We help companies build better AI

STΛR MODΞ designs and develops modern web applications with AI at their core. Whether you're starting from scratch or leveling up an existing product, we help you build and ship faster—with confidence.

How we can help

Full-stack product thinking

We don't just build what's specced—we help define it. From early concept to launch, we think holistically about product, tech, and user experience.

Experts in AI-native apps

We specialize in building with AI from the ground up—LLM copilots, automated workflows, and AI agents that actually work in production. The AI field is evolving fast, and we will keep your application on the frontier.

Lean team and fast execution

We're a small, veteran team with an optimized stack and years of collaboration. No middle layers. No drag. Just high-velocity execution.

Meet the team

Don't be a stranger—we may like AI, but we love people.

Spencer Smith

AI Engineer & Product Strategist

Spencer is a full-stack AI engineer, data scientist, and product-minded builder. Before co-founding the studio, he spent a decade at Zillow as a Principal Data Scientist, where he led the development of intelligent systems and AI agents. He holds a master's in machine learning, has worked as a research scientist, and previously founded an AI startup focused on automating customer service in healthcare. Spencer brings a rare mix of deep ML expertise, product intuition, and startup execution speed to every engagement.

Mikael Lirbank

Technical Architect & Lead Engineer

Mikael is a veteran software engineer and technical architect with over 20 years in the startup ecosystem. Most recently, he served as Lead Engineer at BootstrapLabs, a VC firm focused on AI, where he turned early-stage ideas into polished, production-ready products. Mikael has a deep command of modern web technologies and a builder's instinct for clean architecture and long-term maintainability. In an age of "vibe coding," Mikael brings structure, clarity, and craftsmanship.

Portfolio

A few examples of the AI-powered tools and platforms we've helped bring to life—ranging from healthcare copilots to knowledge systems for expert users.

What is it like to work with us?

We partner with innovative teams to solve hard problems with clarity, speed, and deep technical expertise. Here's what a few of them had to say.

FLIR Conservator

Conservator™ is a powerful cloud-based data lifecycle management (DLM) application that enables data scientists to quickly build image datasets and accelerate AI development. https://www.flir.com/products/conservator/

Mikael was a pleasure to work with. Very knowledgable, very competent, very productive.

Justin Muncaster

Teledyne FLIR/Muncaster Consulting

SpikeGadgets

SpikeGadgets develops advanced neuroscience tools that combine high-performance, lab-grade hardware with an open-source software platform for science-driven customization. https://spikegadgets.com/

Mikael came to our company and gave a well-organized and highly informative talk to our developers about how to use AI to speed up software development in a practical way. Mikael has a knack for explaining complex ideas in a way that is very accessible, and our entire group was immediately inspired and empowered to use the emerging methodologies he showcased. I was super impressed!

Mattias Karlsson

SpikeGadgets CEO

Open source

We're proud to share our work with the community.

Neon testing

A Vitest utility for automated integration tests with Neon.

npmjs.com/package/neon-testing github.com/starmode-base/neon-testing

Google Calendar URL

Generate shareable URLs for adding Google Calendar events.

npmjs.com/package/google-calendar-url github.com/lirbank/google-calendar-url

PimDB

A lightweight, persisted in-memory database built from the ground up for the browser. PimDB provides fast and efficient text indexing with substring, n-gram, and sorted indexes, enabling quick lookups for partial and exact matches. It's 4,000x+ faster than Array.filter for sorted lookups and 700x+ faster for substring searches on a dataset of 100,000 documents.

npmjs.com/package/neon-testing github.com/starmode-base/neon-testing

Technologies we are excited about

Ably Bun Clerk Cursor Drizzle ORM ESLint Helicone Inngest Jupyter Neon OpenAI PostgreSQL Prettier Tailwind CSS TanStack Start TypeScript Vapi Vitest Zod