Cal AI Founder: Army of Influencers Built a Company With $30 Million in Revenue

Zach Yadegari, the 19-year-old founder of AI-powered calorie-tracking app Cal AI, explained on Thursday at the TechCrunch Disrupt technology conference how his company became widely known online within two years. He said the key was a strategy of recruiting a large number of influencers, or social media content creators, to promote the brand. The story matters to the startup world because it shows how paid influencer marketing can quickly bring in users.

Cal AI was founded in 2024. In two years it generated more than $30 million in revenue, and in March it was acquired by MyFitness for an undisclosed sum.

From a first post to a system

Yadegari said an early sign of success was one influencer's post that brought roughly a thousand new users within two days. The team then began recruiting influencers as quickly as possible and paying as many people as it could to post. He described a clear, fairly linear formula: each post reaches a certain number of viewers, and a share of them convert into users.

The company negotiated rates, promising set payouts for a certain scale of reach. In Yadegari's view, many influencers are college-age creators who want cash. It was also important to find those with tight-knit communities whose reach could be measured.

Education and a new venture

Yadegari, a Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus, thanked his family for giving him the freedom to pursue his ambitions. On higher education, he said the only real reason to attend college is to have a fun social time with other young people.

Earlier this month he launched Persona, a new AI agent startup that has already raised $10 million. Its stated mission is to make computing seamless with human life. The personal AI assistant is meant to live anywhere with an internet connection, including iMessage, an app, email and phone calls. The company also plans to build a hardware ecosystem around the app.