内容来源：https://techcrunch.com/2026/10/15/when-it-came-to-cal-ais-viral-success-a-small-army-of-influencers-paid-off/

内容总结：

19岁的Zach Yadegari创办AI卡路里追踪应用Cal AI，两年内创收超3000万美元，并于今年3月被MyFitnessPal收购。在TechCrunch Disrupt大会上，他分享了成功秘诀：大规模招募网红推广品牌，与网红协商按曝光量付费，并重点寻找拥有紧密社群、影响力可量化的创作者。他坦言大学并非成功的必要条件，唯一值得上大学的理由是享受社交生活。本月，他还推出了新的AI代理初创公司Persona，已融资1000万美元，目标是让计算与人类生活无缝融合。

中文翻译：

扎克·亚德加里高中毕业没多久，却已经取得了常人难以企及的成功。作为AI驱动的卡路里追踪应用Cal AI的创始人，亚德加里年仅19岁，但他的公司在过去两年间迅速走红。周四在TechCrunch Disrupt大会上，亚德加里分享了这段令人惊叹的崛起历程。

Cal AI成立于2024年，之所以能在网络上爆红，很大程度上得益于亚德加里的策略——部署一支由网红组成的小型推广队伍来为品牌造势。该公司两年内营收超过3000万美元，并于今年3月被MyFitnessPal收购，具体金额未披露。

在台上讨论自己的社交媒体策略时，亚德加里提到，成功的早期信号出现在一位网红发布了关于他们的内容后，大约两天内带来了近千名新用户。

“从那时起，我们意识到，这事对我们确实行得通，于是我们开始尽可能快地招募网红——花钱让尽可能多的人帮我们发帖，”他说。“我们发现这是一套清晰的公式。它几乎是线性的，但速度极快。我说的线性，是指他们每发一条帖子都能获得一定数量的浏览量，而这些浏览量会转化为用户。”

这位曾入选《福布斯》30位30岁以下精英榜的年轻人告诉观众，公司策略的一部分是与网红谈价格，承诺按照一定的触达规模支付相应的报酬。亚德加里补充说，很多网红都是“穷大学生”，他们“只想要现金”。“你直接跟他们说，好，我们会付你这个数，但你至少得给我们带来这么多使用量，并且持续发帖直到达标。”

成功的另一个重要因素是找到合适的网红——那些触达量可以被量化的人。“对我们来说最重要的事情，就是找到拥有非常紧密社群关系的网红，”这位创始人说。

亚德加里的父亲也在观众席中，他还将自己能自由追逐抱负归功于家人。那他也把成功归功于高等教育吗？并不尽然。

“我觉得上大学的唯一真正理由，就是你想在年轻的时候享受一下社交生活，和其他人待在一起，”他说，引来了观众的笑声。

本月早些时候，亚德加里还推出了Persona，一家新的AI智能体创业公司，已经融到了1000万美元。

亚德加里说，Persona的“总体使命”是“让计算与人类生活无缝融合”。他说，该公司的个人AI助手将“存在于任何有网络连接的地方”，包括“iMessage、应用、邮件、电话”。他还补充说，公司对这个AI助手的规划，其独特之处在于围绕这个应用打造一个“硬件生态”。

英文来源：

Zach Yadegari has enjoyed an immense amount of success for someone who only recently graduated from high school. Founder of the AI-fueled calorie tracking app Cal AI, Yadegari is only 19 but his company has rocketed to viral fame over the past two years. At TechCrunch Disrupt on Thursday, Yadegari shared details of that surprising rise to prominence.
Cal AI, which was founded in 2024, exploded onto the internet thanks largely to Yadegari’s strategy of deploying a small army of influencers to promote the brand. The company generated over $30 million in revenue in two years and was acquired by MyFitnessPal for an undisclosed amount of money in March.
Discussing his social strategy onstage, Yadegari noted that an early sign of success came when an influencer’s post about them led to approximately a thousand new users over the course of two days.
“From there, we figured out, okay, this can actually work for us, and so we started recruiting influencers as fast as we could — paying as many people as possible to start posting for us,” he said. “What we saw was that it was a clear formula. It was pretty linear, but it was extremely fast. I guess linear in the sense that every post they did would get a certain number of viewers that would convert.”
The Forbes 30 Under 30 alumnus told the audience that part of his company’s strategy was to negotiate rates with influencers, promising them certain payouts for a certain scale of reach. A lot of influencers are “broke college kids” who “just want cash,” Yadegari added. “You just ask them, okay, we’ll pay you this, but we need to get us at least this amount of use and keep posting until you get there.”
Another important component of success was finding the right influencers whose reach can be quantified. “The biggest thing for us was finding influencers that had very tight communities,” the founder said.
Yadegari, whose father was in the audience, also credited his family with giving him the freedom to go after his ambitions. Does he also credit higher education for his success? Not so much.
“I think the only real reason to go to college is if you want to have a fun social time as a kid and be with other people,” he said, to audience laughter.
Earlier this month, Yadegari also launched Persona, a new AI agent startup that has already raised $10 million.
Yadegari said the “overarching mission” with Persona is to “make computing seamless with human life.” The company’s personal AI assistant will “live anyplace with internet connection,” he said, including “iMessage, app, email, phone call.” He added that part of what distinguishes the company’s plans for this AI assistant is to build a “hardware ecosystem around” the app.