Newsletter #12

🚀 Join us on November 20th for the next FFF

📅 Mark your calendars for November 20th! Join us for a special edition of Founders, Funders & Friends that will feature our guest, 17-year-old Zach Yadegari, Co-Founder and CEO of Cal AI, an AI-powered calorie-tracking app that's generating $13 million in annual recurring revenue within just six months of its launch, alongside Alap Shah, Managing Partner at Studio Management and Founder of Sentieo (acquired). 👉 RSVP here to join us❗

Zach Yadegari, a 17-year-old tech prodigy and serial entrepreneur, has already made impressive strides in the world of startups. He began coding at just seven years old, driven by an early passion for technology and problem-solving. By the age of 14, he had launched an unblocked gaming website that rapidly attracted 5 million users, which he later sold for a six-figure sum at 16. Now, Zach is the Co-Founder and CEO of Cal AI, an AI-powered calorie-tracking app that's generating $13 million in annual recurring revenue within just six months of its launch. Despite balancing the demands of high school, Yadegari continues to lead his growing team of 17 employees, all while exploring ways to expand the app’s demographic reach and enhance its AI capabilities. His remarkable journey has been featured in Forbes, where he’s recognized for disrupting the health and fitness tech space with innovative AI solutions.

👂 Listen to our PODCAST here! 🎙️

Friends, we’ve launched not one but two podcasts for Founders, Funders & Friends (our community!) AND FAM (our monthly artist salon). We’ve been recording these monthly talks over the last few years & they’re available now for you to listen to.

Past FFF guests have included seasoned entrepreneurs and tech leaders (like Vinay Hiremath from Loom, Ankur Nagpal of Teachable/Carry, and more) and the FAM podcast has featured some incredible artists (Stephan Jenkins from Third Eye Blind, Barry Can’t Swim, Kae Burke from House of Yes).

❇️ Recently dropped episode with Josh Constine, formerly a TechCrunch Editor and VP At SignalFire is out NOW in the Founders, Funders & Friends Podcast! And we recently dropped the episode of Steven Sacks, co-founder of Digital Pulp and founder of bitforms gallery, a leading space for new media art in the FAM Podcast!

If you have any incredible builder or artists we should feature, feel free to respond to our newsletter with suggestions.

New episodes drop monthly so please follow & subscribe to each of them below!

🗽 Recap of our October Founders Funders & Friends Event

A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for our October Founders, Funders & Friends event! 🙏

We had an incredible evening and really enjoyed the talk between Kendrick Nguyen, CEO of Republic, and Alap Shah, Managing Partner at Studio Management.

Kendrick shared insights from his journey leading Republic, a global financial technology firm backed by Valor Equity Partners, Binance, and Morgan Stanley. He also reflected on his previous roles at AngelList, CoinList, and his expertise in navigating regulatory affairs. Alap brought his perspective as a seasoned entrepreneur and venture investor, making the discussion both insightful and inspiring.

🙌 A special thank you to our event partner, Quantify Funds! Your support made this evening truly memorable.

📸 Check out photos here.

🚀 More About Studio Management

At Studio Management, we're curating a community of our favorite builders, investors and talented folks in NYC. If you tell us about your work, we’ll tell you who you may want to chat with at our events and also help you elevate open roles and asks within the community. Submit your information here to stay connected.

Studio Management is a data-driven asset manager investing across public equities and venture capital. Our mission is to influence the flow of capital into companies that improve society & push culture forward.

To connect with the Studio Management team, reach out to us at [email protected]

When you’re ready, here are three ways to get involved!

1) Sign up! Join us at our next event! Sign up and complete your profile over at the Founders, Funders & Friends site & follow FFF on IG.

2) Do you need support for your startup? Fill out your details here to help us get to know you more.

3) Fundraising? Send us a note at [email protected] to share more about your round. We’d love to hear from you!