Happy Saturday Besties,

Holiday Merch Line… dropped.

But don’t sleep on it, our shop is only open until Wednesday at Midnight. And good news: it’ll be to your door before Christmas so get some goodies for your Besties.

What’s in our Holiday Shop Drop?… 🎄🎅☃️

• Hoodie (the freshest bone color)

• Sweatpants (it’s a matching set)

• Hat (White for your non-pink bestie)

• Stickers (with TBOY catchphrases)

• Tote (it’s black, so it’s dirt-proof)

And keep scrolling for a screenshot of Nick & Jack’s super secret Apple Notes…and we got a HINT for the next episode of The Best Idea Yet.

GET THIS

👯‍♂️ Mark Zuckerberg & T-Pain just collabed on a cover of the 2000s banger "Get Low"…. But before you judge if it’s cool or cringe, this reflects something bigger…

For Zuck’s 40th birthday, he got the world's most Roman glow-up: From loving ancient Rome, buying a Roman statue for his wife, naming his kids after emperors, to the Marcus Aurelius quoted t-shirts. It’s not a Midlife Crisis, it’s a Midlife Makeover.

But… everything Zuck does is strategic. So we noticed that his Midlife PR Makeover actually reflects his company’s new philosophy… and it’s our Takeaway.

The Takeaway: Zuck's new fashion is Meta’s new strategy: More vibes, less involvement. And the vibes appear to be paying off

• 2016-2023: Meta was hated by liberals for misinformation, by conservatives censorship, by the government for anti-trust issues, & by parents for mental health problems. $META stock hit a 6-yr low last year.

• But since Zuck’s “I-don’t-care”-style started, Meta has pivoted its algorithms from politics to personal posts, from concerns to care-free. And now $META stock is at an all-time high.

(From the Zuck’s rap strategy episode)

IN CRYPTO NEWS

🚀 America’s First Pro-Crypto President. If you love Trump, you’re buying Bitcoin. But interestingly, if you don’t love Trump, you still might be buying Bitcoin.

• Why Trump supporters are bullish: #1 Regulation — Trump plans to replace the current SEC chair, Gary Gensler, with a hands-off chair. #2 Reserves — Trump hinted during his campaign of a US National Reserve of Bitcoin. #3 Vibes — When the future President says America will be the “Crypto Capital of the Planet,” that can turn sentiment to the moon.

• Why Trump opposers are bullish: Crypto remains a potential hedge against the value of the US Dollar. Trump’s planned tax cut extension would require printing more dollars to fund more debt (which is at an all-time high, now larger than our GDP). But unlike with the USD, there’s a fixed number of Bitcoin (no more than 21M total coins ever).

Let’s be clear: We’re not recommending you buy Bitcoin (we do own a Bitcoin named Ben, but we’ve been #BitcoinBurned before on the price plunges). We’re just observing this strange new phenomenon: A rare Bipartisan Bitcoin Bull story. 

(From the Bitcoin’s $88K all-time high episode this week)

DEEP DIVE

📝 Apple’s Notes has become what the WSJ calls "an extension of our brains." So we looked into the success of your phone’s simplest app.

• How Apple Notes is Winning: It’s pre-installed on 2.2B Apple devices and ~700 million people use it (= 14x more than Notion)… that’s the power of the platform. Plus, us, celebs, and TikTok all appreciate its simplicity, usability, and… our Takeaway.

The Takeaway: We've heard of Loss Leaders, but Apple Notes represents a Trust Leader. 

• Why? Because Apple prioritized Security (there’s encryption everywhere), Safety (can only access from your Apple devices), and Trust (Apple isn’t using your content to train AI). So while the Notes app doesn’t generate revenue (it actually costs Apple money to maintain), the ROI is trust in the Apple brand.

P.S. "Never go through a girl's Notes app" — Chappell Roan… but here’s a screenshot of ours. If you ever wonder about how we come up with all our Takeaways, this Note is what we use as a safe for quotes & concepts of things we’ve heard and read. Everyone needs #inspo ✨

(From the Apple Notes trust strategy episode)

EXPLAINED

Elon’s “Department”: Donald Trump has officially formed a Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE, led by Elon Musk & Vivek Ramaswamy.

• Why Elon? 2 years ago, he cut 2/3 of the staff at Twitter…and those cost cuts inspired the whole tech industry to do layoffs too (read: Zuck’s “Year of Efficiency”).

Here’s the goal: Get the US government leaner. A win for #TeamDOGE would be cutting waste. But here’s the $6.4 Trillion question: Will DOGE actually save us money? We looked into the gov’s annual budget to figure it out:

• The US Federal Government spends $6.4 Trillion / year: 61% of government spending is for mandatory programs, like Social Security or Medicare. 13% is interest we pay on our national debt. Of the remaining 26%, ½ goes to national defense.

• So add it all up: 87% of Federal spending is basically untouchable.

• Where the DOGE can slim down: They’re going to have to get creative. Is there waste in our government? Absolutely, Jack spent ½ the day at the DMV…

  but finding cuttable efficiencies might be harder than you think.

Btw, DOGE is hiring.

(From the Elon’s Dept of Government Efficiency episode)

TELL A BESTIE

The best headlines to bring to the weekend tailgate…

• 🌶️ Hot Ones, the YouTube show, launched its own ramen

• ⛽️ Kum & Go is changing its name (the brand came & went)

• 💰 Warren Buffet is stockpiling cash

• 💰💰 Wall Street is already prepping for larger banker bonuses (+35%)

• 🤔 What Martha Stewart learned from Snoop on negotiating

THE BEST IDEA YET

Do you know why there are 3 languages on a Sriracha bottle?

Or that Sriracha has spent $0 on marketing?

Or how the sauce’s creator smuggled gold bars into the US to start the biz?

NEW EPISODE: The Untold Story of Sriracha 🌶️ From Refugee to hot sauce Billionaire

New episodes, every Tuesday: We tell the untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with in our deep-dive weekly show The Best Idea Yet.

So listen to our wild episode on Sriracha. Follow the show. Give it a 5-star review. And celebrate the wins.

HINT for next episode: Nick refuses to wear ‘em. IYKYK.

And one more thing. We’re posting pics of ourselves in the new merch line on our Instagram this weekend. See ya there.

— Nick & Jack

*un-confirmed.