What is B*?

B* is short for Brown Startup Fellowship; a 10 week summer fellowship for Brown University computer science students to build software products.

Every year, we give a $10,000 grant to a team of two student founders. From June 1 - August 15, you’ll build your product and launch it to friends, family and random internet strangers.

To get a sense for what kind of products you can build in B*, check out our fellows’ work here.

Who runs B*?

Sam Dooman was the 1st employee at Down Dog, and helped Down Dog blitz-scale to millions of users during the Covid-19 lockdowns. As a B* fellow, you’ll have access to Sam as a mentor via brief, weekly calls.

FAQ

How do I apply?

Apply to our 2025 summer fellowship here!

Are there any restrictions for my idea/team?

• Product must be a software project; a web app or mobile app.
• Team must be 2 Brown university students, living in the same city, working on the project full time.
• Students must have built a software project on a team before, either in a class like CS32 or outside of class.

Why the name B*?

It’s a reference to A*, the graph search algorithm. Creating a software product from scratch requires conviction you’re building something useful (heuristic), and lot of iteration (backtracking).