Every Hell Gate staffer is an owner, and it turned a profit

In January 2022, five New York journalists gathered about 50 freelancers outdoors in 15-degree weather to discuss starting a worker-owned local newsroom. Christopher Robbins, Max Rivlin-Nadler, Nick Pinto and Sydney Pereira had all worked at Gothamist. Pinto had also been a staff writer at The Village Voice, and Esther Wang had been the senior politics reporter at Jezebel.

They named the site Hell Gate, after the rail bridge over the East River. The Harnisch Foundation and the Vital Projects Fund each gave $25,000 and $50,000 in seed money, respectively. The site began publishing on May 2, 2022, and added a paywall that July. By September 2025, Hell Gate had more than 9,000 paid subscribers and close to $70,000 in monthly recurring revenue, and Pinto told Nieman Lab the outlet was profitable that year.

A Reader-Funded Cooperative

Every staff member is an owner with a vote on major decisions, and the journalists hold full editorial authority. Donors who give more than $5,000 are publicly listed. Annual plans cost $70, $100 or $200 at launch, with the top tier adding events and merchandise. About a month after the paywall went up, Hell Gate had roughly 1,000 paying subscribers and 10,000 newsletter readers. Monthly costs ran about $20,000, and the founders hoped to pay themselves $4,000 a month.

Three Years of Subscription Growth

A hard paywall and a site redesign that made subscribing easier lifted the second year. Hell Gate's October 2024 annual report showed 5,368 paid subscribers and $42,000 in monthly recurring revenue, and Nieman Lab reported that subscription revenue had doubled over the year. Subscriptions brought in more than $490,000 in 2024.

By the end of September 2025, paid subscribers passed 9,000, up 69%, and monthly recurring revenue reached nearly $70,000, up 66%. Hell Gate projected more than $850,000 in subscription revenue for 2025. It received its millionth subscription dollar on April 9, 2025.

More Readers, More Expenses

Monthly costs grew from about $20,000 at launch to about $59,000 in the 2024 report and about $81,000 in the 2025 report. Salaries of nearly $52,000 per month were the largest expense. The 2024 report showed more than $300,000 in philanthropic funding over the previous year. Pinto told Nieman Lab in 2026 that donor support had helped bring the outlet closer to break-even.

A July 2025 promotion offered the first month for 99 cents with a free hat, and many of those subscribers canceled once the regular price took effect. The annual report concluded that such a steep discount could attract people who do not value journalism. 

Hell Gate built its reputation through its reporting on the city government. The Eric Adams Table of Success, produced with Type Investigations, won a 2024 New York Press Club award for political reporting. In April 2025, Hell Gate reported that Andrew Cuomo's mayoral campaign had used ChatGPT to draft a housing plan. The election newsletter Mayoral Spew passed 40,000 free subscribers.

Team Structure

The staff grew from five cofounders in 2022 to six full-time journalists and a business manager in 2024. By September 2025, the core team had nine people, with five reporters, two editors, and part-time managers for operations and marketing. 

Pinto said a newsroom moves too fast for an extremely horizontal decision process, so two staffers work as editors with direct authority and higher pay. Salaries started at $48,000, rose to $60,000 in January 2024, and reached $75,000 for reporters and $85,000 for editors in early 2025. Hell Gate pays the full health insurance premium for staff and half for family members.

Product Expansion

By September 2025, the twice-weekly Inbox Hell had 33,535 readers and the daily Morning Spew had 29,442. The Hell Gate Podcast launched in February 2023 and became a weekly show produced by Nic Nieves, drawing 3,000 to 4,000 downloads per episode. In 2025, the $20 Dinner restaurant column became an interactive map for subscribers.

In July 2026, Hell Gate relaunched its website and newsletters. The podcast moved to video and is recorded weekly at the Ruth Ann Harnisch studio in Lower Manhattan. The outlet also launched Cultural Capital, a biweekly newsletter on art, music, film, theater and television.

How Hell Gate Funds Its Newsroom

Subscriptions accounted for two-thirds of Hell Gate’s revenue in the year covered by its 2025 annual report. Donations from foundations and individuals provided most of the rest. Advertising brought in about $20,000 over twelve months, almost entirely through the newsletters. A grant from Ruth Ann Harnisch will pay two years of rent for its office and podcast studio.

Local news is often thought of as a business that cannot support itself. Hell Gate’s founders expected slow growth in a crowded market with thin margins, and its annual report argues that advertising alone can no longer fund a city newsroom. The economics remain tight. But subscription revenue has gained ground. In its 2024 report, monthly recurring revenue was about $17,000 below average monthly operating costs. In the 2025 report, that gap was about $11,000. 

Hell Gate’s editorial voice gives readers a reason to choose it among many news outlets. Its journalist-owners decide what to cover, from City Hall investigations to restaurant guides and irreverent election reporting. That control extends to which advertisers the outlet accepts and how it spends its money. For media operators, the trade-off is between the time and effort required to run the business and the reporting that makes it distinctive. Despite all challenges, Hell Gate turned a profit in 2025, and it did so while paying reporters a respectable salary, covering their health insurance premiums, and keeping editorial decisions in-house. 

Introducing the Growth Curve Score

Starting today, we rate each media business we profile on five variables, each scored from 1 to 5 based solely on public evidence.

- Monetization Streams
- Owns Its Audience
- Runs Lean
- Feeds The Core Business
- Is Durable. 

The five scores add up to a total out of 25. 

Hell Gate’s 9,000 paying subscribers are a strong result, though New York City offers an unusually large pool of potential readers. The more consequential achievement is that the journalists have grown the business while retaining ownership and control of its coverage. They have hired, raised pay, and reached profitability without giving an outside owner a say in the newsroom. For local publishers, Hell Gate shows that editorial independence and a durable business can grow together.

See you next week.

If you liked this edition of Growth Curve, forward it to a founder or marketer who needs to stop renting their audience — and start owning it.