I built a $50M AI app in high school (and just sold it for...)
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How did Zach Yadegari achieve a $50M app in high school?
Zach, we got to set the table.
What lessons did Zach learn from college rejections?
Zach, how old are you? I'm 19. You just sold your company. You just sold your company for how much money, Zach?
All right, what's up?
Zach, you're here, 19 years old. The last time you called on this podcast, you were in high school. You, I think, were like between third and fourth period or on lunch break. And you did a podcast recording with us in front of, I don't know, a quarter million people or something like that. And now we fast forward, I don't know, a year and change later. You just sold your company.
What advice does Zach give about selling a company?
You just sold your company for how much money, Zach?
I can't reveal how much we sold for, unfortunately, but I could tell you that right before selling, we finished 2025 having done $30 million in revenue. And now the company's grown. In January, we just did $5.7 million in revenue.
Wow.
5.7 million in January. So if you were to multiply by 12 and say like what we could do this year, you're talking about like a 50 million plus revenue company, but 30 million last year. Dude, that's amazing. Like, you know, just the way you say it, you say it so calmly and like a grownup, but like, can we just take a second, Sam, just to be amazed and just give the kids some props. Like that is incredible.
What are the dos and don'ts of entrepreneurship according to Zach?
You're a teenager who built an app with your friends got it to $30 million in annual revenue, and sold your company just now to MyFitnessPal.
And last time we talked to you, you were on, I think, literally your lunch break, and you were in high school. I know that you were applying to college, and on the podcast, you were saying, I think I'm going to go to college. Are you on your lunch break at college now? Is that where you are? Are you at a dorm?
I mean, I'm not going to lie. I've missed many classes this semester. I'm at the University of Miami. I am a freshman.
How did Zach's early decisions impact his app's valuation?
Okay, so you're a freshman at Miami. And I believe, by the way, I remember being outraged on Twitter by this. I think I was one of your defenders here, where you applied to a bunch of colleges you wanted to go to, and you got rejected, which is insane to be a teenager who's got an app that's doing tens of millions in revenue, and the college admissions office was like... We didn't like your essay or whatever. Your SAT score doesn't show that you're exceptional. Obviously, you were exceptional. Can you tell that story of maybe facing a little bit of rejection and how that felt?
Yeah. I mean, right after the podcast that we did last time, yeah, I was submitting everything. I applied to every single Ivy League school, Stanford, a few others.
What innovative ideas does Zach suggest for app development?
Stanford was my top choice that I wanted to get into. And just one by one, rejection, rejection, rejection, rejection. And I mean, I tweeted about it because I had a 4.0 unweighted GPA. At the time I applied, my company was doing, I think, 15 million a year when I applied. And I had on paper what most people need to get in, but I was just rejected from everywhere, which I felt was pretty surprising.
Why do you think that was? Do you know? There's no way to know, really. It's a black box, but do you have any suspicions?
There's no way to know.
Your post kind of went viral. Did anything happen from that? Did anybody reach out?
Yeah, to be honest, it was actually great. It might have been better that I got rejected from colleges than gotten into any because I posted. It got like 40 million views on Twitter, and I had a ton of really cool people, like the mayor of Miami. Texted me afterwards and we actually met up. That's part of the reason I even decided to go to U Miami was the support from him and a bunch of other cool people like Alex Ohanian and a bunch of others that had like reached out to support me after that.
That's awesome. Yeah, you kind of needed that.
Where is Zach investing his money after the sale?
Nobody wants a team that's too perfect and successful. So you kind of needed a little bit of likability, a little bit of rejection in the backstory. So I think in the end, it's a good thing.
Yeah, but I didn't get any sympathy from the post. They were just like all mad at me. Yeah, I don't think that you deserve sympathy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Zach Yadegari achieve a $50M app in high school?
0:00–0:01
2
What lessons did Zach learn from college rejections?
0:01–0:38
3
What advice does Zach give about selling a company?
0:38–1:21
4
What are the dos and don'ts of entrepreneurship according to Zach?
1:21–1:58
5
How did Zach's early decisions impact his app's valuation?
1:58–2:37
6
What innovative ideas does Zach suggest for app development?
2:37–3:46
7
Where is Zach investing his money after the sale?
3:46–6:07
8
What skills does Zach believe he needs to improve?
6:07–1:09:51
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