Build something real. Not a résumé line.
STARC is a small nonprofit that helps students ship real products and do real research — without the fees the “background-boosting” industry charges. No tuition. A refundable deposit. Everything in the open.
Students are paying for experience that isn't real.
Paid “research internships” and résumé packages often cost tens of thousands of yuan. Too often what comes back is a certificate, a name on a paper nobody reads, or a project someone else did.
Meanwhile, papers are losing their value as a signal. What is still hard to fake is a thing that works and that real people use, together with an honest record of how you built it. That is what STARC helps you make.
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 admitted, then pay a refundable deposit
¥1,000 (US$150). Never before admission.
Build for 8 weeks
Ship, find users, write one build log a week. One hour of group review each week.
Demo Day, then your deposit comes back
In full within 14 days, even if your product didn't take off.
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 upsells. No follow-up courses, paid communities or "advanced tracks".
- No paid recommendation letters or name-on-paper deals.
- No payment before admission. Anyone asking for money in STARC's name before you are admitted is not us.
Honestly: we are small, and just starting this.
The first OPC cohort hasn't started yet. We'd rather tell you that than show you a wall of logos and numbers we can't back up.
When cohort one finishes, their products, usage numbers and build logs will be on this site, including the projects that didn't work. So will the money: deposits collected, returned and kept, and where every kept yuan went.
Applications for cohort one open soon.
Submit the application form now to register. We'll contact you when review begins.