Who is Zach Yadegari? US entrepreneur was once rejected by Harvard, Yale, Stanford, built $30 million startup, sold gaming app for $100,000

Zach Yadegari, an American entrepreneur, once revealed that he was rejected by top universities like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford. Zach Yadegari said in an X post in 2025 that despite his excellent academic record and multimillion-dollar business, he was rejected by top institutes. In his post, he claimed that he had a 34 ACT score, and a 4.0 GPA. He also had a startup that generated around $30 million in annual revenue. Notably, Yadegari also mentioned that he had got admission offers from Georgia Tech, University of Miami, and University of Texas.

The post at that time surprised many. Many questioned why he was denied admission to top institutes despite having a strong entrepreneurial background. His application essay was also widely discussed.

Yadegari claimed that he learned to code at the age of seven and charged $30 an hour for coding lessons at 10. He also built a gaming website at 14, which generated him a revenue of $60,000 a year. Later, he moved to San Francisco to build Cal AI.

Who is Zach Yadegari?

Zach Yadegari is a young American entrepreneur. He gained widespread attraction for building multimillion businesses before turning 20. He built a website called 'Totally Science.' It allowed students to play browser-based games without downloads. He reportedly sold the website at 16 for $100,000.

Then he launched Cal AI, which became a big step in his career. Cal AI was an AI-powered app aimed at tracking calories. It gained 10 million users globally, and annual revenue of $30 million. Cal AI was acquired by MyFitnessPal in 2025.

What is Zach Yadegari doing now?

After Cal AI, Yadegari worked to build Flow. It focused on wellness and productivity. The first product of the company was Flow Alarm Clock, which was designed to reduce phone usage in the morning. It forces the users to get up and turn off the their alarm. If they don't, the selected app will remain blocked.

What was his motivation?

While talking about the motivation the build the platform, Yadegari once said, "I sometimes wake up, and I scroll on my phone for 30 minutes." Flow also tracks sleep patterns and sound, blending hardware with behavioral software.

He added, "We have to ship physical products and manufacture them. We have to scale with the amount of supply that we carry, and that’s tricky."

Success for Zach Yadegari arrived at a very young age. He learnt to code as a kid, sold multiple startups, and made his name in the list of entrepreneurs who challenged traditional ideas when it came to education and success.