🏄 “It’s The New Golf” — Surfing’s wave pool surge. The Infinite Workday. Disney’s Amazon ad collab.
21:37 Share

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, June 23rd. And today's pod is the best one yet. And this is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. By the way, Jack, celebrate the wins. How about that interview with the Reddit CEO last week? It was pretty awesome. Sophisticated guy. I know my favorite part was how he applied ballroom dancing to running a $20 billion tech company. And how he's never made a LinkedIn post in his whole life. I

He's on the record for it. But Jack, three fantastic stories for today's show. What do we got on the T-boy? For our first story, Microsoft data just revealed that the typical office worker gets 117 emails and 153 messages every day. It's resulted in the infinite workday. But Jack and I have a solution, and it's called Flow. For our second story, Disney just hooked up

with Amazon on advertising. That's right, TV ads are about to feel as targeted as your Instagram. And our third and final story is the hot new trend in real estate, surfing. Surfing, specifically gigantic wave pools that create the perfect wave every time. So Jack and I are calling it now. The surf pool is the new golf course. But yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a fantastic mix of stories to kick off the week. The hottest ticket of the century.

is the Bezos wedding, which starts either tomorrow or on Friday. Yeah, this happens to be the most closely held secret outside of the nuclear codes. But for 72 hours, the world's second richest man is going to host the most expensive wedding of all time. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, his fiancee, getting married in Venice on a yacht. I could have waited a week until Prime Day, Nick. I

mean, Jeff, you would have saved 30% on those votives. Now, unfortunately, Nick and I had to RSVP no. True. Because we're busy recording this pod. Yes, we are. But here's the big news. We just snagged leaked secret copy of Jeff Bezos' wedding vows. And we will reveal them right now, right here on this show. Nick, kick it off. All right, here we go, Jeff. Jeff Bezos' wedding vows.

Lauren, I, Jeff Bezos, take you to be my customer for life. I solemnly swear to love you in sickness and in telehealth. In bull markets and in bear. In rocket launches and regulatory hearings. I promise to cherish you with five layers of unnecessary cardboard. I promise to be your rock because AI can't disrupt rocks.

Alexa, I mean Lauren, I promise to spoil you with two days of free emotional support. Unless there's a storm in Memphis, in which case four days. I will stand by your side every season of the year, spring, summer, fall, and the Q4 holiday push. And I'll never leave you lost in the supplements aisle at Whole Foods. Because I don't just love you, Lauren, I subscribe to you. We go together like supply and

demand. You fulfill and center my heart. You are the auto renew to my prime. You are my sun, my stars, my cloud compute, and no one can break us up.

not even the FT city. So Lauren, you'll never have to read the fine print because I already clicked accept all to love and to cherish until churn. 15 years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea to cause a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is a norm. Jack Nick. That's it. I'm

I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip T-Boy City on your at list If you know you know cause we ready to go We can't wait no more so just start the show Start the show First a quick word from our sponsor

IBM. Yeah, it is bigger than always better, especially with AI. Supersized models can drain your budget fast. Smaller ones are smart and can help cut AI costs by up to 90%. So right-size your models at IBM.com. The AI built for business, IBM.

Tariff and trade policies are dynamic, supply chain squeezed, and cash flow tighter than ever. You need total visibility from global shipments to tariff impacts to real-time cash flow. And that's NetSuite by Oracle, your AI-powered business management suite trusted by over 41,000 businesses. NetSuite brings accounting, financial management, inventory, HR into one suite to help you know what's stuck, what it's costing you, and how to pivot.

For our first story, Microsoft data just revealed that we're all working the infinite workday. You will be shocked how much time you actually spend on emails, messages, and meetings. Yep. But we have a solution for the infinite workday.

Now, yetis, Jack and I have noticed that your email signature actually says a lot about you. Right, Jack? Best wishes. Regards. Or are you just like dash and then your initials, which is a power move? Lowercase initials? That's a flex right there. That's like presidential candidates ray off emails like that. If you're doing that, then you're making 12 figures. So Microsoft happens to know all about you.

to your work email because Office and Teams, their software that they own, covers 320 million monthly active users. So the Office and Teams user base is a proxy for the American worker. And Microsoft just shared anonymized data that'll make you want to spit out your green tea at the water cooler. Get this, the average worker gets 117 work emails per day. That's as long as a book. The average worker spends less than 60 seconds on each of those emails.

but that's still two hours a day just going through your email. Jack, that's as long as a movie. Sorry, just going through your work emails because you have personal emails you got to do when you get home. And Jack, I don't want to point anyone out here, Carol, but the worst offender happens to be me.

Mass emails. That's right. Emails with 20 or more recipients are up 7% from last year, according to Microsoft data. 20 people needed to skim through the 17 replies. It's like an epic time suck organizing the cupcake party you're not even going to. So you're spending a quarter of your day just answering emails to a bunch of CCs you don't even know. But yeties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. What makes your workday infinite is...

is the non-email messages. Because they're 24-7. They're relentless. For example, if you're using Microsoft Teams, you get 153 messages per day. Some are just emojis, most aren't. And you, of course, get that one message you spend an

hour trying to interpret, is she angry at me? Is she not? What is my boss thinking? But it's not just emails and messages. Meetings are up too, specifically the ad hoc meetings. We're talking Orlando meetings, Flash forums, pop-up powwows. They've all hit all-time highs. According to this Microsoft dataset, over half of meetings are surprise meetings. They book the last minute they were not on your calendar.

I mean, Jack, you're in the middle of a TPS report, but then Frank from finance taps you on the shoulder. Hey, I got us a room. Great. Thanks, Frank. Which leads to the biggest hero stat of all. It's the smallest number, but the most impactful one. The average worker gets just two minutes before they're interrupted.

A white-collar worker in this country can't go two minutes without an email, a message, or a spontaneous meeting. Now, besties, when we heard that, that stat is the most damaging. But Jack and I have got a solution.

So Jack, can you please BCC us and tell us what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone working in America? Your flow state is your growth state. Your flow state is your growth state. Yeti's flow is a scientifically proven 45 to 90 minutes of uninterrupted flow.

focus on one task. And it's the most powerful productivity weapon against distractions. Yeah, it's really more than focus. It's when your brain actually feels an ecstasy being ensconced in that one purposeful thing. If you're in the flow, you lose track of time. You do. You feel like you're part of something bigger and you actually enjoy the work that you're doing. For example, when we're recording this pod, like right now, there are no interruptions, no other people in the room, the studio is locked, Jack and I are in a

flow state. We actually call it the dance. When Nick and I are like really in sync with each other, it feels like a dance. A step, B step, A step, B step. So how do you enter a flow state? First, you should time box your emails. Go through them in the morning, go through them in the afternoon. That's it. Don't let your inbox run your life. But then dedicate 45 to 90 minute chunks in the middle of the day for no messages, no meetings, and no emails. You'll notice when you turn off your notifications...

There are very few emergencies at work that you need to be distracted from. If someone really needs you, which is rare, they'll come find you or they'll give you a call on your phone. And when you enter that uninterrupted state of flow, your work becomes art. For our second story, Amazon is ending those annoying pharmaceutical commercials on TV that 100% don't apply to you. The personalized ads you see in Instagram, they're coming to streaming too.

Now, yetis, if you've ever watched Mad Men, then you've seen the importance of good old-fashioned whining and dining of clients. Well, the whole ad industry is pulling a Don Draper right now. In Cannes, they're not being disrupted. We're talking Cannes Lion Creativity Festival, the dream business trip for everyone in advertising and media.

The entire point of the Cannes Festival is to cabernet and par-tay with some loose LinkedIn connections. You know what they say, Jack? Fear nothing, expense everything. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg's new goal is to make ad agencies obsolete.

He's disrupting the ad companies that are pardoning up with some pinot over in Cannes. His goal is to let brands create ads entirely using artificial intelligence. Now, Yeti's full disclosure, Jack and I could not make it to southern France this year. We're recording this podcast right now. But the highlight of the Cannes Festival has got to be Amazon. Totally, Jack, because Amazon is walking away with our pom-dum.

Here's what Nick and I realized. Amazon is now an arms dealer in advertising. Yes, it is. And they're selling the good stuff. Oh, yes, they are. Specifically, Amazon will now help other video streamers target their ads instead of wasting them on everyone. Yeah, here's the news. Amazon partnered in the last week with Disney Plus and Roku. And it's going to give Mickey Mouse Amazon shopper data in order to target you with ads on TV. Because we've all been there.

We're watching a show and we get interrupted by a 30-second pharmaceutical commercial targeting like 80-year-olds. This isn't for me. You're like, I don't need Thytastrosol. Is that my grandpa in this? Instead, what would we see starting with this new partnership? With this new partnership, you'll now be watching Andor on Disney+, and you'll see an ad for an espresso machine. And why would you see an espresso ad, Jack? Because you're ordering Oatmeal Coffee Creamer every month on Amazon. Bessies, we just have to emphasize how important

big a deal this is. Like, if you're watching Roku, you would start seeing an ad for a bathing suit. And why is that, Jack? Because you buy pool chlorine every month on Amazon. This is a monumental shift in the entire TV watching industry. You'll only see ads on streaming TV that will be relevant to you based on what you've shopped for on Amazon. And those ads are so profitable for Amazon, you can lick them like a lollipop.

Sorry, sorry, sorry. I said the L word, my bad. I expect our editor to bleep it, actually, so don't worry about it. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in advertising? Amazon is not an e-commerce site. It's an invisible arms dealer of mass consumption. Yetis, ask Alexa what Amazon is known for, and she'll say the everything store. Buy anything online. It's wild, but that's not at all what Amazon makes money on anymore.

No, it's not. It really makes money powering other companies behind the scenes. Like you probably know about Amazon Web Services, their profit puppy, the cloud computing service that every company with a website uses. But now advertising is the clear number two. Yes, it is. They bring in $60 billion of revenue a year in advertising. To sprinkle on more context, that's more than Nike does, Uber, or Goldman Sachs.

brings in in revenue. And now Amazon is invisibly helping brands advertise on Disney Plus and Roku with your shopping data. So Basties, you thought Amazon was a $2 trillion e-commerce company, but you know what? It's not. Amazon is the invisible arms dealer. It's selling digital weapons of mass consumption. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

The best one yet is sponsored by BetterHelp. All right, Jack, let me set the scene for you. My birthday dinner, we did a pizza party. I rented out a whole spot called the Dough Room in San Francisco. You mess with the pizza dough while you make it. I know. And then what comes next is the most San Francisco thing ever. Basically, group therapy over dinner. So all three people on my side of the table were in therapy, and all of us were talking about each other's therapy. You know, like one person was saying how their therapist helped them through a coworker battle. Another was talking about like the future of

fatherhood with their therapist. They're stressed about becoming a dad. It's not just San Francisco. Society's views on therapy have changed across the world. True. It's evolved to the point where you had a birthday dinner learning from each other's therapy session. Well, BetterHelp is an easy way to take that leap and find the therapist for you. Because BetterHelp has over 10 years of experience matching people like your friends with therapists. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with BetterHelp. All

Our listeners get 10% off their first month at BetterHelp.com slash T-Boy. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash T-Boy.

Monarch money. All right, Jack, can I tell you about my SMH? What is that? It stands for my stupid money habit. You ready for this? I just realized I spent $412 last month on taxis. Nick, that's a car payment. I know. I could have probably just bought another car at this point. Now, Nick only realized how much he spent on Ubers, Lyfts, and yellow cabs thanks to Monarch money. Monarch. It isn't just a

budgeting app, it is like a personal CFO. Now, I'm using Monarch Money too. My favorite part? Yes, Jack? I've actually retired my net worth spreadsheet. Seriously. Really? Because I have every single financial account I own linked to Monarch Money. You can immediately see your net worth because Monarch Money refreshes all your account balances instantly. So, to help you track and build your net worth, Monarch Money is offering 50% off your first year for listeners of this pod.

And it's not just us. Over a million households already use Monarch Money. The Wall Street Journal already named it the best budgeting app of 2025. We're not even halfway through the year. No, we're not. And I think I just spent $10 more on a taxi. So besties, get control of your overall finances with Monarch Money. Even though Nick apparently can't. Use code T-Boy at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year if you go to monarchmoney.com and use code T-Boy.

For our third and final story, the newest trend in real estate is surf pools, giant wave machines for big time surfing. The number of wave pools in the world is tripling right now because they borrowed the perfect business model and they borrowed it from golf.

But Jack, let's talk 2025 World Surfing Championships, baby. These things just kicked off over in Hawaii. I can only get up on the board like once out of every 46 tries, but I'm still watching, man. I'm picturing Surf's Up, the delightful movie Wilder loves right now about penguins surfing. An instant classic. Well, the World Surf Championships involve pina coladas, poke, and plenty of half pipes, baby. But guess what? There was a bummer two-day weather delay. Yeah,

So you had to wait three days to see the winner catch one wave off of Oahu. Oh, and the next stop on the surf tour, it's... One second, Jack. Abu Dhabi? Are they surfing in the desert? Wait, wait. The next stop on the surf tour is in the middle of the desert in the Middle East? Is this like sand and surf? Abu Dhabi's on the Gulf, but they don't have waves big enough for surfing. So, yetis, Jack and I got curious what's going on, and this is possible because of surf pools. Surf pools. 80

million gallon pools with custom wave machines. From barrel waves to tube waves. Now, I thought I'd seen a wave pool before, but I haven't. No, because these things create waves 1,000 feet long that last 60 seconds before crashing onto the shore. It's

Six surfers can surf at once right on the same wave spot. And the best part, a new perfect wave is created every three minutes. You get eight months of surfing in one day. Jack, this is Waikiki on demand, baby. It's a wave without the weight. It's basically a surf treadmill. And the business is booming because millennials hate waiting for things. This is the biggest moment in surfing since Patrick Swayze went point break. Gianni!

Are there any other surf movies we're going to reference in this episode? I'm all out, Jack. I washed out. But Yeti,

yet he's here is Jackson. My surprise, the wave pool. It is the antithesis of surf culture, right? The beach boys aren't writing a song about this. No. And yet the wave pool has been fully accepted by the professional surfer community. Get this. Kelly Slater has embraced wave pools. That's right. The most famous surfer on earth is an early investor in these wave pools. Now wave pools are expensive. We should point out

They're $80 million to install. Okay, that huge upfront capital expense is why there are just 35 wave pools in the world right now. So right now, the wave pool's rare. It's like the sphere. Yes. You might never see one in your whole life. But Jack, based on the

numbers we're seeing not for long, right, man? Nine new wave pools are being opened this year and 75 are in development worldwide. Those numbers mean that the wave pools are tripling out of nowhere, man. Venture capital is flooding planet Earth with fake surfing lakes. Even Adam Neumann has invested.

But Jack, what is the key number that investors love about the whole wave pool concept? 70% of visitors to these wave pools come back to surf a second time. That's right. You return to the wave pool. You are a repeat rabbit, as we call it. And a lot of families visit wave pools for their vacations. Right, because you go to one location and an expert comes.

can surf the waves and a beginner can surf the waves. The ocean doesn't offer that kind of choice. No, no, no, no, it doesn't. But Jack, I got to pause the pod for a sec. Again, $80 million cost per a pool. That is like a wipeout number right there. Cowabunga situation. You need cowabunga cash.

Now, Abu Dhabi is building one in the desert because it's a royal kingdom with oil money. But Jack, what about the other 74 wave pools in development right now? They've got a different business model. Yes, they do. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in surfing? Never be embarrassed to borrow a business model.

Yeti, some wave pools are doing it top golf style. They're open to the public and paying customers come every once in a while. Yeah, grab a surf, have a daiquiri, have a good time. We hope to see you again. But the driver of growth in these wave pools is private resorts centered around the wave pool. Yeah, what's ironically driving all these wave pools is golf courses. Investors are applying the same business model of a golf development...

to surfing. Yetis, golf courses boomed in America in the last 50 years with golf housing developments. Here was the idea. You pay $20 million for the course by selling 50 homes around the course at $1 million each. The same math is making wave pool communities a thing.

Look at this one that we found in Mexico. Yeah, in Mexico, it's not just a wave pool, Jack. It's 200 homes at $2.5 million each per home. So the developer is getting $500 million in revenue from selling the homes, which more than pays for the $80 million wave pool. Add it all up, besties, and surf pools are the next golf by using the same financial strategy. That's why we say, never be embarrassed to borrow a business model.

Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Microsoft data shows that the average worker gets 270 emails and messages per day. Sorry, per infinite workday. You're interrupted every two minutes, but your flow state is your grow state. For our second story, Amazon is partnering with Disney and Roku to target their streaming ads...

with shopper data. Amazon's not an e-commerce site. Amazon is now an invisible arms dealer of mass consumption. And our third and final story is the hottest trend in resort real estate, wave pools. Yep. AKA fake lakes with man-made waves to surf. Surf pools are the new golf courses because never, ever, ever be embarrassed to borrow a business model.

But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, remember that story we did last month on Costco gas stations? Gas being Costco's highest selling product. 12% of Costco sales are current.

Our Kirkland regular unleaded. Well, Jack, the crew over at Costco must have heard our episode because they're now launching their first ever standalone gas station. It's not a Costco store. It's a Costco gas station. And yeah, you gotta be a Costco member. All right, I'm riding with you, Jack. Here we go, baby.

And second, Labubu dolls have gone viral. It's the Beanie Baby for Gen Alpha. They've sold $400 million of them. We also did a story on that. And they just set a record for most expensive Labubu sale ever. Yeah, here's the update. A human-sized Labubu doll, four feet tall, was just sold at a Chinese auction for $170,000. Is this the peak of the bubble? And finally, the best restaurant in America is...

an Italian spot in Colorado. Frasca Food and Wine in Boulder, Colorado just won the James Beard Award. Yeah, the James Beard Award for Best Restaurant, which is America's version of the Michelin Star. Although we should point out, New York City won the most James Beard Awards. We're expecting from New York gastro tourists to hit up Colorado. That place sounds fantastic.

Now time for the best fact yet, which, because it's Monday, means T-boy trivia. Jack, what do we got? 140 years ago, this product was invented by a pharmacist in the South, but it's not medicine. And this pharmacist also prescribed cocaine and opium, but didn't mix them into this product. Hint, this product is still around today. The recipe is still a secret.

but we know there are 23 ingredients. All right, besties, this is your moment. Drop the answer in the comments. What is this vibe? Yetis, you look fantastic today. Jack, you are glowing in that slamming salmon over there. Wonderful way to kick off the week. Thank you, dude. I'm feeling the buzz right now. Like a good, just a buzz. A lot's happening with T-Boy.

The business is flowing. We got the flow. We got the flow. And Jeff and Lauren, whenever you get married, just remember, if it doesn't work out, you always get the free return. 30 days. And you got to pay six bucks if you need your own box. H-Y-H-T-V-O-Y. Share the pod and Jack and I will see you tomorrow.

And before we go, a happy birthday to our little boy, Maxi Martell, who celebrated the other weekend, Jack, with a choo-choo going through the Presidio. He loves choo-choo trains. He wanted moss choo-choo, moss choo-choo. But don't get that kid magnet connecting trains. No, no, no. They drive him wild in a bad way. And a huge happy birthday to Big Ted, Dad's dad.

the legendary OG Yeti. My dad, Ted Kramer. Happy birthday, Pop. I love you. And Kathy Becks in Ormond Beach, Florida. Happy birthday, Kathy. Keep on celebrating. And happy 30th birthday to Diana Lee in Seoul, Korea. And a happy birthday to legendary Yeti, audio Dave Sonnenfeld, turning 65 years old with the best voice in the business down in Austin. And happy birthday to Eddie Almeria in Redondo Beach, California, the new father of twin girls. And Jackie

Connor is flying LAX to Singapore and then on the way to West Sumatra and then Mentoway. Congratulations. Enjoy the trip and enjoy those T-boy apps, Jackie. A big shout out to Vanessa Vlasic and Daniel Lay, who just got engaged and are flying out to Chicago for our live show. Whoa, Vanessa and Daniel can't wait to meet you in person and we'll see that ring live, baby. And to anyone else who's celebrating something today, make it a T-boy. Celebrate the wins.

This is Jack, I own stock of Disney, Roku, and Amazon, and Nick owns stock in Nike. If you like The Best One Yet, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us a little bit about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. We want to get to know you.

You want to grow your business. I mean, who doesn't? Constant Contact's marketing platform makes marketing way easier and way more effective, even if you know nothing about marketing. You can easily create email, text, social, events, and digital campaigns in just a few clicks. It's why over half a million business owners trust Constant Contact for their digital marketing needs. Constant Contact, helping the small stand tall. Get 25% off all plans for the first three months when you go to ConstantContact.com and use code LISTEN25 at checkout. ConstantContact.com with code LISTEN25.