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Nov 06, 2024

Meet The 17-Year-Old CEO Behind A $12 Million AI-Powered Nutrition App

A photo taken on November 23, 2023 shows the logo of the ChatGPT application developed by US ... [+] artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI on a smartphone screen (L) and the letters AI

A photo taken on November 23, 2023 shows the logo of the ChatGPT application developed by US ... [+] artificial intelligence research organization OpenAI on a smartphone screen (L) and the letters AI on a laptop screen in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany. Sam Altman's shock return as chief executive of OpenAI late on November 22 — days after being sacked — caps a chaotic period that highlighted deep tensions at the heart of the Artificial Intelligence community. The board that fired Altman from his role as CEO of the ChatGPT creator has been almost entirely replaced following a rebellion by employees, cementing his position at the helm of the firm. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP) (Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images)

In an era where artificial intelligence is revolutionizing every aspect of our lives, a 17-year-old high school senior is making waves in the health and fitness tech space. Zach Yadegari, co-founder and CEO of Cal AI, has built a nutrition tracking app that's challenging legacy industry giants by leveraging AI and innovative marketing strategies.

"I've really been into building companies since I was 10," says Yadegari, who began his entrepreneurial journey teaching coding lessons for $30 an hour. "I started scaling up. I posted an ad on a local Facebook group. I doubled my student body from one student I was tutoring to two. Then that turned into three, and for a kid at 10 years old, I felt pretty rich." He isn't the only one, the recently covered Apex team is following a similar path.

His early exposure to entrepreneurship, combined with inspiration from unexpected sources, shaped his business mindset. "I watched 'The Social Network,' which made me realise it wasn't scalable to trade my time for money," Yadegari reflects. "Seeing Mark Zuckerberg, what he created, that really inspired me to achieve something similar and financial freedom at such a young age."

Before Cal AI, Yadegari demonstrated his entrepreneurial acumen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing that schools were distributing Chromebooks to students, he created an unblocked gaming site that consolidated popular games in one location. The venture attracted 5 million users and later sold for a six-figure sum.

Following this success, Yadegari partnered with Henry Langmack, a peer he met at a coding camp, to explore the consumer app space. Their first venture, Grind Clock—a motivational alarm clock app featuring David Goggins-style wake-up calls—garnered 20,000 downloads in its first two weeks but struggled to maintain growth.

In an attempt to figure out how to scale, Yadegari connected with Blake Anderson, who had built two multi-million download applications in the previous six months. Anderson agreed to provide capital and domain expertise, joining as an equal cofounder alongside Yadegari and Langmack. With the two teenagers at the head, the first version of the app was underway.

Cal AI stands out in a market that has seen very little innovation for years. The app offers comprehensive features that many established competitors lack, including an extensive food database, barcode scanning, food label scanning, meal scanning, and natural language meal descriptions. Unlike competitors MyFitnessPal, Lose It!, MyNetDiary, Cronometer, and Lifesum, which rely primarily on manual input methods, Cal AI has positioned itself as the premium solution in the space.

"The truth is, these apps have stagnated for years. No one wanted to innovate. This was a space waiting to be taken, and Cal AI became the disrupter," Yadegari explains. "We are the fastest growing health and fitness app on the app store."

Cal AI vs. competition: UI comparison

Cal AI, launched in May 2024, emerged from Yadegari's personal frustration with existing nutrition tracking apps. "I was tracking my calories on MyFitnessPal," he explains. "After three days I quit. I was finding so much trouble using their app, typing in everything—it was very tedious, very burdensome to do."

Cal AI launched in May 2024. Through their numerous conversations, Anderson and Yadegari spoke about their frustrations with existing nutrition tracking apps.

The app's core technology differentiates it from competitors by using AI-powered image recognition to estimate nutritional content. "Our technology, according to our testing, is 90% accurate when the image is taken in natural lighting and at an angle that isn't skewed," Yadegari states. "This actually beats nutrition labels. Nutrition labels are up to 20% off in their calories—the FDA allows for this."

Within six months of launch, Cal AI has achieved remarkable metrics:

The company's success stems from what Yadegari calls a "novel approach to influencer marketing." Rather than relying on traditional advertising or agency-driven influencer campaigns, Cal AI takes a more direct, relationship-based approach.

"Big companies fail because they're not scrappy enough," Yadegari explains. "They don’t understand how to properly set up, scale, and adapt marketing efforts in fast-paced environments. Today’s social media and AI landscapes are difficult to keep up with."

Perhaps most remarkably, Yadegari runs his growing company while maintaining his high school responsibilities. "Being a 17-year-old running a team of 17 people is tough, especially when I'm in school for the first half of every day," he admits. "I'm always messaging my team on Slack while in class, and then after class is when I schedule the bulk of my calls."

The company's leadership structure includes:

Cal AI team meeting for the first time in person.

Cal AI has found particular success among young adults, with its primary user base consisting of college students aged 15-25. While currently male-dominated, the app has begun expanding internationally with added language support for different regions.

"We think there is a much bigger market of ages 55 and up seeking to keep their health into their later years," Yadegari notes, "and we are exploring new strategies to position the app for people of all demographics."

As Cal AI continues to grow, Yadegari faces a pivotal decision about his own future. "I've been thinking a lot about college," he reflects. "Right now, my plan is to take a gap year immediately after senior year to double down on Cal AI, completely focus on it, build it to the biggest scale it could possibly get."

The company's future plans include:

Cal AI's success is part of a broader movement of young entrepreneurs disrupting traditional industries. The company's CTO, Henry Langmack, also 17, has proven himself exceptional without formal education. "Henry is a better CTO and programmer than anyone I have met, period. And he doesn’t have a degree," Yadegari notes.

This youth-led tech revolution includes several other notable figures:

Cal AI's success highlights several emerging trends in the consumer app space, particularly the shift away from traditional advertising methods. With Apple's tracking transparency policy impacting Facebook ad effectiveness, companies are increasingly turning to direct influencer relationships for growth.

"Influencer marketing has always been hard to track," Yadegari explains. "You have never been able to see 'I spent $100 and got $200,' but this is new for Facebook ads. Now that they're both very similar in tracking, influencer marketing is, in my opinion, the dominant play."

However, the key to success will be Cal AI’s user retention - most of the existing nutrition apps are struggling with it. Per Adjust.com’s analysis, average retention rates in health and fitness for day 30 are less than 30%. “Although I cannot state our exact retention publicly, Cal AI’s retention fits in the range the article suggests and so do in-person gyms. This is why yearly pricing plans are heavily pushed onto customers in this category. My hypothesis is that this is only a product problem to some extent, and that there is always going to be heavy churn with health and fitness products because they require real discipline” Yadegari shared during the interview.

As Cal AI continues to evolve and expand, it serves as a compelling case study of how young entrepreneurs are reshaping traditional business models through technological innovation and creative marketing strategies. Whether Yadegari ultimately chooses to pursue higher education or continue building his company full-time, his journey demonstrates the changing landscape of entrepreneurship in the digital age.

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