Zach Yadegari has achieved remarkable success at a remarkably young age, having recently graduated from high school. As the founder of the AI-driven calorie tracking application Cal AI, Yadegari, now 19, has seen his company soar to viral recognition in just two years. During his presentation at TechCrunch Disrupt on Thursday, Yadegari elaborated on his unexpected ascent to fame.
Founded in 2024, Cal AI gained significant traction online, primarily due to Yadegari’s innovative approach of enlisting a multitude of influencers to promote the brand. Within a span of two years, the company amassed over $30 million in revenue and was acquired by MyFitnessPal for an undisclosed sum in March. While discussing his social media strategy on stage, Yadegari highlighted an early indicator of success: a single influencer’s post that attracted around a thousand new users within just two days. “From there, we figured out, okay, this can actually work for us, and so we started recruiting influencers as fast as we could — paying as many people as possible to start posting for us,” he remarked. “What we observed was a clear formula. It was quite linear, yet extremely rapid. I suppose linear in the sense that every post they made would garner a specific number of viewers that would convert.”
The Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree informed the audience that a key aspect of his company’s strategy involved negotiating compensation with influencers, assuring them of certain payouts based on their reach. Many influencers are “broke college kids” who “just want cash,” Yadegari noted. “You just ask them, okay, we’ll pay you this, but we need to get us at least this amount of use and keep posting until you get there.” Another crucial element of success was identifying the right influencers whose audience engagement could be measured. “The biggest thing for us was finding influencers that had very tight communities,” the founder stated.
Yadegari, whose father was present in the audience, also acknowledged his family for providing him the freedom to pursue his aspirations. When asked if he attributes his success to higher education, he was less enthusiastic. “I think the only real reason to go to college is if you want to have a fun social time as a kid and be with other people,” he quipped, eliciting laughter from the audience.
Earlier this month, Yadegari launched Persona, a new AI agent startup that has already secured $10 million in funding. He explained that the “overarching mission” of Persona is to “make computing seamless with human life.” The company’s personal AI assistant will “live anyplace with internet connection,” he stated, including platforms such as “iMessage, app, email, phone call.” He further added that a distinguishing feature of the company’s vision for this AI assistant is to create a “hardware ecosystem around” the application.
