The Best One Yet
🥱 “Boring Biz” — The Boring Entrepreneurship Trend. 5HourEnergy’s Monopoly. Pokemon’s $3.8B Acquisition.
Mon, 17 Mar 2025
5 Hour Energy owns 90% of the market… which is why this energy shot got sued.The company behind Pokemon Go got bought by Saudi Arabia… because tech is more valuable than content.The hottest trend in entrepreneurship? Mature, boring industries… we explain why boring is booming.Plus, on St. Paddy’s Day, Wall Street tends to get lucky.Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Costco’s Kirkland đźŚ. Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.“The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Susper Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chapter 1: What are the top stories in today's episode?
This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, March 17th. And today's pod is the best one yet. And this is a T-boy. The three top stories at the intersection of business and pop culture. Oh, stocks are shrinking. Our portfolios are shrinking. Jack's shirt over there appears to be shrinking. What is that, a small medium? It's called athletic fit, actually.
I'm sure that's what they told you. Three fantastic stories for today's show. Jack, what do we got on the pod? For our first story, five-hour energy. The tiny $3 bottle of energy just got accused of being a monopoly. So Jack and I found out how the world's smallest drink got so big. For our second story, it's Niantic. The company behind Pokemon Go just got bought by Saudi Arabia for $3.5 billion.
Pikachu is cute, but he's way more powerful than you realized. And our third and final story. It's the most exciting new trend in entrepreneurship. It's boring. It's boring. Boring businesses are so hot right now. So Jack and I will make the case why you should consider running, launching, or buying a brutally boring business. But yetis, before you hit that wonderful mix of stories. What?
A mix of stories? Love the mix, Jack. Whip out that green top that's been buried in your top drawer of your dresser. And toss the potatoes on your Guinness oatmeal. Because it smells like St. Patrick's Day today, Yetis. Frank from finance is handing out homemade cabbage all morning. Carol from accounting is definitely wearing that green lip gloss today. We see you, Carol.
But it is not just a lucky day for the Irish, is it, Jack? St. Patrick's Day is also lucky for investors. Statistically speaking, March 17th is actually one of the best performing days on all of Wall Street. We've tracked it for every year we've been running this pod. We have. Green is for the portfolio. Get this. St.
Paddy's Day is actually the eighth best performing day of the year in the stock market. It's the eighth best out of 252 annual trading days. In fact, over the last two decades, stocks have risen 80% of the time for St. Patrick. And seven of the last eight St. Patrick's Days have been green on Wall Street.
Oh, we're so certain of this, we even submitted our research to the Guinness Book of World Records. Which was invented by the same Irishman that invented Guinness the beer. Yeah, you know what Jamie Dimon says about Lucky the Leprechaun, Jack. He's not after your lucky charms. No, he just bought 50 shares of a Shamrock ETF. This isn't financial advice, by the way.
No, no, no, no, it is not financial advice. We just heard it at the pub. Can't blame us.
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Chapter 2: Why is 5-Hour Energy accused of being a monopoly?
Jack, let's hit our three stars.
I would define reclaiming as to take back what was yours. Something you possess is lost or stolen, and ultimately you triumph in finding it again. Listen to Reclaiming with Monica Lewinsky wherever you get your podcasts.
For our first story, five-hour energy. The smallest energy drink on the market just got sued for being a huge monopoly. We'll tell you how five-hour energy got so big by staying so small. But yeties, Jack and I have been tracking the trends, and the energy drink market is the most exciting in the beverage industry, full stop. Alani New was recently acquired. Ghost Energy got acquired.
Celsius is rocket shipping. Red Bull is still number one. We did a whole show on it on the best idea yet, despite that insane competition coming at them from every single angle. But then there's 5-Hour Energy. Which isn't an energy drink. This two-ounce bottle is an energy shot. The way Jack and I like to think of it is five-hour energy is like the short king of the energy industry.
They're like Kevin Hart. There's a lot of energy in that small package. Yeah, they're tiny, but they're tossing up big numbers like Muggsy Bogues. Now, the founder of five-hour energy actually spent 12 years in a monastery living as a monk. Yeah, his name's Manoj Bhargavi, and then he had a revelation as a monk that somehow led him to pure capitalism.
His monkhood ended, and he reinvented himself as a businessman, according to the Wall Street Journal. Yeah, with a differentiated energy drink. No sugar, smaller size, same price. That was his bet. 5-Hour Energy is one of those products that has no ingredients and no calories, but somehow has a lot of taste and has a lot of effects on your body. Apparently, that sells.
Because what kind of numbers did 5-Hour Energy do in their first eight years, Jack? They hit a billion dollars of annual sales, selling $3 bottles at 90% margins. The rare product that is used by both truck drivers and stock traders. This is not medical advice, but if you take two of them, You got 10 hours of power. Yes, you do.
And 5-Hour Energy is still privately held, made in Indiana, and owned by that same former monk. Jack, I make a full disclosure here. On Molly's and my first date, we were having so much fun, we took a 5-Hour Energy at like 10 p.m. to keep the date going. Wild. Did you really? I don't think I could pull that off right now. That's so out of character for you. It was a good first date story.
Good first date story. But yetis, here's the news. 5-Hour Energy was just sued for anti-competitive moves. Basically, they've been acting like a monopoly. Jack, can you whip out the paperwork for us, please, and read the details of this legal complaint? Here's the complaint. 5-Hour Energy coordinated with convenience stores to basically control the cash register.
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Chapter 3: How did Niantic's Pokemon Go reach immense popularity?
Build your own playground where you can make the rules. 5-Hour Energy could be fighting for fridge space in the back with Red Bull, Celsius, and Monster Energy drinks. Instead, it created a new space to sell their product. Literally. At the front, right next to the cash register. Now look, maybe 5-Hour Energy went too far recently, and maybe they should get sued for what they were doing.
But still, their initial success after all those years, it still proves this point. When you build your own playground, you get to make your own rules. Just try to make the rules legal. You want to keep it legal. For our second story, Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, just got bought by Saudi Arabia for $3.8 billion.
Pokemon Go is way past its prime, but the underlying tech is just getting started. You know what, Yetis? We're just going to put it out there. Pokemon Go, greatest success of augmented reality. And we're including Apple Vision Pros in that assessment. Yes, we are. And Pokemon Go's origin story, we actually just discovered it during our research. It is wild. Get this.
Back in 2014, Google Maps did an April Fool's joke partnering with Pokemon. It was called the Pokemon Challenge. And here's a clip from the wild trailer that they launched with on April Fool's Day.
Strong-willed applicants who collect every single Pokemon will be invited to the Googleplex to participate in the final round of hiring. The winner will start at Google on September 1st, 2014.
Yeah.
I think one second. Yeah, that is a jigglypuff on 14th Street, Jack. Now, that April Fool's joke was such a huge hit that Google decided to spin out the group that did it into a separate company. And that company became Niantic, a real company based in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. Two years later, Niantic shot for the moon with an even bigger version known as Pokemon Go.
Because everyone wants to catch them all. Pokemon Go launched nine years in a partnership between Pokemon, Niantic, and Nintendo. And it's still the most successful use of augmented reality we've ever seen. The key is the augmented reality, not virtual reality. Because augmented reality is a combo of the real world and virtual reality. It's the real world with digital layers layered on top of it.
To find, to capture, to slay digital Pokemon on your street, you have to use real world GPS. So augmented reality involved real people walking around the real world using their phones as the digital part. And guess what, Nick? People traveled 30 billion miles tracking down Pokemon on Pokemon Go. We did the back of the envelope math on that.
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Chapter 4: What does the acquisition of Niantic by Saudi Arabia mean?
Every big moment starts with a big dream. But what happens when that big dream turns out to be a big flop? From Wondery and At Will Media, I'm Misha Brown, and this is The Big Flop. Every week, comedians join me to chronicle the biggest flubs, fails, and blunders of all time, like Quibi. It's kind of like when you give yourself your own nickname and you try to get other people to do it.
and the 2019 movie adaptation of Cats.
Like, if I'm watching the dancing and I'm noticing the feet aren't touching the ground, there's something wrong with the movie.
Find out what happens when massive hype turns into major fiasco. Enjoy The Big Flop on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Big Flop early and ad-free on Wondery+. Get started with your free trial at wondery.com slash plus.
For our third and final story, the most exciting new trend in entrepreneurship is the least exciting. It's the business of boring. The business of boring. When owning and running a boring business is actually a thrill. Yet is the 2010s, a golden, beautiful age of startups. There was girl bosses, boy bosses. Thank God it's Monday. Hustle culture. But first, coffee, Jack.
Interest rates were low, venture capital money was high, and the rise of social media was fueling it all. Every day as Nick and I were coming of age post-college, there was a new direct-to-consumer mattress brand advertised in the subway. Mattress, mattress, mattress. Hey, you're starting a meat-based plant e-commerce disruptor? Here's $50 million in funding so you can take on Heinz and Amazon.
In 2017, if you showed a VC a pitch deck for an e-scooter company, you'd have a billion-dollar check before you left the building. Jack, they'd give your mom a billion dollars because why not? It's a rounding error. It was an exciting time. Everything was cutting edge. The gig economy, Web3, exciting startups were a thrill. This was the sexy startup era. But here's an update on all of that.
The hot new entrepreneurial trend is boring industries. Boring industries. Yeti's young people are still launching startups, but not SaaS tech companies. They're launching glass companies. Yeah, like old school window glass. You can cut yourself on it. Be careful. Because the business of boring is booming right now. The boring business boom. That's what we're experiencing.
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Chapter 5: Why are boring businesses trending in entrepreneurship?
According to the New York Times, young entrepreneurs are starting plumbing businesses, garage door opener businesses, custom glass businesses. Basic but profitable businesses. Over at business schools, the most popular class we're hearing right now is entrepreneurship through acquisition. How to buy a boring business.
Meanwhile, over on YouTube, there's a surge in influencers with viral videos promoting what theme, Jack? How to launch and run a boring business. Now, Yetis, Jack and I got fascinated with what's going on here, and we noticed there are a few macro reasons behind this trend. First is the silver tsunami.
Baby boomers still own 25% of America's companies, but every day, more and more of them are retiring. So, millennials and Gen Z entrepreneurs are buying up those boomers booming boring businesses. Millennial Millie is buying Boomer Bob's regional pool installation company. So that Bob can spend more time by his actual pool in Boca del Vista. Now, interestingly, it's not just the age social trend.
It's also a financial funding trend. It's easier right now to get a small business loan to buy like a plumbing company than it is to raise venture capital. The Small Business Administration, they have loans, some of which only require 5% cash down. That's pretty low. Just put together a well-thought-through business plan and you could be approved.
In fact, we discovered there is an entire website right now, a platform for selling or buying boring businesses, like a Craigslist for laundromats, basically. It's called bizbuysell.com. Pretty straightforward. It's a boring business platform. So add it all up and young entrepreneurs are pulling a Bob Vance, buying and running random refrigeration companies.
Hi, I'm not Bob Vance, but I'm the new owner of Vance Refrigeration. That's perfect because I'm with Vandelay Industries and we can work together, Jack. So Jack, one sec. All right, I'm using our T-boy cash to acquire a laundromat. Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the boring business boom? Entrepreneurship isn't about ideas. It's really about taking a risk.
Yetis, some people feel that to be an entrepreneur, you have to have an amazing idea for a new product. That's not the case though. No. Old businesses that have been around for decades, they need an entrepreneur to be at the top of the company. You might be an MBA, see the AI future, but think to yourself, I don't know if I can compete in AI.
I don't have the skills to face artificial intelligence. You might think, I don't have an idea either that's going to get a VC excited. Well, honestly, the way Jack and I see it, that sucks. doesn't matter. You can still be an entrepreneur as long as you're willing to take a risk. You do understand how finance works.
You know how taking a loan is a risk, but you've analyzed the numbers, you've forecasted the financials, and you're willing to bet on yourself. The way we see it, entrepreneurship is exciting no matter how sexy or unsexy the business model. Because you're taking a risk and you're motivated by the upside. And this boring business boom, it's a reminder of exactly that.
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