The Best One Yet
👪 “Nepo-preneurs” — Family biz boom. Twinkies’ 4/20 munchies trade. China’s rare earth embargo.
Thu, 17 Apr 2025
Twinkie is embracing 4/20 with Munchies Mobiles... because the US economy is now PG-13.China just stopped selling us Rare Earth Metals… We call it the Acupuncture Needle Strategy.Say hello to “Nepo-preneurs”… Because kids joining family businesses just surged 13%.Plus, the top way to reduce stress at work? Playing Tetris… $SJM $LMT $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… the Super Soaker 🔫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 new marketing strategy is Twinkies adopting for 420?
Working for mom or dad. Family businesses are surging right now like a scene straight out of The Godfather. But, Yetis, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories.
Three fantastic mixes of stories, my son. Beautiful mix today.
I love your Godfather impression.
Imagine what you're talking about. Keep it in the family.
Yetis, the cool new game to play at the office is actually the oldest game at the office. That's right. Tetris is seeing a resurgence, get this, as a wellness hack? Yeah, that Tetris. The ones with the bricks and the blocks all falling with gravity and you got to put them in the right place. And you got to fit the L shape on the square shape.
And then there's that zigzaggy shape that's kind of an S, kind of a lightning bolt. And then you got a backwards L shape coming in. Oh my God, Jack, it's coming quickly. Oh my God, oh my God. Get... This. During the pandemic, scientists studied people who played Tetris every day. And after five weeks of playing Tetris, traumatic feelings fell by 86%.
What we're saying is playing Tetris has similar effects on you as Xanax does. Yeah, you may not need a glass of pinot to relax. You just need 10 minutes of Tetris. The psychological soothing effect of playing Tetris is now known as the Tetris effect. And it's a whole lot cheaper than a round of therapy. But here's the wildest part. Tetris is one of the oldest video games of all time.
Because Tetris was invented back in the Soviet Union, 1984. It's the greatest Soviet export since Ivan Draga. The Tetris resurgence is part of the broader trend, Jack and I have noticed, of vintage tech. Yahoo.com email addresses are hot again. iPods are making a comeback. And now you're playing Tetris all day instead of swiping on TikTok. So, Yetis...
If you think you need to visit the spa this weekend for some R&R... Instead, try playing a little bit of Tetris. It's a massage for your mind. Oh, my God, Jack. Uh-oh, uh-oh. L-shape coming. L-shape. Oh, turn, turn, turn. Game over, Nick.
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Chapter 2: How is China's rare earth embargo affecting the US?
Don't ever take sides against the family. Ha!
Chapter 3: What historical events relate to China's trade tactics?
Chapter 4: What is the significance of the PG-13 economy?
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 hot new job trend right now, it's working for your parents. Millennials are joining the family business in record numbers with plans to take over when mom and dad retire. And we've got a term for it. We call them nepopreneurs. But Jack, why don't we kick things off with the hero stat? What are we looking at here?
The share of small businesses that employ a child of the owner has doubled since 2018. Let's sprinkle on a little more context, man. It's still a tiny proportion of all businesses, but the number of those cases where the owner's child is working for the company has doubled in seven years.
In fact, in just the last year, the number of in-house legacy hires, the politically correct term for working for your parents- Is up 13%. Not too shabby, man. Basically, parents have gone from telling their kids, you can be anything you want to be when you grow up. Astronaut! To telling their kids, you should work for the family business. HVAC specialist!
Now, some kids are working for their dad's boring business. Yeah, they're doing plumbing, they're doing farming, they're working the laundromats. That's what they're doing. Others are working for their mom's white-collar business. Consulting, hedge funds, cybersecurity, all that good stuff. Saxon from the White Lotus? Yeah. He is one data point of this bigger trend.
Nepo workers hoping to become Nepo owners. So, Yetis, this is what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. Basically, we're witnessing the godfatherification of America. Everyone's joining the family business, if they can.
Don't ever take sides against the family. Ha!
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the US's reliance on rare earth metals?
Chapter 7: What lessons can be learned from Japan's past trade disputes with China?
Don't call in sick because your mom knows exactly what you're doing, Jack.
So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone joining the family business? The first great wealth transfer will be businesses. Prepare for Nepopreneurs. Now, yetis, we have told you about the silver tsunami before. Basically, the economic impact of retiring baby boomers. Boomers hold a tremendous amount of real estate, stocks, and other assets.
And they're transferring that wealth to their heirs right now. But the overlooked part of that great wealth transfer is the business inheritance. And from a mom and a dad's perspective, they don't want the business they spent decades building to be shut down when they retire. They're looking for an heir. Best case succession scenario?
Well, they hand over that business to little Johnny or tiny Tina. We call the recipient of these inherited businesses, nepopreneurs. The first thing zillennials will inherit from boomers before real estate stocks or other assets will be entire businesses. Yeah, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday?
Twinkies has deployed a fleet of 420 munchie mobiles to market to marijuana users. They're turning 420 into their Super Bowl marketing day because America has become a PG-13 economy. For our second story, China has a monopoly on rare earth metals and they've stopped shipping them to the United States.
America is using a trade war bazooka, but China is using an acupuncture needle right on our pressure point. And our third and final story. The hot new job trend is working for your parents in the family business. The first great wealth transfer will be businesses. Prepare for the age of the neopreneur. I think neopreneur is going to be like a dating show on Netflix. Hey, come on down.
And what kind of business do you own? But yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Lyft finally expanded to Europe. I didn't even know they hadn't done it yet, Jack. They just acquired this app called FreeNow, which is a ride hail app in Europe for $200 million.
FreeNow is actually jointly owned by BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but now it's owned by Lyft, the ride hail company. Now for the record, Uber launched in the United Kingdom in 2012. So Lyft's European expansion is 13 years behind Are they doing food delivery? No, they're not doing food delivery. Still, Lyft turned profitable last year for the first time ever. Yes. Making progress.
Jack owns the stock, which is still worth one Lyft, by the way. And second, Doge admitted that actual savings from their government-cutting policies will top out at $150 billion. How's that compared to what Elon has said? Well, he said on the campaign trail he would cut at least $2 trillion in government spending. So 150 billion is 8% of that.
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