TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Cal AI’s Zach Yadegari on how to create viral growth and capitalize on it

What happens when the app you started in high school goes viral?

For Zach Yadegari, the answer was more than 15 million downloads, $30 million in annual revenue, and an acquisition by MyFitnessPal — all before his 20th birthday. Yadegari was just 17 when he co-founded Cal AI, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered nutrition app that lets users track what they eat by snapping a photo.

But those numbers leave out the part most founders would like to know: How did Cal AI get that kind of viral attention in the first place? And once millions of people showed up, how did the company make the most of that momentum?

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Yadegari will take the Builders Stage for a fireside chat on “How to Create Viral Growth and Capitalize On It.” He’ll get into Cal AI’s rapid growth, the product pressure that came with it, and the challenge of turning breakout attention into durable retention and long-term company building.

Trying to break through in a crowded market? Save up to $200 when you secure your pass by September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT and hear what Yadegari learned building a breakout consumer app. Got a colleague who’d like to join? Get a second pass for 50% off.

How did Cal AI turn viral growth into a $30 million business?

Cal AI is built around a simple proposition: Snap a photo of a meal, and the app uses image recognition and the phone’s depth sensor to calculate calories, protein, carbs, and fat.

Yadegari was still a high school senior when he co-founded Cal AI, but it wasn’t his first experience attracting a large online audience. At 16, he sold Totally Science, a gaming platform he founded that drew more than 5 million users during the COVID-19 pandemic, for six figures.

At Disrupt, Yadegari will share what Cal AI learned about building in a distribution-driven market where a product can find a massive audience fast — and what it takes to exploit that viral growth when it happens.