{
  "company": "Cal AI",
  "domain": "calai.app",
  "snapshot": "2026-10-31",
  "plays": [
    {
      "n": 1,
      "name": "Flat-fee creator deals with a view guarantee",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "First ~$2,000 creator story brought ~1,000 downloads in 2 days, ~100 paid. 300+ creator deals in 18 months, ~20 onboarded per week, flat fee tied to a required view count, ~10 installs per 1K views.",
      "src": "https://www.netinfluencer.com/cal-ai-founder-zach-yadegari-breaks-down-the-influencer-playbook-behind-his-apps-growth/",
      "effort": "M",
      "cost": "$500-2,000 per creator post",
      "metric": "Installs per 1K views (target ~10)"
    },
    {
      "n": 2,
      "name": "Reuse winning creator videos as Meta ads",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "964 active Meta ads on 2026-10-31, all video in the sample, UGC-style cooking clips with a question hook ('best way to track calories?'). Founder: running creator content as ads, plus 'salesy' ad-specific creator cuts, took revenue from $2M to $4M/month.",
      "src": "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=ALL&view_all_page_id=311353912066626",
      "effort": "M",
      "cost": "Ad spend, started near $5K/day cap",
      "metric": "Cost per trial"
    },
    {
      "n": 3,
      "name": "Long personalized onboarding into a hard paywall",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "Sign-in moved to the end, many questions before the paywall, 3-day trial into $29.99/yr. 20-25% of onboarding finishers start a trial or pay. Earlier app Grind Clock got ~10x revenue from a hard paywall.",
      "src": "https://getlatka.com/blog/how-cal-ai-achieved-35-million-revenue-in-just-one-year",
      "effort": "M",
      "cost": "Superwall + dev time",
      "metric": "Onboarding finish to trial %"
    },
    {
      "n": 4,
      "name": "Product that demos in 3 seconds",
      "label": "INFERRED",
      "evidence": "Photo of a plate gives calories. Every creator video and ad shows the scan. TechCrunch: MFP describes the bet as speed over accuracy.",
      "src": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/02/myfitnesspal-has-acquired-cal-ai-the-viral-calorie-app-built-by-teens/",
      "effort": "L",
      "cost": "Product work",
      "metric": "Share of ads that show the core action"
    },
    {
      "n": 5,
      "name": "Teen founder story as free press",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "@CollinRugg post 3.6M views (Apr 2025), CNBC Make It video 967K views (Sep 2025), acquisition post 7.0M views (Mar 2026). US brand searches peaked at 75,220 in Mar 2026.",
      "src": "https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1917606058853556479",
      "effort": "S",
      "cost": "Founder time",
      "metric": "Brand searches per month"
    },
    {
      "n": 6,
      "name": "Founder on X teaching the playbook",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "Free course post 1.26M views, onboarding breakdown 121K, hiring post 214K. Builds recruiting pull and creator inbound, not direct installs.",
      "src": "https://x.com/zach_yadegari/status/1960740341050486875",
      "effort": "S",
      "cost": "Founder time",
      "metric": "Inbound creators and hires"
    },
    {
      "n": 7,
      "name": "Pick creators by views in tight niches",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "~50K follower floor but recent views matter more. 'Tight communities' (fitness, weight loss) over broad reach. Influencer 'sniper' beat UGC 'spray and pray'.",
      "src": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/15/when-it-came-to-cal-ais-viral-success-a-small-army-of-influencers-paid-off/",
      "effort": "S",
      "cost": "Research time",
      "metric": "Views per $ by niche"
    },
    {
      "n": 8,
      "name": "Comparison pages for SEO",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "Blog holds 19.5% of organic ETV; 'myfitnesspal vs loseit' ranks #6, cronometer page #24. Small: total US organic ETV peaked at 40,360/mo and 55% is brand.",
      "src": "https://www.calai.app/blog",
      "effort": "S",
      "cost": "Writing time",
      "metric": "Non-brand ETV"
    },
    {
      "n": 9,
      "name": "Rating volume as social proof",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "4.8 stars from 373K App Store ratings, 272K Play reviews. Shown on the site and in store listings.",
      "src": "https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cal-ai-calorie-tracker/id6480417616",
      "effort": "S",
      "cost": "In-app prompt",
      "metric": "Ratings per 1K installs"
    },
    {
      "n": 10,
      "name": "Email only for retention",
      "label": "SEEN",
      "evidence": "Retention was product accuracy plus email; Klaviyo first seen Nov 2025.",
      "src": "https://www.netinfluencer.com/cal-ai-founder-zach-yadegari-breaks-down-the-influencer-playbook-behind-his-apps-growth/",
      "effort": "S",
      "cost": "Klaviyo",
      "metric": "Trial to paid, month 2 retention"
    }
  ],
  "moves": [
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      "2024-03-15",
      "Product",
      "First code written; team had shipped 6 earlier apps, learned hard paywall beats ads (10x on Grind Clock)",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://getlatka.com/blog/how-cal-ai-achieved-35-million-revenue-in-just-one-year"
    ],
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      "2024-05-15",
      "Influencer",
      "Launch. One paid story from a weight-loss creator (~$2,000) brought ~1,000 downloads in 2 days, ~100 paid",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://www.netinfluencer.com/cal-ai-founder-zach-yadegari-breaks-down-the-influencer-playbook-behind-his-apps-growth/"
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      "2024-06-15",
      "Influencer",
      "Recruit creators as fast as possible; month 1 revenue $28K-30K, month 2 $100K-115K",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/2025/09/06/cal-ai-how-a-teenage-ceo-built-a-fast-growing-calorie-tracking-app.html"
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      "2024-09-04",
      "Milestone",
      "$1M total sales",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://getlatka.com/blog/how-cal-ai-achieved-35-million-revenue-in-just-one-year"
    ],
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      "2024-10-15",
      "Web",
      "calai.app site live on Astro/Vercel",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://predictleads.com"
    ],
    [
      "2024-11-04",
      "Founder X",
      "'A year ago I was inspired...' post, 479K views; ~month 6 at $1M/month revenue",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://x.com/zach_yadegari/status/1853287907097804958"
    ],
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      "2025-01-15",
      "SEO",
      "Blog and 'vs MyFitnessPal' pages start ranking: 75 keywords, ETV 111 to 5,100",
      "SEEN",
      23.51,
      "",
      "https://www.calai.app/blog"
    ],
    [
      "2025-04-01",
      "Instagram",
      "Batch of creator-style reels on @calai.app (24K-79K views each)",
      "SEEN",
      2.73,
      "",
      "https://www.instagram.com/calai.app/"
    ],
    [
      "2025-04-30",
      "Press/X",
      "@CollinRugg: 'Long Island high schooler... $30M this year', 3.6M views",
      "SEEN",
      2.73,
      "",
      "https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1917606058853556479"
    ],
    [
      "2025-05-15",
      "Funnel",
      "Onboarding: sign-in moved to end, extra personalization questions; 3-day trial into $29.99/yr; Superwall paywall tests",
      "SEEN",
      2.38,
      "",
      "https://getlatka.com/blog/how-cal-ai-achieved-35-million-revenue-in-just-one-year"
    ],
    [
      "2025-05-19",
      "Founder X",
      "Co-founder Henry Langmack hiring post 'fastest growing AI app in history', 214K views",
      "SEEN",
      2.38,
      "",
      "https://x.com/henrylangmack/status/1924457694900953452"
    ],
    [
      "2025-06-20",
      "Press/X",
      "@InternetH0F repost of the $30M story, 1.36M views",
      "SEEN",
      1.82,
      "",
      "https://x.com/InternetH0F/status/1936121891451768911"
    ],
    [
      "2025-08-27",
      "Founder X",
      "Free course post, 1.26M views",
      "SEEN",
      1.71,
      "",
      "https://x.com/zach_yadegari/status/1960740341050486875"
    ],
    [
      "2025-09-06",
      "Press",
      "CNBC Make It profile ($1.4M/month gross profit) plus video, 967K YouTube views",
      "SEEN",
      1.33,
      35470,
      "https://www.cnbc.com/make-it/2025/09/06/cal-ai-how-a-teenage-ceo-built-a-fast-growing-calorie-tracking-app.html"
    ],
    [
      "2025-11-15",
      "Retention",
      "Klaviyo email first seen (email was the only retention marketing)",
      "SEEN",
      0.88,
      37960,
      "https://predictleads.com"
    ],
    [
      "2025-12-15",
      "Exit",
      "Acquisition by MyFitnessPal closes",
      "SEEN",
      1.07,
      35600,
      "https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/02/myfitnesspal-has-acquired-cal-ai-the-viral-calorie-app-built-by-teens/"
    ],
    [
      "2026-03-02",
      "Press",
      "Acquisition announced; Zach's post 7.0M views; US brand searches peak at 75,220 in Mar 2026",
      "SEEN",
      0.91,
      75220,
      "https://x.com/zach_yadegari/status/2028473704359874652"
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    [
      "2026-03-05",
      "Paid",
      "Facebook Pixel added to calai.app",
      "SEEN",
      0.91,
      75220,
      "https://predictleads.com"
    ],
    [
      "2026-04-24",
      "Talk",
      "CMO Jake Castillo AIM talk: 300+ creator deals, CPM $0.50-$3.00",
      "SEEN",
      0.8,
      51570,
      "https://blog.funnelfox.com/cal-ai-influencer-marketing"
    ],
    [
      "2026-05-08",
      "Web",
      "Survey sweepstakes, ten $50 gift cards",
      "SEEN",
      0.7,
      41580,
      "https://www.calai.app/sweepstakes"
    ],
    [
      "2026-06-03",
      "Paid",
      "Oldest still-active Meta ad in sample; 964 active Meta ads on 2026-10-31",
      "SEEN",
      0.59,
      37790,
      "https://www.facebook.com/ads/library/?active_status=active&ad_type=all&country=ALL&view_all_page_id=311353912066626"
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      "2026-09-15",
      "Founder",
      "Zach launches Persona (left MFP)",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://x.com/zach_yadegari/status/2099894590723465295"
    ],
    [
      "2026-10-15",
      "Talk",
      "TechCrunch Disrupt: 'small army of influencers'",
      "SEEN",
      "",
      "",
      "https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/15/when-it-came-to-cal-ais-viral-success-a-small-army-of-influencers-paid-off/"
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