning clouds into rain on command. (BTW: He’s one of the guys Peter Thiel gave $100K to drop out of college and build something).

Here’s how it works: Cloud seeding isn’t new technology, but it’s shockingly under-commercialized. Sprinkling silver iodide into clouds causes moisture to condense, then get heavy enough to fall… as rain or snow.

☂️ It was invented in 1946 in Schenectady by the brother of Kurt Vonnegut.

☂️ The US Army used it in the Vietnam War to try to gain an advantage on the battlefield.

☂️ Today, China manages the world’s largest cloud-seeding operation.

Rainmaker’s upgrade? Precision. They use radar-guided drones to seed clouds more efficiently — that precision could make the economics work, so Rainmaker can charge $50/hour to make a cloud rain.

The Takeaway: Business Models Are Like Water… You Gotta Let ’Em Flow 💧

Rainmaker says it’s for farms. But we think this rain-on-demand tech can flow into many industries — from agriculture to Hollywood to defense to luxury events.

• 🎬 Entertainment: Rain on set for a moody movie scene

• 🎿 Hospitality: More snow extends the ski season

• 🛡️ Defense: Pentagon flashback (Vietnam vibes)

• 🎉 Consumer: Rain-on-demand parties — slip-and-slide anywhere

Because no cloud should be wasted.

👯‍♀️ Tell a Bestie:

• 🐄 Chobani scoops up Daily Harvest to take its yogurt DTG (Direct-To-Gut)

• 🧘 Lulu’s Align Leggings turned 10… these pants invented athleisure in 2015

• 🔋 Tesla adds Chipotle exec to the board for new “drive-in movie diner charging station”

• 🤳 Influencer Talent Agency hits $400M valuation, raising $ from Marc Benioff

• 👊 Coinbase refuses to pay $20M ransom demanded by hackers, instead offering $20M reward to whoever helps get them arrested (Liam Neeson vibes)

• ✈️ Trump Econ Trip to the Middle East wrap-up (fyi the plane is still in play)

• 👟 Banned sneakers dominate races—illegal shoes breaking records.

• 🥪 NJ deli stock scam ends with jail time. Cold cuts.

• ☕️ Starbucks workers strike—say dress code’s not their cup of tea.

• 🇮🇹 Milan emerges as the post-Brexit city of choice in Europe #MilanoMomento

The Best Idea Yet 🗺️

Trivia: What Tech product caused Steve Jobs to declare “thermonuclear war”, and order his team to copy it?

Answer: Google Maps. When Google unveiled Maps, they reserved turn-by-turn directions just for Android. So Steve Jobs declared tech war on Google.

Check out the the newest episode of our weekly podcast The Best Idea Yet on… Google Maps.

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

And one more thing. This weekend, Jack’s catching up on The Last of Us (he raves about this show daily). And Nick’s reading Paul McCartney’s The Lyrics about how he wrote every song.

(side note: 1 key to The Beatles’ creativity? Write down every potential idea… even if it doesn’t make sense… yet).

Celebrate the wins 🙌 🙌

—Nick & Jack