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From coding at 7 to CEO at 18: Zach Yadegari shares journey of building $1.4 million-a-month AI company
The 18-year-old hopes to “dedicate most of the rest of my life” to AI entrepreneurship.
Zach Yadegari, an 18-year-old US-based entrepreneur, recently shared how he built a booming AI startup that now generates $1.4 million in monthly revenue. Yadegari is the co-founder and CEO of Cal AI, a calorie-tracking mobile app he launched from his parents’ home in New York in May 2024. In August this year, he started undergraduate classes at the University of Miami’s business school, but says that he doesn’t plan to stay for more than a year. He dreams of a career in serial entrepreneurship.
“I think that entrepreneurship is really cool because at the end of the day, age doesn’t really matter much,” Yadegari said, as per a report by CNBC Make It. “You’re either good or not good at what you do, and then the market will decide (the) results,” he continued.
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Coding at summer camp to building a viral app
Speaking to the outlet, the 18-year-old revealed that his entrepreneurial journey began early. At age 7, his mother sent him to a summer camp to learn coding, nurturing his interest in software. He later taught himself by watching YouTube tutorials and connecting with other coders online.
Then, in high school, Yadegari created a gaming website called Totally Science, allowing students to play online games on school WiFi networks, bypassing restrictions. He sold the site for roughly $100,000 in early 2024.
The breakthrough came when Yadegari focused on a personal problem: calorie tracking. When he started working out, he realised that every calorie-tracking app he downloaded made him manually input all his food - a task he found tedious.
So, he partnered with his childhood friend Henry Langmack and two acquaintances from social media, Blake Anderson and Jake Castillo, to build an AI model capable of analysing photos of meals and automating the process.
The group invested $2,000 in initial social media marketing. Positive early feedback convinced them to then fund Cal AI’s operating and marketing expenses for six months. The app earned over $28,000 in its first month and $115,000 the following month. The team expanded, hiring employees and conducting interviews while living temporarily in a San Francisco “hacker house.”
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Balancing high school and CEO job
Once the summer ended, Yadegari started balancing high school and his startup. He worked 40 hours per week on coding and app development while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
“My parents are really happy with everything with Cal AI, especially my mom. She actually uses the app,” Yadegari said, adding, “Overall, they’re really proud.”
The 18-year-old hopes to make Cal AI “the biggest calorie-tracking app”. Currently, the app has 8.3 million downloads, and it plans to compete with industry leader MyFitnessPal.
Yadegari plans to lead Cal AI for only the next two years. He aims to scale the app significantly before selling or passing it to a new CEO.
He is “not entirely sure” what his next venture will entail, but he hopes to “dedicate most of the rest of my life” to AI entrepreneurship. “Ideally, it really shapes the future and is part of my legacy,” he said.
