Sources

Every fact in Obsolete links to a public source. Here are all 228 of them, story by story.

The Big Story

The Lottery With a Leaderboard: Inside the Memecoin Generation

  1. Kimchi X account hacked? Project Kimchi token crash, Bitcoin.com News, October 23, 2026
  2. Kimchi token sheds 98% in 30-minute run to $15M, Cryptopolitan, October 24, 2026
  3. Just 0.4% of Pump.fun Traders Have Made More Than $10,000 on Solana Meme Coins, Decrypt, January 10, 2025
  4. Pump.fun Traders Are Making a Comeback, CoinGecko Research, May 7, 2026
  5. The Memecoin Phenomenon: An In-Depth Study of Solana's Blockchain Trends, arXiv (Davide Mancino), December 4, 2025
  6. Chainalysis expands Solana coverage to include Pump.fun memecoins, The Block, December 12, 2024
  7. Top Pump.fun trader's profits near $40 million as Solana memecoin volumes shrink, The Block, March 6, 2025
  8. Gen Z quant rug pull reveals the dark side of memecoins, DL News, November 20, 2024
  9. Solana, Pump.fun Named in Amended RICO Suit Alleging $5.5B Meme Coin Gambling Scheme, Decrypt, July 24, 2025
  10. Pump.fun lawsuit: amended class action calls platform a slot machine, Cointelegraph, July 24, 2025
  11. Solana Labs Dismissed From Pump.fun Case, Coin Alert News, September 1, 2026
  12. Gen Z Is Taking More Financial Risks Through Meme Stocks and Crypto, YPulse, June 22, 2026

The Big Story

The Teenage App Boom, and the Arithmetic Underneath It

  1. Photo calorie app Cal AI, downloaded over a million times, was built by two teenagers, TechCrunch, March 16, 2025
  2. This Ivy League reject taught himself to code at 7, built a $30m app by 18 and is treating college like a $100k vacation, Fortune, September 27, 2025
  3. MyFitnessPal has acquired Cal AI, the viral calorie app built by teens, TechCrunch, March 2, 2026
  4. The App Store Just Logged Its Biggest Release Year in Nearly a Decade, Appfigures, December 5, 2025
  5. Vibe coding is flooding Apple's App Store, and Apple is fighting back, The Next Web, April 5, 2026
  6. App Store Small Business Program, Apple Developer, October 27, 2026
  7. Apple announces App Store Small Business Program, Apple Newsroom, November 18, 2020
  8. The State of Subscription Apps 2025: The year AI ate everything, RevenueCat, March 14, 2025
  9. AI-powered apps struggle with long-term retention, new report shows, TechCrunch, March 10, 2026
  10. Viral Quittr porn addiction app exposed the masturbation habits of hundreds of thousands of users, 404 Media, March 10, 2026
  11. Teenagers are the new face of AI startups while still in school, VnExpress International, January 2, 2026

Markets

The Trader Who Became a Celebrity, and Then a Suspect, in Two Days

  1. Trader Kimchi Goes From Pump.fun Star to Rug Pull Suspect in 48 Hours, Bitcoin.com News, October 23, 2026
  2. Pump Fun's Kimchi partnership has turned into chaos, Protos, October 23, 2026
  3. Pump Fun offers $2.5M prize as traders boycott its missing airdrop, Protos, October 26, 2026

The Big Story

The Audience Is the Ad Budget, Until It Isn't

  1. YouTube's biggest star MrBeast makes more money from chocolate than videos, Fortune (Bloomberg), March 11, 2025
  2. MrBeast's investor pitch deck shows why he's shifting his focus to Beast Industries, Tubefilter, March 11, 2025
  3. The rise and fall of Logan Paul's Prime energy drink, which once resold for $1,500 a can, Fortune, April 27, 2024
  4. After 42% year-over-year sales decline, is PRIME out of its prime?, Tubefilter, July 22, 2025
  5. How Once-Hot Prime Hydration Flatlined, The Robin Report, July 30, 2025
  6. Internal Documents Don't Paint A Rosy Picture Of Chamberlain Coffee, Sprudge, March 21, 2025
  7. Alix Earle's Reale Actives brand launch and skincare strategy, Fortune, March 25, 2026
  8. Influencer-Founded Fashion And Beauty Brands Make Business Pivot As Category Sees Revival, Net Influencer (citing Business of Fashion), April 8, 2025
  9. Five common mistakes of CPG startups, Collaborative Fund, February 6, 2017

Builders

The Calorie Counter Built in a Hacker House

  1. Photo calorie app Cal AI, downloaded over a million times, was built by two teenagers, TechCrunch, March 16, 2025
  2. Teen with 4.0 GPA who built the viral Cal AI app was rejected by 15 top universities, TechCrunch, April 3, 2025
  3. Gen Z founder treats college like a vacation after building a $30 million app by 18, Fortune, September 27, 2025
  4. Cal AI's Zach Yadegari joins the Disrupt 2026 lineup, TechCrunch, September 24, 2026
  5. I'm 18 and cofounded a multimillion-dollar app (as told to Agnes Applegate), Business Insider, via AOL, October 20, 2025

Markets

The Dollar That Pays You to Be Short

  1. Most Influential: Guy Young, CoinDesk, December 16, 2025
  2. Ethena's USDe Briefly Loses Peg During $19B Crypto Liquidation Cascade, CoinDesk, October 11, 2025
  3. No, Ethena's USDe Didn't De-peg During Friday's Crash, CoinDesk, October 13, 2025
  4. Recent Bitcoin Crash Has Put $1B in sUSDe Loop Trades at Risk, Research Firm Says, CoinDesk, October 29, 2025
  5. Anchorage Digital Aims to Pay 'Rewards' on Ethena's Tokens Under GENIUS Act, CoinDesk, November 25, 2025
  6. Funding Risk (Ethena documentation), Ethena Labs, October 27, 2026

Creators

Prime Was Worth Reselling at $1,500 a Can. Then the Buzz Went.

  1. The meteoric rise and stunning fall of Prime, Logan Paul's energy drink that was once resold for almost $1,500 a can, Fortune, April 27, 2024
  2. Logan Paul's Prime Sports Drink Sued by Bottler for $68 Million, Bloomberg Law, August 5, 2024
  3. Prime sees sales fall by almost 50% in 2024, Marketing Week, December 14, 2024
  4. Prime profits fall by over 90% as sales continue to plummet, Marketing Week, June 24, 2025
  5. Logan Paul, KSI's Prime Hydration faces lawsuit over the 'harmful chemicals' in its bottles, Tubefilter, May 10, 2024
  6. U.S. Olympic Committee hits Logan Paul's drink brand with trademark infringement suit, NBC News, July 21, 2024
  7. Prime energy drink sold by KSI and Logan Paul banned from Australian schools, ABC News (Australia), March 29, 2023
  8. KSI, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026

Annals of Ambition

The Dropout Premium, Revisited

  1. Gen Z and millennial founders dropped out of college, took $200,000 from Peter Thiel, and built companies worth over $100 billion, Fortune, August 16, 2025
  2. Five years later, is Thiel's college dropout fellowship a success?, Higher Ed Dive, February 10, 2015
  3. Permission to Think For Yourself: Inside the Thiel Fellowship's Early Years, First Round Review, October 14, 2026
  4. What Happened After Peter Thiel Paid 271 Students to Drop Out of College? (summary of Wall Street Journal report), Slashdot, February 24, 2024
  5. Thiel's Unicorn Success Is Awkward for Colleges (Bloomberg Opinion, abstract), Bloomberg, via stafforini.com, October 19, 2023
  6. 'College dropout' has become the most coveted startup founder credential, TechCrunch, December 31, 2025
  7. Y Combinator launches Early Decision for students who want to graduate first, build later, TechCrunch, September 24, 2025
  8. Founders are dropping out of college to chase the AI boom, The San Francisco Standard, February 13, 2025
  9. Founder Backgrounds and Startup Funding: Evidence from Y Combinator, arXiv (Rommin Adl), December 15, 2025
  10. Age and High-Growth Entrepreneurship (NBER Working Paper 24489), National Bureau of Economic Research, April 1, 2018
  11. Steve Jobs or No Jobs? Entrepreneurial activity and performance among Danish college dropouts and graduates, Small Business Economics (via RePEc), January 1, 2017
  12. What does it really take to be a unicorn founder, Fortune, May 7, 2021
  13. A new book aims to blow up assumptions about the best founding teams, TechCrunch, May 18, 2021

Annals of Education

The Degree Still Pays. The First Job Is the Problem.

  1. Labor Market for Recent College Graduates, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, August 1, 2026
  2. Remote Work Leaves Younger Workers Sidelined, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, Liberty Street Economics, June 1, 2026
  3. Many recent grads say AI is making it harder to get a job. Economists aren't so sure, NPR (republished by OPB), August 18, 2026
  4. Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence, Stanford Digital Economy Lab, August 12, 2026
  5. ROI of U.S. Colleges and Universities (ROI 2025), Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, February 26, 2025
  6. What types of colleges offer the best ROI?, Higher Ed Dive, March 25, 2025
  7. Is College Worth It?, Pew Research Center, May 23, 2024
  8. Education pays (unemployment rates and earnings by educational attainment, 2025), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 1, 2026
  9. Clearinghouse Enrollment Insights: Final Fall Enrollment Trends, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, January 15, 2026
  10. Some College, No Credential, National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, June 4, 2025
  11. US Trade School Enrollment Hits 871,000 as Vocational Education Outpaces University Growth, IBTimes UK, August 23, 2026

Builders

The Engineer LinkedIn Would Not Let In

  1. California child prodigy accepts software engineering job at SpaceX, CBS News, June 12, 2023
  2. 14-year-old Bangladeshi-American boy joins SpaceX as youngest employee, The Daily Star, June 11, 2023
  3. Teen prodigy Kairan Quazi is ditching SpaceX for billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel Securities, Fortune, August 19, 2025
  4. Bangladeshi-American Kairan Quazi's meteoric journey: The unstoppable rise from Space X to Wall Street, Gulf News, August 21, 2025

Creators

Charli D'Amelio Rented Out Her Audience. Then She Tried to Own One.

  1. Charli D'Amelio's Dunkin' Donuts Drink Reportedly Boosted Sales and App Downloads, Tubefilter, September 23, 2020
  2. Charli D'Amelio, The Most Popular Teen TikToker, Is The First To Reach 100 Million Followers, BuzzFeed News, November 23, 2020
  3. Charli and Dixie D'Amelio launch gender-inclusive Hollister sub-brand Social Tourist, Tubefilter, May 19, 2021
  4. D'Amelio Brands Announces $5M Investment and Foray into the Food & Beverage Space, PR Newswire, August 17, 2023

Dropouts

The Break That Never Ended

  1. Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey: The only reason to skip college, CNBC Make It, November 30, 2018
  2. A Brief History Of Oculus, TechCrunch, March 26, 2014
  3. Embattled Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey leaves Facebook, TechCrunch, March 30, 2017
  4. Anduril, the border-wall startup founded by Palmer Luckey, valued at $1 billion in round including Andreessen Horowitz, CNBC, September 11, 2019

Annals of Markets

The Contract Is Open to Eighteen-Year-Olds. The Casino Is Not.

  1. Young adults under 21 traded $5 billion on Kalshi this year amid prediction market frenzy, CNN (via KEYT), August 28, 2026
  2. Federal Court Says States Can Regulate Prediction Market Sites, The Washington Sun, August 28, 2026
  3. US court rules against Kalshi, says states can regulate prediction markets, Al Jazeera, September 25, 2026
  4. New York sues Polymarket, alleging illegal gambling operation, FOX 5 NY, September 24, 2026
  5. CFTC sues New York over prediction market crackdown as 38 AGs back Massachusetts' Kalshi case, The Block, April 25, 2026
  6. Appellate court rules against New Jersey enforcement action on Kalshi, Cointelegraph, April 6, 2026
  7. NCAA 'vehemently opposes' Kalshi's plan for prediction markets on transfer portal, CBS Sports, December 18, 2025
  8. Polymarket Secures CFTC Approval for Regulated U.S. Return, CoinDesk (via Yahoo Finance), November 25, 2025
  9. Kalshi billionaire cofounders double their net worths with another funding round, Forbes Australia, May 12, 2026
  10. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan Is Youngest 'Self-Made Billionaire,' Bloomberg Says, Decrypt, October 8, 2025
  11. Shayne Coplan, Polymarket founder and youngest self-made billionaire, Fortune, October 11, 2025
  12. Prediction Market Accuracy in the Long Run, Iowa Electronic Markets, University of Iowa (Berg, Nelson and Rietz, International Journal of Forecasting), April 1, 2008

Founders

A Former Ballet Dancer and a Citadel Trader Built the Exchange That Everyone Is Fighting Over

  1. Luana Lopes Lara, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026
  2. Tarek Mansour, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026
  3. Kalshi, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026
  4. Kalshi raises $1B at $11B valuation, doubling value in under two months, TechCrunch, December 2, 2025
  5. Kalshi hits $5B valuation days after rival Polymarket gets $2B NYSE backing at $8B, TechCrunch, October 10, 2025
  6. Kalshi doubles valuation in 5 months, hitting $22B, TechCrunch, May 7, 2026

Creators

Emma Chamberlain Built a Coffee Brand. Then Came the Shelves.

  1. Emma Chamberlain's coffee company raises $7M more as YouTube creators push into commerce, TechCrunch, June 1, 2023
  2. Emma Chamberlain high-key regrets starting her coffee company, Sprudge, December 6, 2023
  3. Emma Chamberlain to open first standalone Chamberlain Coffee cafe in Venice, Santa Monica Daily Press, March 21, 2026
  4. Internal documents don't paint a rosy picture of Chamberlain Coffee, Sprudge, March 21, 2025
  5. Emma Chamberlain opens Chamberlain Coffee cafe on Abbot Kinney, Los Angeles magazine, May 7, 2026

Letter from San Francisco

Nine-Nine-Six, or the Price of the Window

  1. How San Francisco became the ultimate '996 City', The San Francisco Standard, September 16, 2025
  2. Some Silicon Valley AI startups are asking employees to adopt China's outlawed '996' work model, Fortune, August 1, 2025
  3. New trend: extreme hours at AI startups, The Pragmatic Engineer, August 14, 2025
  4. Why these companies insist on a 72-hour work week, The Boston Globe, October 20, 2025
  5. In SF's newest gold rush, startups are competing for mansions, The San Francisco Standard, March 17, 2026
  6. What is Cerebral Valley, San Francisco's nerdiest new neighborhood?, The San Francisco Standard, January 13, 2023
  7. San Francisco Rents Spike 22% in a Year, Far Outpacing Other US Cities, Insurance Journal, June 1, 2026
  8. AI startups lease luxury apartments and offer rent stipends in San Francisco, Fortune, October 18, 2025
  9. Long working hours increasing deaths from heart disease and stroke: WHO, ILO, World Health Organization, May 17, 2021
  10. China's Supreme People's Court declares 996 work schedule illegal, Fortune, August 27, 2021
  11. China's burned-out tech workers are fighting back against long hours, MIT Technology Review, November 15, 2021

Markets

The Exchange That Nobody Funded

  1. Hyperliquid documentation (full text), Hyperliquid, October 27, 2026
  2. Payward plans to offer U.S. clients onchain perpetual futures on Hyperliquid, CoinDesk, September 16, 2026
  3. North Korean hackers are moving tens of millions on Hyperliquid as Trump pushes to onshore the crypto platform, CoinDesk, August 31, 2026
  4. ICE CEO calls Hyperliquid 'bigger than Nasdaq,' says he's met its founders, CoinDesk, May 29, 2026
  5. XPL Futures on Hyperliquid See $130M Wiped Out Ahead of the Plasma Token's Launch, CoinDesk, August 27, 2025
  6. Hyperliquid's HYPE Hits Record High Above $50 on Trading Boom, Token Buybacks, CoinDesk, August 27, 2025
  7. Hyperliquid sees record $60M in USDC flee as North Korea said to be probing perpetuals exchange, CoinDesk, December 23, 2024
  8. Two Robinhood engineers charged with insider trading using Hyperliquid perpetuals, CoinDesk, September 16, 2026

Builders

Ten Lines of Code and a Reddit Bot

  1. Teenagers are the new face of AI startups while still in school, VnExpress International, January 2, 2026
  2. AI statt Vaters Einfluss: Jugendliche erzielen Millionen (AI Frontline), 36Kr, December 24, 2025
  3. Teen entrepreneurs harness AI to launch startups, Caliber.az, December 23, 2025
  4. Greystone Logistics, Inc. Shares Independent Analysis by BeyondSPX Research, GlobeNewswire, via FinancialContent, September 29, 2025
  5. About EveryTicker, EveryTicker (formerly BeyondSPX), September 29, 2026

Dropouts

She Reached MIT at Fourteen, Then Left to Fund the Fight Against Aging

  1. This 23-year-old just closed her second fund, which is focused on aging, with $22 million, TechCrunch, August 22, 2017
  2. Her bio reads like Silicon Valley fan fiction. At 23, she's investing millions in the quest to defy death, STAT, May 22, 2018
  3. Cradle emerges with $48m to build reversible cryonics technology, Longevity.Technology, June 6, 2024
  4. Cryopreservation startup lands $58m to 'pause biological time', Longevity.Technology, September 23, 2025
  5. Laura Deming, Wikipedia, January 1, 2026
  6. For Some Thiel Fellows, Drop-Out Grant Is More Like a Sabbatical, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, July 10, 2014

Founders

He Left MIT at Nineteen to Label Data. Meta Paid $14.3 Billion for the Result.

  1. Alexandr Wang, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026
  2. Scale AI, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026
  3. Remotasks, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026
  4. Meta invests $14.3bn in Scale AI, hires start-up's CEO, Silicon Republic, June 13, 2025

Dept. of Money

The Dashboard Is the Pitch: Inside the Revenue Screenshot

  1. Cluely's ARR doubled in a week to $7M, founder Roy Lee says, but rivals are coming, TechCrunch, July 3, 2025
  2. Cluely CEO Roy Lee admits to publicly lying about revenue numbers last year, TechCrunch, March 5, 2026
  3. Silicon Valley's hottest AI financial metric is also its least trusted, Accounting Today, April 7, 2026
  4. How VCs and founders use inflated 'ARR' to crown AI startups, TechCrunch, May 22, 2026
  5. Silicon Valley loves young founders. Until it doesn't., TechCrunch, July 31, 2026
  6. TrustMRR Review (2026): Pricing, Features & Honest Verdict, MakerStack, March 5, 2026
  7. TrustMRR: The database of verified startup revenues, TrustMRR, October 27, 2026
  8. LARPing: How Influencers Fake Being Rich (podcast episode), 404 Media, July 8, 2026
  9. FTC Proposes Rule Changes and New Rule to Deter Deceptive Earnings Claims by Multi-Level Marketers and Money-Making Opportunity Sellers, Federal Trade Commission, January 13, 2025
  10. FTC Sues to Stop Air AI from Using Deceptive Claims About Business Growth, Earnings Potential, and Refunds, Federal Trade Commission, August 25, 2025
  11. Starter Story, Starter Story, October 27, 2026

Creators

Ryan Trahan and the Charity Stunt as Business Engine

  1. Ryan Trahan and Haley Pham raised $11.5 million for St. Jude with their 50 States in 50 Days trip, Tubefilter, July 30, 2025
  2. How Ryan Trahan used his following to raise over $11 million for St. Jude, YouTube Official Blog, August 20, 2025
  3. Ryan Trahan's Sweetest Stunt Yet, Shopify, October 9, 2025
  4. Ryan Trahan's 50 States in 50 Days: Marketing Goldmine or Bust?, Greg Zakowicz, August 19, 2025
  5. Ryan Trahan's 30-day journey to MrBeast got more than 190 million views and raised $1.38 million for charity, Tubefilter, June 30, 2022
  6. Mann spendet 143.000 EUR gegen Hunger, laesst sich als Held feiern, MeinMMO, June 30, 2022
  7. Youtuber and candy connoisseur Ryan Trahan breaks world record with help from fans, Guinness World Records, June 30, 2025
  8. Joyride Sweets: FAQ and company story (accessed for this article), Joyride Sweets, September 21, 2026

Founders

The Factory Floor of the Memecoin Boom

  1. Memecoins Explained: Inside Crypto's Stupidest Bubble, Forbes Australia, November 14, 2024
  2. Pump.fun Is All of the Internet's Worst Impulses on One Site, Gizmodo, November 25, 2024
  3. Pump.fun Shuts Down Its Bonkers Live Streaming Service, Gizmodo, November 26, 2024
  4. Memecoins like Fartcoin are riding Trump's victory to huge valuations. Experts say it may have only begun., NBC News, December 15, 2024
  5. Pump.fun memecoin raise: $600 million public sale, $1.3 billion total, Fortune, July 18, 2025
  6. Whistleblower drops 5,000 secret chats in Pump.fun lawsuit, Yahoo Finance (Cryptonews), December 18, 2025

Creators

Kai Cenat and the Subscriber as Unit of Account

  1. Kai Cenat Becomes First Twitch Streamer To Reach 1M Subscribers, Netinfluencer, September 29, 2025
  2. 1.1 million Twitch subs and a haircut from LeBron: Highlights from Kai Cenat's Mafiathon 3, Tubefilter, October 1, 2025
  3. Streamer Kai Cenat earns millions, breaks Twitch subscriber record during 30-day livestream, CNBC (via NBC New York), December 2, 2024
  4. Kai Cenat's riot charges dropped after he apologizes and pays for Union Square mayhem, Associated Press (via theGrio), May 8, 2024
  5. Kai Cenat avoids charges stemming from last year's New York City giveaway melee, Tubefilter, May 8, 2024
  6. Kai Cenat's 'Mafiathon 2' Stream: What Happened With Max Major, Complex, November 27, 2024
  7. Kai Cenat's Mysterious 'I Quit' Video Unveils New Clothing Line, Complex, January 13, 2026
  8. Streamers on the runway: Kai Cenat brings his apparel brand to New York Fashion Week, Tubefilter, September 14, 2026
  9. Kai Cenat, Wikipedia, September 14, 2026

Founders

The Columbia Student Who Sold "Cheat on Everything" for $15 Million

  1. Meet the 21-year-old helping coders use AI to cheat in Google and other tech job interviews, CNBC, March 9, 2025
  2. Cluely, a startup that helps 'cheat on everything,' raises $15M from a16z, TechCrunch, June 20, 2025
  3. Cluely's Roy Lee hints that viral hype is not enough, TechCrunch, November 5, 2025
  4. Cluely CEO Roy Lee admits to publicly lying about revenue numbers last year, TechCrunch, March 5, 2026
  5. Roy Lee (entrepreneur), Wikipedia, October 27, 2026

Dropouts

The Teenager Who Traded Waterloo for a Blockchain

  1. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin visits Waterloo, University of Waterloo, July 10, 2024
  2. Sale of the Century: The Inside Story of Ethereum's 2014 Premine, CoinDesk (via Yahoo Finance), July 13, 2020
  3. Vitalik Buterin, Wikipedia, January 1, 2026
  4. Thiel Fellowship, Wikipedia, January 1, 2026

The Big Story

When the Trade Looks Like a Bet and the Bet Looks Like a Trade

  1. Americans increasingly see legal sports betting as a bad thing for society and sports, Pew Research Center, October 2, 2025
  2. New FINRA Foundation Research Examines Shifting Investor Behaviors, FINRA, December 4, 2025
  3. FDU Poll Finds Online Betting Leads to Problems for Young Men, Fairleigh Dickinson University, September 19, 2024
  4. National Survey Finds Widespread Gambling Participation Before Age 21 Amid Public Concern About Youth Exposure Risk, National Council on Problem Gambling, March 2, 2026
  5. 2025 National Problem Gambling Helpline Annual Report, National Council on Problem Gambling, May 22, 2026
  6. Young adults mostly shrug at sports betting risks, study finds, GBH, August 30, 2026
  7. Survey Reveals 15% of Americans Have Bought Prediction Contracts, Covers, April 15, 2026
  8. SPX 0DTE Options Jump to Record 62% Share in August, Cboe Global Markets, September 2, 2025
  9. Game Over: Robinhood Pays $7.5 Million to Resolve "Gamification" Securities Violations, Vinson & Elkins, February 12, 2024
  10. Gambling Away Stability: Sports Betting's Impact on Vulnerable Households (NBER Working Paper 33108), National Bureau of Economic Research, November 1, 2024

Creators

MrBeast Sold the Chocolate, Not the Videos

  1. YouTube's biggest star MrBeast makes more money from chocolate than videos, Fortune (Bloomberg), March 11, 2025
  2. MrBeast passes T-Series to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, Tubefilter, June 3, 2024
  3. Beast Games contestants file lawsuit against MrBeast and Amazon, Tubefilter, September 18, 2024
  4. Beast Industries acquires fintech Step to add financial services to creator platform, Netinfluencer, February 10, 2026
  5. MrBeast, Wikipedia, October 27, 2026

Dropouts

The Freshman Who Took the Check and Left Brown

  1. Figma's 33-year-old cofounder is a former LinkedIn intern who launched the $68 billion Wall Street darling with $100k from Peter Thiel, Fortune, August 1, 2025
  2. Figma Goes Public: Thirteen Unforgettable Years with Dylan Field, Index Ventures, July 31, 2025
  3. Gen Z and millennial founders who dropped out of college and took the Peter Thiel fellowship, Fortune, August 16, 2025
  4. For Some Thiel Fellows, Drop-Out Grant Is More Like a Sabbatical, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, July 10, 2014

Founders

Three Debate Kids Priced Expertise by the Hour and Became Billionaires at 22

  1. Meet the world's three youngest self-made billionaires, Forbes, October 30, 2025
  2. Mercor quintuples valuation to $10B with $350M Series C, TechCrunch, October 27, 2025
  3. Mercor is in talks for a $20B valuation, TechCrunch, July 9, 2026
  4. Mercor, Wikipedia, July 9, 2026

Markets

The Dropout Who Priced the Election

  1. Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan on the accuracy of its predictions (60 Minutes), CBS News, November 30, 2025
  2. Polymarket's 26-year-old CEO on his crypto betting site and the presidential election, Fortune, November 3, 2024
  3. Polymarket taps Chainalysis to police insider trading as it seeks $15 billion valuation, CFTC signoff, The Block, April 30, 2026
  4. Polymarket founder is youngest self-made billionaire on ICE deal, Bloomberg, October 8, 2025

Annals of Education

The Trading Pit Reopened in a Chat Window

  1. New FINRA Foundation Research Examines the Characteristics, Behaviors and Outcomes of Retail Investors Who Use Social Media, FINRA, April 2, 2026
  2. NGPF and FICO Launch Documentary Roadshow to Advance Access to Personal Finance Education, Next Gen Personal Finance, March 1, 2026
  3. Finfluencer Appeal: Investing in the Age of Social Media (policy recommendations press release), CFA Institute, January 24, 2024
  4. Influencers and Consumer Financial Decision-Making, International Journal of Consumer Studies (Gerritsen and de Regt), March 1, 2025
  5. VideoConviction: A Multimodal Benchmark for Human Conviction and Stock Market Recommendations, arXiv, June 4, 2025
  6. Social trading, correlated retail investing and non-fundamental speculation (Discussion Paper 29/2025), Deutsche Bundesbank, October 14, 2025
  7. FCA leads international crackdown on illegal finfluencers, Financial Conduct Authority, June 6, 2025
  8. SEC Charges Eight Social Media Influencers in $100 Million Stock Manipulation Scheme Promoted on Discord and Twitter, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, December 14, 2022
  9. About 1 in 5 Americans have used crypto; Republicans' use has ticked up, Pew Research Center, June 8, 2026
  10. Zero Is a Clenched Fist (review of Out of the Pits by Caitlin Zaloom), London Review of Books, November 1, 2007
  11. Gen Z's pursuit of the #RichTok lifestyle sends them to social media for investing advice, Fortune, January 16, 2026