Our Founding Story: Skip the Jargon Inc.
Updated as of January 2025
When Vyom Mishra, an ambitious high school freshman, ventured into the world of finance during the COVID-19 pandemic, he was perplexed. It seemed that almost every single important issue presented on the news was tied to an important financial topic, yet it took a few hours to understand how they were truly correlated.
Eager to learn more, Vyom scoured the Internet to learn about complex topics such as “How to Finance a Car for Teens” or “Why Large Corporations (such as Blockbuster LLC) Failed.” Unfortunately, Vyom only received mixed results and barely found information that touched the surface of his inquiries.
After surveying a few of his friends, Vyom realized that the lack of eye-catching, easy-to-read articles drove students away from learning about these important educational topics. Such topics were immediately deemed “boring” or “unimportant” by most teens in his friend group. It also surprised Vyom that only 22.7% of high school students in the United States had state-mandated requirements to take some type of financial course.
The Journey to Start Skip the Jargon
Passionate to spark change, Vyom mustered up the courage to bring his ideas to light in a roundtable discussion at a business camp he attended. It caught the eyes of Harrison Martindale, one of the educational leads at the program, and Skip the Jargon Inc. was born.
After working intensively over a 2-month period during the summer of his freshman year, Vyom built Skip the Jargon Inc. from the ground up.
He made his goal two-fold: create a platform where teenagers can learn from inspiring leaders, and raise awareness about financial illiteracy by providing accessible opportunities for ambitious students to read, write, and learn more about finance.
Skip(ping) the Jargon: From Publication to Student-Led Program
Over 3 years, Skip the Jargon spread its outreach to over 20+ states and 10+ countries. The journey wasn’t easy though. It started with a Guest Speaker series and branched to a Student Editorial Series which has featured 15+ writers.
In the summer of 2024, Skip the Jargon implemented its first, in-person financial literacy course tailored to teens through a program developed by Vyom at the L.A Lee YMCA in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Update — January 2025: Through a content partnership with StreetFins and a feature in the Young Investors Society monthly newsletter, Skip the Jargon has expanded its free financial resources to an audience of over 4,500 teens.
The journey to end financial illiteracy doesn’t stop here though.
If you’re a teen interested in joining our mission to end financial illiteracy, I highly encourage you to apply to write for us today!