Build something real. Not a résumé line.
STARC is a small nonprofit that helps students ship real products and do real research — not to buy a résumé line. Live products, real users, honest build logs.
Other programs sell the look of experience. STARC doesn't.
Elsewhere, students are sold pay-to-play research programs, consultant-built “passion projects” and spots in pay-to-publish journals. Too often what they get back is a certificate, a name on a paper nobody reads, or a project someone else did.
Admissions readers and recruiters have learned to discount those lines. STARC works the other way: you build a thing that works and that real people use, and keep an honest record of how you built it.
Two tracks, one rule: real output.
One-Person Company (OPC) cohort
12 students, 8 weeks. Use AI to build a small real product, launch it, find real users and keep a weekly build log. Graduation is judged by evidence, not a certificate.
The full program →Research track
Rare openings to work on a real project with an active researcher. It opens only when a mentor genuinely has room. Publication is never promised.
How it works →From application to Demo Day
Apply with something you made
Plus a 48-hour task: build and publish a one-page tool with any AI tool. We review applications with school names removed.
Get reviewed on what you made
Every application is read by a person. Everyone hears back either way.
Build for 8 weeks
Ship, find users, write one build log a week. One hour of group review each week.
Demo Day
Show the live product, the real numbers and the full log, including what didn't work.
The list commercial programs won't publish
- No ghost-building or ghost-writing. You do the work. We review it.
- No guaranteed outcomes. Not funding, not revenue, not admissions, not publications.
- No recommendation letters or authorship for sale.
- No made-up results. We won't claim mentors, partners or outcomes we don't have.
Now live
- ★ Featured startup
TopCited AI
AI search visibilityHelps brands rank #1 when customers ask ChatGPT and Gemini what to buy. A live, research-backed product that simulates the AI's ranking before you publish.
Visit → - ★ Featured startup
heelo
Infrastructure for AI agentsThe execution layer for AI agents: ordering, booking, outreach and posting as a single call, instead of a 40-step browser loop.
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Shengdai Story
Interactive romance gameThe Monkey King and Lin Daiyu, two icons of classic fiction, living an everyday romance. Synced to the real calendar, with holiday stories and a collection that keeps growing.
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Agent Field Guide
AI traffic analyticsKnow which AI agents are reading your website, what they came for, and what they left without finding.
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Tidy
AI-ready dataTurns messy company spreadsheets into data AI agents can read correctly, with a readiness score and a data dictionary.
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Agent Replay
Agent observabilitySee exactly what your AI agents did. Every step, tool call and failure, replayed like video.
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Ship Log
Founder accountabilityStrava for founders: a weekly record of what you actually shipped, with streaks, medals and a recap card worth posting.
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Recommendation–Reality Gap
Open research ledgerAn open ledger of what happens when people actually follow AI recommendations for restaurants, travel and products, with every report linked to its source.
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Influencer Distortion System
Media analysis · now part of TopCitedScans an influencer's posts for coordinated emotional manipulation: inflation, anxiety, novelty bias, loaded language and time pressure.
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Questions we answer
Is buying authorship on a paper academic misconduct? The risk for college and grad school applicants
Buying authorship breaks journal and university rules, even where it isn't called misconduct. Here's the real risk for applicants.
How do I check if a professor in a paid research program is real?
Four checks for the professor named in a paid research program: identity, title, recent work, and whether they will actually work with you.
Will admissions officers discount a project I built with AI?
What college AI policies actually say about AI-built projects, where the real risk sits, and how to present one honestly in your application.
What is a build in public cohort, and is it right for students?
What a build in public cohort actually is, what students gain and risk by joining one, and the questions to ask before you sign up.