The Best One Yet
🏰 “Donald Duck Diplomacy” — DisneyLand Abu Dhabi. Elon’s Texas city. Russell Westbrook's AI funeral app.
Thu, 08 May 2025
TBOY Live Show Tickets to Chicago on sale NOW: https://www.axs.com/events/949346/the-best-one-yet-podcast-ticketsDisney just announced its 7th theme park: Abu Dhabi… It’s Donald Duck Diplomacy.SpaceX incorporated its own city in Texas… But the company town really goes back to Hershey.NBA star Russell Westbrook just launched an AI app… for funerals. Plus, the hot new fashion trend is… Dinosaur Leather (#TRexHandbags)$DIS $TSLA $Want more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… Juicy Couture Tracksuits 🍑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 is Donald Duck Diplomacy?
For our third and final story, NBA star Russell Westbrook is launching a funeral startup with AI. Yes, that's a real headline.
It's a true story.
And yes, Russell Westbrook did play in a playoff game on Monday night and then launch a startup on Wednesday. That happens to be about death. But this story also brings up a real question for everyone building AI. Yetis, three years ago, Jack and I covered a story on this pod about a casket startup called Titan. Venture capital was coming alive when it comes to death.
Yeah, because not only is death a recession proof, but the death industry also happens to be a profit puppy. It's honestly the most overlooked opportunity in business because the only thing in life that's guaranteed is death. You know, on taxes, you can get an exemption, Jack. Yeah, there's no death exemption. No, no, no. You can't write that off. So we are curious about this headline.
Russell Westbrook launches a funeral app with artificial intelligence. Jack and I were like, um, a basketball player, artificial intelligence, and funerals? Feels like we have to jump in T-boy style. Sounds like a Mad Libs. But the company is called EaseWell. It's a platform for funerals that connects grieving survivors with all the vendors and resources you need to honor the dead person.
Basically like an Expedia for the end of your life kind of a thing. You can get quotes from funeral homes, find financing to pay for the funeral, and manage the invites to the funeral too. Basically a one-stop shop for when your pop drops. Exactly. And then it uses AI to call funeral homes, get prices, and confirm availability. Yeah, we checked it out.
In San Francisco, the Duggan Funeral Home is going to cost you about $4,300. Okay, okay, interesting. The Green Street Mortuary is $5,700. Okay, but Jack, if something happens to me on this pod, and you know, we don't want it to get too expensive, then we could cremate you for just $1,600. Cremation's a total steal these days. But besties, the second scariest part about dying is how much it costs.
Because like we said, death is... is a profit puppy. We've also said when there's mystery, there's margin. And there's so much mystery in how much it actually costs to do a funeral. Yeah, because you have to make big decisions with little information really quickly. It's kind of like a wedding, you know? These once-in-a-lifetime opportunities are really expensive.
The funeral industry is so fragmented and so mysterious you have less leverage as the consumer. So honestly, Jack and I see there's value in putting all of this death stuff on a tech platform. It makes it easier to comparison shop, which is a benefit to the consumer. Now, so far with Easewell, they haven't determined or they haven't announced yet what their business model is going to be.
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Chapter 4: How is Russell Westbrook innovating in the funeral industry?
His odometer's at like 300,000 miles. Check this guy's chassis. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney. Nick and I both own stock in Zillow. 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.
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