Cal AI founder Zach Yadegari explained at TechCrunch Disrupt how his calorie-tracking app grew so fast. He is 19 and founded the company in 2024. According to him, revenue passed $30 million in two years, and MyFitnessPal bought the app in March. The price was not disclosed.
How the growth worked
At first a single influencer post brought in around a thousand new users over two days. After that, the team recruited creators as fast as it could and paid as many people as possible to post. Yadegari calls it a clear formula: every post has a reach, and a steady share of viewers becomes users.
How creators were paid
Payment was negotiated around guaranteed reach. The company paid a set rate but required a minimum amount of usage and kept the posting going until that threshold was met. It looked for creators with tight communities whose influence could be measured. Yadegari says plainly that many of them are college kids who just want cash.
What the numbers leave out
The number of creators, individual payouts, total spend, conversion and retention are all missing. The thousand-user figure comes from a single early example. So the formula is a founder's account from a stage, and the cost of that growth is unknown. Yadegari has since started Persona, an AI agent company that has raised $10 million.