Ryan Reynold’s Mint Mobile Acquired For $1.35B, Chat GPT-4, & More Tech News (#433)
GPT-4, Mint Mobile, iPhone, and Emergency Preparedness - March 17, 2023 (about 2 years ago) • 16:00
Transcript:
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Ben Wilson | Alright, welcome to our Friday episode of *Boys React*. We have a guest host filling in, Nick. How are you doing?
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Nick Huber | ben thanks for having me I'm doing great | |
Sam Parr | it's the nick huber show today | |
Ben Wilson | yeah yeah exactly | |
Sam Parr | thanks for having me on | |
Ben Wilson | Alright, let's go through some news items and do some rapid reactions.
First of all, the big news everyone is talking about on Twitter is **ChatGPT-4**. It's the newest version of the AI. It's programming simple video games, doing Pong on its own, and even convincing TaskRabbit workers to complete CAPTCHA for it.
So, fellows, what are your thoughts on the new ChatGPT?
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Sam Parr | have you used it nick I haven't used it | |
Nick Huber | I think these people need to go outside and touch some grass | |
Sam Parr | you're not a fan | |
Nick Huber | no I think it's all a joke | |
Sam Parr | Dude, you are so gonna get left behind. I don't use it, but I know that it's gonna change everything. Darmesh from HubSpot created this thing called ChatSpot. Basically, you can do a bunch of stuff, but you can talk to HubSpot and tell it what to do.
You can communicate with it like a human. You know, HubSpot's really complex; it does a little bit of everything. You could just use normal words and say, "Make my website look like this," or "Email these types of people who are on my list." I think that's a really good example.
You know what the best iteration of AI right now is? If you watch Monday Night Football, you know how they put the one line or the, you know, what do they call it? I don't know football... first down! You know, the yellow strip on the field? That's AI. Or, you know how when you back up in your car and you see a 360 view of everything around you? That's AI too.
So my theory is, if you have to say, "This is AI," and the product is good because of that, that's a horrible way to go about it. But if it just freaking works all the time, that's a great way to know the product is gonna be good.
So anytime something says "AI" or "Web 3" and they explain it that way, I go, "I'm out." But I'm convinced they're gonna figure out another way to do this. Did you laugh because I didn't know anything about the NFL?
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Nick Huber | No, I think that was a great explanation. I don't want to... I'll preface this by saying I think these people are brilliant, and this will be a tool that makes people more productive, absolutely.
Now, let me tell you that 99% of humans, Americans, and everybody else gives two shits about AI. They're worried about enough money coming into their bank account on Friday to pay rent on Monday. They're concerned about whether their house is maintained and if they have food to put in their kids' bellies.
It's absurd! Literally, we have a whole physical world. There's grass that needs mowed; it grows! Can you believe we plant this green stuff around our houses that every week we have to go outside and cut it by hand with a lawnmower? We have to go outside and do that. We have to wash our houses, clean our floors, install carpet, and repair windows. We have a physical world that's crumbling around the United States, and nobody cares about AI. | |
Sam Parr | Dude, you need to get out of Georgia, man. You need to hang out with the real people in San Francisco and New York so you actually know how real people live.
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Nick Huber | sam you didn't have me here to agree with you | |
Sam Parr | alright ben let's do mint | |
Ben Wilson | Okay, let's do Mint. We talked about it a little bit last episode, but T-Mobile is set to acquire Ryan Reynolds' Mint Mobile. He owns 20 to 25% for $1,350,000,000. Guys, thoughts on this?
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Sam Parr | What's 25% of $30,300,000,000?
Yeah, mhmm. Holy crap, more so!
And then, how much did he sell? What's his gin called? Or whiskey, or whatever the hell it was? Avi... Avi-on or something? He sold that for $100,000,000 recently.
So this guy is killing it! That's awesome. I mean, 25% seems like a lot of equity to give to him, right?
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Nick Huber | I think it's crazy. I mean, I think this is exciting to me, and it should be exciting to you, Sam, too. Because it's an example of somebody with clout, somebody with a personal brand, somebody who everybody likes and loves, which is the definition of Sam Parr.
They've been able to capitalize on that to an insane degree, and I'm excited about what it means for people with distribution. Meaning, if you have ears and you have eyes, and people care what you have to say, you can get involved in products and you can grow massive companies. Sam's doing it, and I'm excited about doing it. It's just the beginning.
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Sam Parr | How much more famous is Ryan Reynolds than both of us? Is he a hundred times more famous?
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Nick Huber | of course | |
Sam Parr | you make more more more than a 100 times | |
Nick Huber | So, what's 100 divided by... what's his exit divided by 100? And how much money is that?
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Sam Parr | Is that $2,000,000 still? If it's $20, that would be a lot cooler. But yeah, I think it's cool. I like him; he's very likable. He's significantly more likable than both you and I combined. I think I'm a lot more likable than you, and he's a lot, a lot, a lot more likable than me. So, I'm a lot more.
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Nick Huber | better looking than you and he's a lot more better looking than me | |
Sam Parr | I think it's awesome! I like Ryan Reynolds, so kudos to him.
I've been asking him to come on this podcast for a while. I want to know, does he actually do anything? You know, like what does he actually do? What's his day like? I'm very curious. Yeah, I'm very curious about that.
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Nick Huber | Do you think his day is like Sam? I bet he's waking up and taking a 20-minute meeting where somebody tells him "yes" the whole time, that all of his ideas are amazing. Then they're going back and running the company without him.
Or is he super involved? Is he getting involved with management? Is he making marketing decisions? No, I want to know how operationally embedded he is in this company.
What would your guess be, Sam? How many direct reports does he have at the company?
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Sam Parr | Well, I think he has... I think he probably has a chief of staff who manages his whole life.
But, I don't know much about Mint Mobile. If I had to guess, I would say it's mostly a sales company. Meaning, they probably just layered on top of an existing telecom and then had a slightly different pricing structure. They targeted their marketing towards a certain type of person.
I think Mint Mobile is more like a... I think it's like a working-class thing because it's all about price. So, I think it's like a really, really, really low price.
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Nick Huber | Here's a question for you, Sam. Do you think a serious operator, entrepreneur, or executive is in the background overseeing all of Ryan's holdings, or do you think that he is that entrepreneur? I think he's the guy, man. I think he might be the guy. I think he might be a leader in these companies. | |
Sam Parr | So, here's Mitt's thing. I said they're a sales and marketing organization because their commercials are wonderful. I think they're wonderful because he says a lot of funny stuff in the commercials, and he just does a really good job of branding the company.
I think they knocked it out of the park with that. They did a really good job of being irreverent but still professional. I think that is what he does—he knows where the line is, how far they can push it, and what crosses the line.
I think that's what he does, which I believe is easily worth the 25%. If I had to guess, it's mostly a sales and marketing company, and he crushed it.
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Nick Huber | So, this is a person that found an influencer with distribution. They knew they could build a company, so they got him involved and put together the ultimate system. I love that business model. | |
Sam Parr | I think it's awesome good job to ryan reynolds let's do 2 more let's do the original iphone | |
Ben Wilson | Yeah, let's do this one quick. A woman in 2007 buys an original iPhone right when it comes out. She keeps it in the box and doesn't touch it for 15 years. Now, she is selling it and just sold it at an auction for $63,000. What are your thoughts on that?
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Sam Parr | Awesome! You want to know what I collect? This is weird, but my wife, Sarah, worked at Facebook and now she works at Airbnb. These are pretty culturally important companies. In a hundred years, we might look back and think of them like Ford or GE.
So, whenever she gets gifts from Airbnb, they brand it with Airbnb. I tell her not to open any of them, and I collect all of them. I have an unopened Oculus, I have Airbnb swag that's still in the gift box, and I have a Facebook book bag that's unused. I collect all of this stuff. I love it! I love collecting this iconic company merchandise.
What I really want to get is a Silicon Valley Bank shirt or a Silicon Valley Bank hoodie. Or what's the name? Sam Bankman-Fried? Yeah, FTX! I want to get one of those. I would kill for a Theranos blood testing device. I collect all that stuff.
When Twitter was auctioning off a lot of their office equipment, I tried to buy a bunch of it, but it all went above what I was willing to pay. Now, what I really want to get is an old Apple Macintosh monitor that has the Apple logo with the rainbow colors. Or I want to get the desktop Mac that had those pastel colors, like the blues and the pinks. I want one of those just to hang on my shelf. I love that stuff! This is awesome! I'm happy someone did this. | |
Nick Huber | I fully support collecting and storing totally worthless stuff. I think that everybody should buy a ton of totally worthless items and put them in storage units right now. Just put it all in a storage unit. You can use a company called **Bolt Storage** to do that.
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Sam Parr | just leave it forever | |
Nick Huber | I think you should just keep it for all time. But no, in reality, we bought a... I got a funny story. We bought a property at auction. It had 187 units and it was in Erie, Pennsylvania.
We went and every unit had been abandoned. We had to go through and saw off the locks to open them up. There was dust and there was craziness.
Oh, that's really cool! We found a ton of really cool things. One unit had like 60 bags of white powder. We immediately called the police. We never found out if it was drugs or not. Another one had a squirrel holding a baseball bat. Another one had...
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Sam Parr | an old | |
Nick Huber | old indian motorcycle | |
Sam Parr | oh what type do you know what year | |
Nick Huber | I got a picture I'll show you the picture when we get off this call | |
Sam Parr | what did you sell it for | |
Nick Huber | It auctioned. I have no idea. We technically couldn't touch anything in the units. We had to take pictures of them and have an online auction. The people bid on them, and then they came and cleared out the units.
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Sam Parr | do you know how old it looked did it look like there's some 30s | |
Nick Huber | No, no, not that old. It was probably like... not that old of a pretty dumpy one, if I had to guess.
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Sam Parr | Oh dude, some of those old Indian motorcycles you can get for $50,000, $60,000, or even $70,000. Well, that's awesome! That's badass. That's a lot of fun, actually, to go and see all that stuff.
But anyway, I'm on board with this lady who bought it. Ben, did we know just some nerd, some fan?
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Ben Wilson | I don't think we know I don't think we know | |
Sam Parr | Dude, I remember when that came out in 2007. I was a sophomore in high school, and someone was watching YouTube on their phone. We were all standing around it, and it was like hearing The Beatles for the first time, you know? It was pretty amazing. It was mind-blowing seeing that. So, that's awesome. Alright, let's do one more.
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Ben Wilson | Alright, last one. The reason that Sean is not with us here today is that a massive wind and rainstorm has left more than 200,000 people in the San Francisco Bay Area without power.
Fellas, any thoughts and prayers for our comrades, for the working-class people of the Bay Area? Any thoughts for those people?
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Sam Parr | did that really happen I didn't know why he he didn't have power I mean that stinks | |
Nick Huber | I think every responsible... this is gonna sound very radical... I think every responsible man should have provisions to keep their family alive for two weeks with no power and no internet.
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Sam Parr | what do you have | |
Nick Huber | Now, I'm not a doomsday person who thinks they need to survive a zombie apocalypse and build a bunker to live for six months. But I think if you have a generator, some fuel, some ready-to-eat packages, and a way...
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Sam Parr | to get clean water and a like hungry man tv dinners | |
Nick Huber | Yeah, of course, it's a way to defend your house. If people come for that stuff, you're going to be better off. Every man should have that set up, in my opinion. It's like a very small investment, and it goes a very long way if shit ever did hit the fan. Imagine being a wealthy person. | |
Sam Parr | what do you have | |
Nick Huber | Sam, could you keep your family alive for two weeks if everything—your phone, internet, power—was cut off? Everything is gone. What would you do? When are you going to go to the grocery store?
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Sam Parr | No, dude, I am a mini... I'm not quite a prepper, but I am prepared. We have... yeah, I have that because when the Austin snowstorms happened, and then COVID happened, and then when a lot of the riots were happening, I definitely got fearful. That's one of the reasons why I bought my ranch. We have stuff out there where we can bug out to, so I'm on board with that. I don't think I'm ever going to have to use it, but...
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Nick Huber | I agree | |
Sam Parr | it's a very small price to pay for insurance what do you do with the gas do you replace it every 6 months | |
Nick Huber | No, you put it in... There are these things the military uses, and you put stabilizer in there. You can keep the gas safe for 5 to 10 years. You can order them right on Amazon for $90.
You fill it up with 5 gallons of gas; that's all you need. Then you've got a good generator. You can keep your food cold and your kids warm if it gets really cold.
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Sam Parr | what type of food do you have | |
Nick Huber | You order some. I think **Peak** is the brand. P-E-A-K. It's like a little freeze-dried food that will last 20 years, and you keep it in a little package.
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Sam Parr | In January, when COVID happened, I had this Chinese intern working for me. He had family in China and was a foreign exchange student. He was awesome, and he was on the app they use, WeChat. He said, "Sam, this COVID thing is a huge deal. It's going to come to America."
I was like, "Hon, this is America, dude. We don't wear masks. We don't have these types of things that Asia has. This doesn't happen here." I thought he was crazy.
The next month, he said, "Dude, it's coming. It's going to be here." Then March happened, and we saw in the news the first case in Seattle and eventually the Bay Area. I was like, "Hung, you're right. I'm wrong. I am so sorry."
I went immediately to the grocery store and bought as much as I could. I remember I had storage. I was like, "You're right. Now I understand why people are afraid of this stuff and why the preppers exist. You're totally right."
Ever since then, my opinion has changed on a lot of this stuff. Maybe it's a man thing when you get a little bit older and start having a family. I'm not sure what it is, but COVID definitely opened my eyes to the idea that it's nice to prepare for just the worst-case scenario. I know a lot of guys who go way overboard and have two years' worth of supplies. I'm not good at that.
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Nick Huber | **Slippery slope.** That's the thing about prepping; it's a very slippery slope, and you gotta have the discipline.
"Hey, I don't need more than two weeks' worth of supplies to keep my family alive."
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Sam Parr | But you want to know the other issue? It's really, really fun! All the gadgets, like the different flashlights and the different generators. I just love gadgets, so I buy this stuff all the time.
I just bought Sarah this thing that will break your glass if your car goes underwater. She's like, "When am I ever gonna use this?" I'm like, "Probably never, but it's sick!" It was only $12 on Amazon. I love all that crap; I'm into it all.
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Nick Huber | The best way to save a life is to put a tourniquet in your glove box. Everybody should have a tourniquet because a motorcyclist, or a cyclist, gets hit on the road.
95% of the time, you could save their life by being able to stop the bleeding, but a lot of people can't. So, put a tourniquet in your car.
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Sam Parr | Dude, you saw the other day how I held that T-shirt up to that guy's head. I saw a guy fall, and I gave him my shirt. We stopped the bleeding.
Yesterday at the meetup, a guy who worked in the military said, "Hey, I got this for you," and he gave me a tourniquet. He said, "Next time this happens, here's how you use it." I was like, "Alright." So now I have a tourniquet in my car. I'm on board.
That's the news, is that it, Ben?
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Ben Wilson | that's it thanks guys thanks for having me boys |