This is Nick. This is Jack. And it’s officially “Circle Back” Season. According to our buddy Larry David, the last day you can say Happy New Year was 1/7. But you know what comes after HNY greetings? Circle-Back emails. The post-holiday leeway is up. So every loose end is coming back up. Bumping this to the top of your inbox…

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1) The Cup That Caused a Riot 

Stanley, Starbucks, and Target (the holy trinity of Millennials) teamed up to launch limited-edition pink and red tumblers. Want one for your Galentine’s Day bevy? Not ‘gonna happen — All sold out.

A refresher: For 100 years (literally), Stanley’s mugs only came in 4 colors. Then in 2020, the company made a minnovation: more color options. Now there’s a whole slew of hues to choose from Tigerlily to Rose Quartz. That color change also changed the target customer: from working man to workout woman.

On NYE, there were riots because of this 40oz vessel’s latest release. And they’re not getting a restock. So naturally mugs are going up on eBay for up to $34K. We’ve never seen such pandemonium for a cup. 

• 📈 The biz numbers: Stanley sales rose 275% in 2021 and it did $750M in sales last year. 

• 🤳 The TikTok numbers: 2B+ views (viral as cup). 

• 🥤 The stock market’s response to the craze: The Street even downgraded YETI, the cooler/thermos competitor, as Stanley hype continues. Just cold. 

The Takeaway →

Status symbols don’t have to be expensive. They have to be exclusive. 

• Easter egg on Stanley: The company’s President is the former CMO of Crocs, Terence Reilly. He brought Crocs from the ick shoe to the go-to shoe —and its stock rose 1,000%. 

• From the Crocs playbook to Stanley’s: Consumers care more about exclusivity than luxury. That’s why limited edition $40 Justin Bieber Crocs and $45 Starbucks Stanley mugs both sell out instantly. 

2) The New #1 Most Inventive Company

Qualcomm just passed IBM in # of patents awarded — It was granted a shocking 3,854 patents in 2023, making Qualcomm America’s patent king.

It’s sunny and 65° at Qualcomm — prime for creativity. The $150B San Diego company makes the “Snapdragon” modem that gives your iPhone 5G. Even Apple can’t do that… so it’s committed to using Qualcomm chips in iPhones through at least 2026. 

Qualcomm earned more than 10 patents each day in 2023… Michael Phelps’ medal count looks light comparably. It only takes one of those patents to enable the next tech breakthrough… and there’s 3,853 of them. We’ll spare you (and ourselves) from trying to explain what one of them does. Here’s one that “multiplexes” if you’re interested (it was awarded yesterday). 

The Takeaway →

1 thing that’s never changed? Patents are at the foundation of our economy. 

• Let’s look at history: During the War of 1812, we were invaded by the British, who burned Washington DC (true story). — but they spared just 1 building: the Patent office. The attackers knew that without patents, there’s no innovation. 

Patents protect an inventors invention, giving them ownership of their creation and more incentivizing research and development. So here’s cheers to R&D. 🍻

On the pod today…

👪 Instagram just made its biggest change yet for teens: Parents are gonna love the new instagram “kids table”. But it took a lawsuit from 40 states to make it happen, more on today’s pod.

Here’s what else you need to know today —

✈️ Update on that scary Boeing 737 Max 9 episode: United Airlines and Alaska Airlines have inspected their Max 9s, and found loose parts around the emergency door. They’re all still grounded.

❌ The SEC tweeted yesterday that they approved the first-ever bitcoin ETF: BTC. Prices soared… and then everyone realized the tweet was fake. The SEC’s account was #Hacked, but a decision on the ETF is expected to get approved this week.

🔥 Good on Buffalo, NY — It’s officially the hottest housing market in the US. Zillow compared # of new jobs to # new houses. Bills Mafia is the place to be apparently. 

🎤 X introduced shows with Don Lemon, Tulsi Gabbard, Jim Rome amid a video push. There’s hope if you're out of a media gig atm. 

🌙 NASA delayed a highly anticipated mission to land astronauts on the moon until 2026. There seem to be challenges in working with private firms like Elon’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin. 

Question →

If you had to change your name what would you change it to?

Answer →

This is Nick, and true story, I did change my name. I was born “Nicholas” (with an “h”), but growing up noticed all the hockey players from Europe spelled the name differently — So my parents let me add a letter or drop a letter. And I dropped the “h.” — Nicolas

This is Jack, and my dog’s name is River and my sons are named Wilder and Brooks. So going off the nature/outdoors theme, I would pick Forrest. Or Spruce.

Do you have The Almost Best Question Yet? Submit yours here.

And one more thing. What are the most overused phrases in a “circling back” email? 

—Nick & Jack