Today's CNN 10 Transcript

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COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What's up, sunshine? Rise up. Welcome to the show. I'm Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, your 10 minutes of news, the fast, fun facts, and knowledge bombs to fuel your minds and keep us in the loop.

Pop quiz, hot shot.

What food is traditionally associated with celebrating the Lunar New Year?

Noodles, grapes, dumplings, or cheese?

If you said dumplings, you gyoza girl. Dumplings symbolize wealth because their crescent shape mimics ancient Chinese currency, with the belief that the more dumplings you eat, the more prosperity you will receive.

I love everything about this next story. Actually, not everything, because it makes me very hungry. CNN's Will Ripley takes us inside Din Tai Fung, an unbelievable Taiwanese restaurant brand that wraps precision and passion into each unforgettable bite. Known for perfectly pleated Xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, Din Tai Fung has turned high standards and consistency into a recipe for global success.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: How long did it take you to learn how to do it perfectly when you started at age 16?

WARREN YANG, CHAIRMAN, DIN TAI FUNG (through translator): It takes about two to three years to master the entire process.

RIPLEY: Two to three years, oh.

YANG: Yes.

RIPLEY: So, it's OK. It's OK that I'm terrible.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Din Tai Fung chairman Warren Yang can fold a perfect Xiao long bao in seconds.

RIPLEY: Oh, wow. How did you do it? Like, how did you make it look like that? I've got pork poking out here.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Each dumpling has 18 precise pleats, weighing exactly 21 grams. Inside, finely minced pork, tender, lightly seasoned, it melts into hot, savory soup the moment you take a bite.

RIPLEY: What do you hope that people learn about Taiwan when they come to Din Tai Fung?

YANG: That the people of Taiwan are warm and friendly.

RIPLEY (voice-over): At Din Tai Fung, the perfect soup dumpling comes from respect for the food, the customers, and the employees, making magic happen with every bite.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: If I told you a giant hat and sweaty armpits could lead to a shark tank success, would you believe me? Two of my former teammates from small-town Pennsylvania did exactly that. Billy Thompson created the Thompson T, a sweat-proof shirt inspired by a challenge he dealt with his entire life.

It led to a $700,000 investment on Shark Tank and has been saving people the embarrassment of pitting out ever since. Sean Starner co-founded NOGGIN Boss, a company built around an oversized hat that's become a fan favorite across the sports world. It's led to licensing deals with some of the biggest sports entities on the planet.

Their stories prove that sometimes the biggest opportunities start with problems hiding in plain sight. I caught up with Billy and Sean to hear how they turned their ideas into reality.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Take me back to the moment that this idea hit you.

SEAN STARNER, CO-FOUNDER, NOGGIN BOSS: It was an idea of being disruptive. The hat industry and the promotional industry hasn't changed in decades, so we wanted to come out with something new and innovative that allowed you to promote all the things that you love, whether it's a sports team or a corporation or a charity or just something that you're passionate about.

BILLY THOMPSON, FOUNDER, THOMPSON TEE: Necessity was the mother of invention here and so this was a problem that I dealt with and you know obviously when you go through something like this you think you're the only one right but I knew because we were wearing undershirts at the time for this problem and I knew like gosh if there was just a way that you could prevent it from passing through the undershirt you might have something.

WIRE: How many people told you this will never work?

STARNER: I lost count to be honest with you. Even my closest friends, even family members and I love that about them because that means that they care right it's hey Sean are you sure that you want to do this but I'm the type of person that allows the product and the data to show that we have something here. I allow the product to kind of speak for itself.

YANG: Thankfully I'm surrounded by enough good people where I don't think I don't recall anyone necessarily telling me straight up that it wasn't going to work but here's the thing you can see the doubt in their face, right, when you explain the idea they're being polite and you can see the doubt. And for that reason I actually didn't tell very many people I was going to take it right to bankruptcy if I had to because that's -- that's where I was headed right during startup phases. I was burning through cash, burning through our savings, burning through all of it so it had to work.

WIRE: What's something people don't see about entrepreneurship?

STARNER: I'm married, we have three children and you know with that kind of responsibility not just for your family but whenever you start a business you have employees to take care of and those employees have families and lives and -- and they depend on you. So, what -- what people don't see is just the restless sleepless nights because you just have -- you have -- you have a lot of responsibility it's just not you're focusing on yourself.

YANG: Ultimately it's the struggle, you know, it's easy to see the success stories because that's what makes the news but you know that's why it's news because it's -- it's the exception although it looks like the norm because that's what you're reading about it's truly the exceptions.

WIRE: And now walk us through what was the mission, what was the issue that you saw and figured out a way to go and tackle it?

YANG: The issue is -- is sweaty armpits everybody knows about sweaty armpits and they know people who probably have sweaty armpits and it is a little embarrassing, right, but at the end of the day because I have such an intimate understanding of this problem I knew -- I knew how strong that motivation was for someone to find a solution and to be able to conceal it.

And our mission was that I knew I had to reach, you know, people out there who were dealing with this problem because at that time there was no -- and there really isn't still a viable solution out there for people who are dealing with this problem. And especially the -- the kids, right? Because they're stuck in school all day long. I know what it's like. I've been there. So, they were really at the heart of my mission when I started this thing.

WIRE: Now, we didn't grow up in some big city, right? We kind of grew up with that small town feel do you feel like that helped shape you into the entrepreneur that you are today?

STARNER: Without a doubt it had instrumental role in me because from a very early age you didn't get to where you're at on your own it came on the backs of a lot of people that are willing to put in time with you whether it's mentorship, energy, money, getting behind you. I really don't like the word failure because along the lines you're right there's no straight path there's -- there's obstacles that get in the way rather than just focusing on the mistake or a failure if we want to call it a failure you get stuck you get stuck and being an entrepreneur you always have to be moving forward and learning and putting those things behind you.

YANG: You're going to make more mistakes and you're going to fail more times than you succeed right you just got to make sure your successes are big enough to cover all those failures and in hindsight the failures had they would have had they been successful and happened we could look back whether it be months to a few years down the road and we realize if those things did happen our business wouldn't be in existence or even my personal life would have been altered dramatically.

WIRE: Let's finish this off with some rapid-fire fun. Are you ready for this?

YANG: Yeah, yeah, let's do it.

WIRE: All right one word that describes entrepreneurship.

YANG: Challenging.

STARNER: Blessing. It's a blessing.

WIRE: Coffee or energy drinks?

YANG: Coffee for sure.

STARNER: Neither. Water.

WIRE: One thing you wish your high school self-understood earlier?

STARNER: Seek wisdom, trust your parents they know what they're talking about they have lived the life that we are currently living right now.

WIRE: Worst advice you ever received?

YANG: You know what I've already disposed of it I can't even remember what it was thankfully, so I don't have that.

WIRE: Awesome best advice you ever received?

YANG: This is advice for any for any of the any of the high schoolers out there, is that whatever you put your time and energy into you will get results.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: Today's story getting a 10 out of 10. Beach trips in the dog days of summer sometimes bring rough waters in the ocean but some four-legged heroes are making waves and saving lives especially this pup known for its fancy haircuts and dog show skills recently joining a team of lifeguards in Spain. Now, beach rescue squads usually include Labradors and Newfoundlands but Nilo the poodle felt he was up for the task at Las Lindas beach near Malaga. His handler says he was scared of crowds and loud noises at first so he had to be trained step by step not just to stay calm but also how to swim horizontally using his tail like a rudder.

When it's time to utilize the furry lifesavers the handler actually enters the water first to reach the swimmer in distress and then calls the dogs in to help tow people back to shore.

Now poodles are known for super intelligence and ability to learn and they were historically used for water rescue and retrieval during hunting trips in northern Europe. Their fur actually protects them from the cold water but they do need their handler to lather the sunscreen on their nose.

A German breed of dog the name poodle comes from the German verb pudelin which means to splash so ultimately maybe Nilo was positively destined for the life of a lifeguard.

All right sunshine got some shout outs now this first one goes to Mr. Duttenheffer at Hazen Middle School in Hazen, North Dakota. Thank you for following us on the Instagram love seeing all your messages and this shout out goes to our friends on our CNN 10 YouTube channel all the way from Kenya Miss Njeri at West Nairobi School in Kenya. Thank you for making us a part of your day and including us in your classroom.

We hope you all have an awesome day and we'll see you right back here tomorrow shall we.

I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.

CNN 10's Weekly News Quiz

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