Photo Calorie App - AI Food Tracker | Millions of Downloads

Cal AI: A Teen-Founded App Disrupting Calorie Tracking

Amidst current trends like “vibe coding,” Zach Yadegari, the teenage founder of Cal AI, presents a noteworthy contrast with more contemporary approaches.

This contrast is particularly striking considering that Yadegari and his co-founder, Henry Langmack, are both still high school students, aged 18. Nevertheless, their journey to date closely resembles a conventional startup success story.

Rapid Growth and Revenue

Cal AI has achieved over 5 million downloads within its first eight months since launching in May, according to Yadegari. Furthermore, he informed TechCrunch that the app has generated over $2 million in revenue during the last month, with a customer retention rate exceeding 30%.

While TechCrunch was unable to independently verify these download and revenue figures, Cal AI boasts impressive user ratings. It currently holds a 4.8-star rating on the Apple App Store, based on 66,000 reviews, and a 4.8-star rating on Google Play with nearly 75,000 reviews and over 1 million downloads.

How Cal AI Works

The app’s functionality is straightforward: users simply capture an image of their meal, and the application automatically logs the corresponding calories and macronutrient information.

This concept isn’t entirely novel. Established calorie tracking platforms, such as MyFitnessPal, offer similar features like Meal Scan. Additionally, apps like SnapCalorie, released in 2023 by the creator of Google Lens, also provide image-based calorie counting.

Leveraging Modern AI

Cal AI’s competitive edge potentially lies in its foundation built entirely within the era of advanced image models. The application utilizes models from both Anthropic and OpenAI, alongside Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), to enhance accuracy.

Training data is sourced from publicly available food calorie and image databases found on platforms like GitHub. “We’ve observed that different models perform optimally with varying types of food,” Yadegari explained to TechCrunch.

Overcoming Technical Challenges

The development process involved addressing complex technical hurdles, including accurate ingredient recognition from packaging and within mixed food presentations.

The resulting application reportedly achieves 90% accuracy, which appears sufficient for the needs of many individuals focused on dietary tracking.

Young Entrepreneurs and the Hacker House Experience

Yadegari is gaining recognition for his accomplishments at a young age. However, unlike contemporary teen coders benefiting from AI assistance, he honed his skills in Python and C# during his middle school years, as he reports.

He established his initial venture while in the ninth grade and subsequently sold it for $100,000 to FreezeNova, a gaming company, when he was sixteen years old, according to TechCrunch. The impetus for this first business arose from a common student challenge.

Following the distribution of Chromebooks by schools during quarantine, students predictably attempted to play games during class time. Consequently, the schools implemented blocks on access to gaming websites.

Recognizing a market need, Yadegari developed a website providing access to unblocked games. He cleverly named the site “Totally Science” to circumvent potential school blocking measures.

After the sale, Yadegari and Langmack engaged with the coding community on X and studied Y Combinator videos, seeking inspiration for their next project. It was on X that he connected with Blake Anderson, who later became a co-founder of Cal AI.

Anderson, currently 24, had previously gained attention for his work on consumer apps, including ChatGPT-powered dating advice applications such as RizzGPT and Umax.

The concept for their current venture originated from Yadegari’s personal experience of starting a fitness regimen with the intention of “impressing girls,” he shared with a smile.

Following this inspiration, they made a common decision among startups: relocating to San Francisco to reside in a hacker house during the prototype development phase.

During their time in San Francisco, Yadegari, whose parents are both lawyers, gained an unexpected insight. He realized he desired a college education and didn’t want to follow the typical Silicon Valley dropout path.

“The experience involved constant work, and even sleeping on the floor one night, but it was incredibly valuable and taught me a great deal,” he reflected on the hacker house lifestyle.

Observing his surroundings, he noted, “We were surrounded by individuals in their late 20s and 30s. It became clear to me that without attending college, this would be my future.”

While his university choice remains undecided, Yadegari and Langmack continue to manage their company. The team now includes Jake Castillo, 28, as COO overseeing influencer marketing, alongside eight full-time employees encompassing developers, a designer, and social media specialists.

Note: This article has been updated to clarify that the founders are currently high school students.