In a world dominated by "vibe coding," Zach Yadegari, the teenage founder of Cal AI, ironically sticks out with his retro style.
It’s ironic since Yadegari and his partner founded it together. H enry Langmack Both are merely 18 years old and have recently completed high school. Nevertheless, their tale up until now follows a familiar pattern.
Introduced in May, Cal AI has accumulated more than 5 million downloads within just eight months, according to Yadegari. Moreover, he mentions that the user retention rate exceeds 30%, and the application raked in over $2 million in revenue during the previous month.
Even though I couldn't verify his claims about downloads and earnings, Cal AI has earned a 4.8-star rating on the Apple App Store from more than 66,000 reviews. Additionally, it boasts over 1 million installations on Google Play, where it maintains a 4.8-star rating based on almost 75,000 reviews.
The idea is straightforward: Snap a photo of your upcoming meal, and allow the application to track the calories and macronutrients for you.
It’s not an original concept. For example, the leading app in calorie tracking, MyFitnessPal, offers its Meal Scan feature. Additionally, there are applications such as SnapCalorie, which were launched in 2023 and developed by the creator of Google Lens.
One potential benefit of Cal AI is that it was developed entirely during the era of extensive image models. It leverages models from companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI along with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) techniques to enhance precision. The system is trained using publicly available food calorie data and image databases sourced from platforms like GitHub.
"We've discovered that various models perform better with different types of food," Yadegari explains.
Throughout their journey, the creators tackled various technical challenges such as identifying components from food packaging or sorting out mixed-up items in bowls.
The outcome is an application that its developers claim has a 90% accuracy rate, seeming sufficient for numerous individuals following diets.
Young programmers and a hacker residence
Yadegari is gaining recognition for his initial achievements as well. However, different from teenage programmers who grew up using AI assistants, he learned Python and C# during his middle school years, according to him.
Yadegari established his initial enterprise in the ninth grade. sold it For $100,000 to another gaming company called FreezeNova at age 16, he shares his experience: "Following the quarantine period, schools distributed Chromebooks to every student, and predictably, many young people attempted to exploit this situation by engaging in gameplay during class hours."
The school reacted by restricting online access to those gaming websites. Therefore, he "identified an opening" to create a site providing access to every unblocked game.
The best part? He named the site " Totally Science" to ensure the school wouldn't block it as well.
After completing that sale, he and Langmack viewed Y Combinator videos and mingled with the coding community on X in search of their next big concept. It was there on X that he connected with Blake Anderson, who would go on to be a co-founder at Cal AI. At just 24 years old, Anderson had gained recognition as a youthful developer of consumer apps as well, for developing ChatGPT-based dating apps such as RizzGPT and Umax.
Yadegari and Langmack came up with their concept when Yadegari started going to the gym to build muscle and "make an impression on girls," he mentioned with a smile.
Next, they opted for yet another overused scenario: Relocating to San Francisco to reside in a hacker collective as they developed their prototype.
However, during his time there, Yadegari, whose parents were both attorneys, gleaned an opposing insight. He realized he desired to attend college rather than follow the typical path of becoming a Silicon Valley drop-out.
"Non-stop work, even sleeping on the floor; however, there was this one night which made it a really enjoyable and educational period," he commented about his experience.
However, he glanced around and said, "Throughout the day, we were encircled by individuals in their late 20s or early 30s. It made me realize that without going to college, this could very well be my future."
Although he hasn't decided on which university to enroll in just yet, he continues to enjoy managing the business with Langmack. The venture has expanded to include Jake Castillo, aged 28, who serves as the COO overseeing influencer marketing efforts. Additionally, they have a team of eight full-time staff members comprising developers, a designer, and social media managers.
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