18-year-old CEO learned to code at age 7 — now he has a $1.4 million-a-month AI app
Like millions of fellow 18-year-olds across the U.S., Zach Yadegari spent his summer preparing for college.
Unlike most other freshmen, Yadegari doubts he’ll linger in academia for very long. He’s 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 — and the app’s success to date makes him think he’ll take it full-time well before his class’ graduation date, he says.
Cal AI has 30 employees, and brings in roughly $1.4 million in gross profit per month — after the Apple and Google Play app stores take their respective cuts — according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It. That includes nearly $274,000 in monthly net operating income, a measurement of profit before accounting for taxes and interest.
