Hey Yetis & Besties,

G-E-O-G-R-A-P-H-Y spells Geography. And it’s key to winning a spelling bee.

The 100th National Spelling Bee wrapped Thursday — 243 spellers, 4,072 words, and one wild twist: to win the Bee, you basically need to moonlight as a cartographer. Turns out, the hardest words to spell are map-based. From Dutch towns to a 45-letter lake in Massachusetts… Carmen San Diego would dominate this thing. Hit us with your favorite geo-word — then let’s hit today’s 3 stories.

(our favorite? Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg)

🔥 How Bachan’s Became a $100M BBQ Sauce

Every Jan 22nd, Nick & Jack eat barbecue (it’s Nick’s birthday tradition, Jack happily participates). But the BBQ sauce going viral right now? Bachan’s.

Red flip-top. Karate headband-wearing octopus on the label. And a founding story that’s straight-up heroic.

“Bachan” means “granny” in Japanese. Because founder Justin Gill bottled his grandma’s homemade BBQ recipe. After raising $250K from friends & family, maxing out his credit cards, and turning his house into a fulfillment center, he still wasn’t selling enough. The bank actually seized his house. Bachan looked like a total failure.

Then, out of nowhere: Sales jumped 4,000% in 2020 to $1.5M. And this year? Bachan’s is on pace to hit $100M, per Bloomberg. Now 1 in 20 households has a bottle in the pantry.

So what changed?

The Takeaway: Category Can Be Destiny.

The market for BBQ sauce in America is way bigger than the market for international sauces. When Bachan’s switched aisles, it got discovered by millions of new shoppers who were open to trying a new flavor. On a store shelf — just like in business — where you’re placed changes everything. The war’s in the stores. #ShelfRealEstate

🤖 AI CEO Says Half of Desk Jobs Are Toast

Everyone talks ChatGPT — but Anthropic is the Luigi to OpenAI’s Mario. Anthropic makes Claude, the #2 chatbot, and CEO, Dario Amodei told Axios this week: AI will replace 50% of entry-level white collar jobs within 1–5 years. If true, unemployment could spike to 10–20%.

It’s all about AI Agents — software that takes assignments, uses all the apps on your computer to get the job done, and works 24/7. “An agent is AI that can do the work of humans — instantly, indefinitely, and cheaper.”

• They’re not White Collar, not Blue Collar… We call them Chrome Collar workers.

Sam Altman is more optimistic. He reminds us that lamplighters lost jobs to electricity, but they found better ones (and we all got electricity!). But AI could be different than electricity or even the internet. Computers run everything now, and soon, the computers could run themselves.

The Takeaway: Tech leaders are often right about what will happen — but wrong about when.

The internet was world-changing… that change just came 10 years later than tech leaders predicted. Elon is famously right about predictions, infamously wrong about the timing of them. So when Amodei says AI will take over white collar jobs in 5 years, we take it seriously, but take his timing with a grain of salt. The change is coming… just maybe not on schedule.

👯‍♀️ Tell a Bestie:

• 🍬 Haribo recalls gummies—some accidentally came with cannabis.

• 🏖️ Hamptons rental prices down 30%. Even the rich are staying in. #RecessionIndicator

• 🪦 President Tyler’s grandson dies—the president from the 1840s.

• 💍 Indian wedding shuts down Wall Street. Baraat > bell.

• 🧸 Build-a-Bear stock hits ATH—the stock is up 25X in five years.

• 🛍️ Stores now say “Welcome in”—retail wants to sound polite, not pushy.

• 🍽️ Etiquette TikTok is blowing up. Apparently we’re all feral.

• 😊 Copenhagen wins world’s happiest city. Again. Bike lanes, not burnout.

• 🥩 Steak-N-Shake accepts Bitcoin—burgers now come with blockchain.

• t

The Best Idea Yet: Heinz Ketchup 🍅

What does the “57” on the Heinz Ketchup bottle mean? Listen to our 45 minute deep dive episode to find out.

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

And one more thing. Got a word that’s nearly un-spellable? Bonus points if it’s a place. We’re still recovering from Lake Chargoggagogg… you know the one. Forward this email to a buddy who can spell everything.

Celebrate the wins 🙌 🙌

—Nick & Jack