Esc
I Spent 24 Hours With iOS Millionaires
Starter Story
Aug 16, 2026
I traveled to New York to spend 24 hours with the guys who built and sold Cal AI for millions. The video answers one main question: now that AI lets anyone build an app, is it still possible to build a successful one in 2026? Along the way, we talked about what it was like to build a company with your friends, and what they're doing now that they've sold.
Free iOS Bootcamp: https://clickhubspot.com/bqt8
Follow Blake: https://x.com/blakeandersonw
Follow Zach: https://x.com/zach_yadegari
Cal AI: https://calai.app/
🔔 Follow the Second Channel: @StarterStoryBuild
🏁 We're hiring: starterstory.com/jobs
This video is an educational case study of this founder’s experience. It is not financial advice and does not guarantee any income or results. Every business is different and your results may vary.
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No tools listed for this business.
This
is
Blake
and
this
is
Zach
and
together
with
two
more
of
their
friends
they
built
one
of
the
most
successful
mobile
apps
of
all
time
Cal
AI
Cal
AI
Cal
AI
Cal
AI
Cal
AI
Cal
AI
Cal
AI
After
millions
of
downloads
they
sold
it
for
multiple
millions
of
dollars
but
here's
the
thing
you
might
think
you
know
the
Cal
AI
story
but
what
I
wanted
to
get
is
the
real
story
What
was
it
like
for
four
friends
to
build
something
amazing
How
did
they
work
together
and
how
did
they
pull
this
whole
thing
off
But
the
most
important
question
is
there
still
an
opportunity
to
build
successful
apps
in
2026
or
is
this
trend
over
So
I
flew
out
to
New
York
City
to
meet
up
with
these
guys
and
had
them
share
everything
and
what
they
told
me
changed
how
I
think
about
the
future
of
apps
apps
forever
Come
join
me
as
I
spend
24
hours
with
iOS
millionaires
I'm
Pat
Walls
and
this
is
Starter
Story
We
are
here
in
beautiful
New
York
City
where
apparently
these
18
year
old
kids
built
an
app
that
sold
for
millions
and
millions
of
dollars
We're
about
to
go
meet
them
right
now
I
think
this
is
it
Let's
go
check
it
Hey
what's
up
How
are
you
man
Good
to
see
you
App
millionaires
Yeah
what's
up
Pat
What's
up
Zach
Good
to
see
you
Okay
tell
me
who
you
are
and
what
roles
you
had
in
this
amazing
Cal
AI
story
and
all
the
other
stuff
that
you've
done
My
name
is
Blake
Anderson
25
years
old
from
Philadelphia
I
was
co
founder
slash
investor
slash
advisor
at
Cal
AI
I
went
to
school
at
Tulane
where
I
began
building
apps
The
first
apps
I
built
mostly
failed
and
then
I
started
building
AI
apps
It
was
a
little
bit
I
built
my
first
two
apps
that
Zach
and
I
got
in
contact
and
began
building
Cal
AI
together
I'm
19
I'm
from
New
York
initially
My
role
at
Cal
AI
was
I
was
the
CEO
I
started
coding
pretty
young
at
seven
but
my
first
app
on
the
app
store
at
12
My
freshman
year
of
high
school
I
started
my
first
company
and
I
scaled
that
to
five
million
users
over
two
years
and
started
making
60k
a
year
but
sold
that
when
I
was
16
And
so
after
meeting
Blake
and
coming
to
the
idea
of
Cal
AI
together
we
ultimately
decided
like
let's
burn
all
the
boats
let's
go
all
in
on
this
idea
because
now
we
have
the
dream
team
to
like
come
together
and
really
make
it
work
Walk
me
through
some
of
the
numbers
of
Cal
AI
The
first
month
we
made
30k
and
the
second
month
we
made
like
over
a
hundred
And
then
within
eight
months
we
were
at
a
million
dollars
a
month
which
is
pretty
wild
and
then
from
we
have
grown
to
what
are
we
on
track
for
60
million
this
year
Probably
like
50
50
million
this
year
I
want
to
talk
about
the
dream
team
I
know
that
there's
two
other
founders
that
were
deeply
involved
in
Cal
AI
Who
were
those
and
would
you
potentially
be
able
to
like
get
them
on
the
line
right
now
we
can
just
chat
with
them
real
quick
Yeah
of
course
All
right
there
we
go
What's
up
Jake
What
up
Jake
What's
up
guys
This
is
Pat
Starter
story
here
We're
in
the
middle
of
filming
right
now
and
just
get
who
you
are
how
old
you
are
what
your
role
was
in
Cal
AI
My
name
is
Jake
Castillo
I
am
31
years
old
and
I
was
the
CMO
slash
COO
at
Cal
AI
So
I
handled
our
marketing
operations
and
the
overall
business
operations
I'm
Henry
I'm
18
years
old
and
my
role
at
Cal
AI
was
CTO
So
I
managed
the
tech
team
made
the
product
as
seamless
as
possible
to
use
What
about
all
four
of
you
guys
worked
so
well
together
This
is
something
I've
thought
about
a
lot
and
I
think
what
it
is
is
all
of
us
had
our
own
domain
expertise
and
we
all
had
complete
trust
in
each
other
to
go
and
like
handle
that
one
task
That's
why
we
didn't
really
have
any
fights
We
were
just
all
like
so
focused
on
the
one
thing
that
we
became
experts
in
At
such
a
young
age
did
you
have
any
idea
that
Cal
AI
would
get
this
big
or
this
would
become
as
big
as
it
did
when
you
first
started
it
When
we
first
started
it
we
were
still
working
for
a
salary
on
another
app
and
it
was
hard
to
believe
that
this
would
be
the
app
that
caused
us
to
just
go
on
our
own
and
become
I
guess
like
self
employed
Well
thanks
guys
for
FaceTiming
and
I
wish
you
could
be
here
We're
going
to
be
having
fun
today
filming
but
thank
you
for
coming
on
and
sharing
your
story
Of
course
have
fun
guys
Peace
out
guys
Cool
All
right
well
we're
going
to
talk
all
about
all
your
apps
You
have
multiple
apps
You're
working
on
something
new
so
I'm
excited
to
learn
Go
see
your
offices
Go
hang
out
in
New
York
City
and
learn
about
apps
Let's
do
it
All
right
Let's
go
Ready
Yeah
Let's
do
it
Okay
so
we're
here
in
Elizabeth
Street
Garden
What
I
love
about
what
you
guys
did
is
that
you
built
with
your
friends
So
tell
me
how
did
the
first
genesis
of
CalAI
get
started
Henry
and
I
initially
met
at
a
coding
camp
when
we
were
10
years
old
and
that
turned
into
us
gaming
almost
every
day
together
and
then
eventually
that
friendship
led
us
and
our
shared
passion
programming
to
building
a
couple
projects
Around
that
same
time
was
when
I
initially
sent
a
DM
to
Blake
to
meet
him
and
then
after
things
started
ramping
up
with
CalAI
we
were
looking
for
someone
to
come
in
as
like
a
COO
role
and
I
knew
Jake
was
doing
great
work
at
StudyBuddy
so
I
offered
that
he
join
us
and
thankfully
he
did
want
to
join
and
things
just
went
great
from
there
The
whole
partnership
the
whole
team
we
had
a
great
dynamic
Can
you
give
me
an
example
of
when
there
was
like
a
fork
in
the
road
like
a
really
big
product
decision
or
there
was
like
a
major
conflict
and
how
you
guys
settled
that
The
initial
acquisition
offers
end
of
24
we
were
receiving
low
eight
figure
acquisition
offers
and
everyone
on
the
team
was
conflicted
because
on
one
hand
this
is
life
changing
money
for
everybody
involved
and
on
the
other
hand
we
have
this
product
which
we
deeply
care
about
and
we
feel
like
there's
so
much
more
growth
to
be
done
and
I
think
the
way
we
resolved
this
was
we
kept
super
open
communication
We
would
all
call
each
other
constantly
during
this
period
and
through
this
trust
in
one
another
we
were
able
reach
a
collective
decision
like
no
we
definitely
should
not
sell
but
I
think
in
a
co
founder
founder
dynamic
in
a
relationship
where
you
don't
have
those
levels
of
trust
you're
not
going
to
take
your
company
to
its
true
ceiling
and
its
true
potential
Cool
guys
well
trust
is
the
number
one
thing
so
for
anyone
watching
this
who's
building
alone
looking
for
other
people
to
build
with
find
people
you
can
trust
and
we're
going
to
go
to
your
office
and
I
want
to
talk
more
about
the
opportunity
of
iOS
and
see
if
it's
something
that
you
would
recommend
for
people
to
still
who
are
watching
this
right
now
to
do
next
So
let's
do
it
Let's
do
it
All
right
guys
I'm
just
finishing
up
the
edit
on
this
video
right
here
and
putting
this
video
together
it
got
me
thinking
about
something
AI
has
made
it
easier
than
ever
to
build
obviously
but
what
see
founders
getting
wrong
is
not
working
on
the
right
ideas
So
we
work
together
with
HubSpot
to
put
together
a
free
resource
for
you
to
help
you
ship
your
iOS
app
in
seven
days
We
will
show
you
how
to
go
from
a
simple
idea
to
an
app
live
in
the
app
store
and
you
can
even
do
it
if
you've
never
written
a
line
of
code
in
your
life
So
if
you're
ready
to
build
just
click
the
link
in
the
All
right
we
are
here
at
the
10x
office
I
want
to
understand
is
what
is
the
size
of
the
opportunity
of
building
apps
in
2026
People
think
Kalei
was
this
massive
pie
that
we
were
eating
from
we'll
say
Kalei
50
mil
per
year
but
then
the
app
store
as
a
whole
so
the
entire
pie
is
100
billion
We're
one
two
thousandth
of
the
amount
of
total
opportunity
I
know
a
lot
of
people
they
think
the
opportunity
looks
like
this
but
if
you
apply
new
technology
either
AI
or
in
other
forms
the
real
opportunity
looks
like
this
It's
a
hundred
billion
dollars
today
It's
growing
over
10
year
over
year
I
think
almost
within
the
next
six
years
it'll
be
over
200
billion
dollars
spent
just
on
the
iOS
app
store
alone
What
do
you
think
about
copycats
because
that
was
kind
of
a
thing
like
you
could
copy
an
app
a
couple
years
ago
just
attach
a
sick
distribution
strategy
to
it
and
it
could
kind
of
work
but
do
you
think
that
still
works
today
It
can
work
for
getting
to
ten
thousand
dollars
a
month
or
even
a
hundred
thousand
dollars
a
month
but
the
reality
is
that
I
think
you
see
much
greater
potential
and
outcomes
when
you
are
building
something
new
and
philosophically
too
I
find
it
much
more
inspiring
If
Zach's
initial
DM
to
me
had
been
hey
I
created
a
copycat
of
this
I
wouldn't
have
responded
and
we
never
would
have
worked
together
and
I
think
that
a
lot
of
legit
professionals
feel
the
same
way
Any
final
advice
Zach
to
people
watching
this
who
are
looking
for
their
differentiated
idea
or
marketing
strategy
I
mean
mean
this
is
like
advice
that
a
lot
of
people
give
but
if
you're
really
solving
your
own
problem
it
really
makes
everything
fall
into
place
because
you
know
exactly
what
you
would
want
out
of
the
product
you're
building
so
it
makes
the
app
design
very
intuitive
and
with
the
marketing
you
know
exactly
who
you're
marketing
to
because
it's
marketing
to
yourself
and
so
you
know
exactly
the
pain
points
that
you
hit
on
It's
a
great
way
to
start
I
would
recommend
like
if
you
don't
know
the
idea
to
necessarily
look
for
look
for
something
that
would
actually
help
you
What
I
want
to
talk
to
you
guys
next
is
what
you're
going
to
do
next
but
first
could
give
me
a
tour
of
this
office
I'd
love
to
out
let's
do
it
This
is
the
office
we
got
10x
studio
works
out
of
here
so
we
have
a
number
of
subsidiary
companies
and
then
we
have
a
bunch
of
friends
that
work
out
of
here
as
well
Jake
founder
of
Early
this
is
Ethan
CEO
of
Eco
How
you
doing
Pat
What
up
Good
Yep
that's
You
guys
sold
CalAI
for
crazy
amount
of
money
I
know
you
can't
share
the
exact
amount
but
it's
just
an
amazing
story
What
did
that
feel
like
to
like
build
something
huge
sell
it
at
such
a
young
age
It
didn't
hit
right
away
part
of
the
reason
was
because
we
were
all
fragmented
we
were
all
in
different
states
when
it
happened
so
there
was
no
like
big
celebration
or
anything
to
tie
it
off
and
then
the
next
like
six
months
after
that
just
a
massive
sense
of
honestly
relief
just
like
I
just
fuck
up
on
everything
for
the
rest
of
my
life
and
I
will
still
be
in
a
comfortable
position
So
tell
me
about
that
I
think
a
lot
of
people
watching
this
they
might
see
you
on
x
or
youtube
or
whatever
they're
going
okay
this
guy's
got
millions
in
the
bank
why
is
he
even
doing
this
I
played
video
games
when
I
was
growing
up
I
was
obsessed
with
video
games
it's
all
I
did
and
I
just
look
at
entrepreneurship
as
the
greatest
video
game
in
the
world
I
would
be
so
bored
just
sitting
around
maybe
going
on
boats
just
like
living
life
I
like
playing
this
game
and
I
want
to
keep
doing
it
An
analogy
I've
been
using
with
my
friends
recently
is
if
you
were
playing
GTA
would
you
ever
go
put
your
character
down
and
watch
tv
for
four
hours
Fuck
no
you
would
not
do
that
ever
and
I
think
that
for
us
entrepreneurship
is
that
game
Yeah
obviously
you
just
had
this
sale
just
a
few
months
ago
but
you're
already
working
on
new
stuff
you
were
telling
me
so
can
you
just
give
us
a
little
details
on
that
My
primary
project
right
now
is
called
10x
app
builder
10x
is
Shopify
for
apps
and
so
beyond
just
writing
code
for
the
individual
we're
helping
with
the
process
of
ideation
we're
going
to
be
hosting
user
backends
helping
users
design
their
instagram
page
in
an
aesthetic
manner
like
I
could
not
recommend
it
enough
to
anybody
who's
new
apps
Right
now
my
primary
project
is
called
Flow
and
it
is
a
brand
where
we
will
have
a
suite
of
tools
and
products
that
will
power
people's
productivity
and
also
their
health
and
I've
been
documenting
the
entire
journey
of
building
this
company
on
my
youtube
channel
because
I
really
want
to
show
other
people
how
being
an
entrepreneur
really
looks
to
help
people
like
myself
who
when
I
was
younger
I
always
wanted
to
be
one
but
I
never
knew
exactly
what
went
into
it
what
it
looked
like
Well
good
luck
guys
thank
you
for
having
me
Thanks
for
having
us
and
I
wish
you
the
best
congratulations
on
the
sale
and
you
guys
are
you
guys
are
crushing
it
so
thanks
Thank
you
appreciate
it
Okay
we
are
here
outside
the
office
so
is
this
opportunity
still
available
when
it's
so
easy
to
build
now
and
the
app
store
is
flooded
with
apps
yes
but
take
distinct
ideas
and
put
your
differentiated
spin
on
it
whether
it's
different
features
or
a
different
different
approach
or
it's
different
distribution
so
there
you
go
that's
your
answer
I
think
iOS
apps
are
going
to
get
bigger
and
bigger
every
year
and
if
I
were
starting
right
now
that's
what
I'd
be
building
All
right
guys
hope
you
guys
enjoyed
this
episode
this
is
me
spending
24
with
app
millionaires
hope
you
enjoyed
let
us
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