Cal AI · B2C · AI calorie tracking app
Ask fitness creators to scan their food with your app in their what-I-eat videos
Converted very well and scaled across creators; founder gives no numbers
Workedinfluencerpositioning-niche
What they did
Thesis: people who track calories most are in health and fitness, which has millions of creators but few brands to work with them (protein powder, athleisure), so many had never had a brand deal. These creators already posted 'what I eat in a day' / 'to look like this you have to eat like this' videos about once a week, so the ask was simply to scan their food with Cal AI on camera. Jake's test for whether this transfers: huge creator supply, few competing brands, and content that naturally fits the app (an astrology app fails all three, and its few creators may be locked into exclusivity deals).
What happened
Dawson's first videos in the format converted very well; copying it across many fitness creators 'worked tremendously well'.
- Stage
- Scale (launch to scale)
In their words
Sub Club by RevenueCat · How Cal AI turned creators into a growth machine — Jake Castillo, Cal AI“So there was all of these creators that never had had a brand deal before, and we finally gave them an opportunity to get a brand deal. So there was just a huge supply, the well ran deep.”
“So it was super easy to ask them to just, oh, when you're showing your food in those videos, just scan it with Cal AI. And that was the thesis.”
“There's a million other creators doing the same type of content as Dawson, so let's just copy and paste. We did that and it worked tremendously well.”
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More from this episode
- Cal AI: Test many video angles with one willing creator, then copy the winner everywhereFound the format that worked, which was then copied across fitness creators
- Cal AI: Give creators an app version that shows your name and logo on screenFounder says it made the message clearer; no numbers
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- Cal AI: Sponsor UFC fighters who count every calorie to promote a calorie trackerNo download spike after thousands of dollars; viewers don't want to track
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- Cal AI: Pay creators a flat rate set to break even on their average viewsViral hits become pure profit; founder says that's where the real money is
- Cal AI: Never pay creators more per 1,000 views than you earn per 1,000 viewsMeans turning down many creators; no outcome numbers
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- Cal AI: Send creators surprise bonuses when they crush it, even without a bonus clauseFounder says creators referred their friends; no numbers
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