Teenagers Launch Gen Z Newsletter That Attracts Wall Street and Tech Insiders

Two 17-year-olds have built a market-focused newsletter called Passing the Torch, now serving almost 60,000 subscribers, many of whom work at major finance and tech firms.

Jasper Gould and Emile Chilingirian, both 17, founded the newsletter Passing the Torch in 2025 while sophomores at the Berkeley Carroll prep school in Park Slope. Their Substack-based publication, which blends market analysis with cultural commentary, now boasts a subscriber list close to 60,000, with more than two-thirds registering via corporate email domains from firms like McKinsey, JP Morgan, Blackstone, Nvidia, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Palantir and Microsoft.

The newsletter costs $15 per month or $150 per year, yielding five-figure annual earnings for the teenagers. In parallel, they lead the Brooklyn Youth Charitable Investment Group, a nonprofit that has engaged about 1,000 students, hosted talks with senior economists and finance executives, and runs a $50,000 investment fund that has outperformed the market on several positions. Their work has attracted praise from readers such as former eBay executive Sam Shaffer and even influences a tech-industry veteran, Nick Gould, who credits the newsletter for growth in his own publication. With senior year and college applications approaching, Gould and Chilingirian are planning succession for both the newsletter and the nonprofit, acknowledging they are not yet ready to launch a hedge fund.