Our story

How Stellar grew from an idea into an established learning platform.

A concise history of the people, courses, product work, and partnerships that turned a student project into a free resource for thousands of learners.

Meet the team

Explore by yearJump between years, or scroll through the sequence to see how mission, product, curriculum, and growth built on one another.
Timeline · 2023–2026

Watch a student idea unfold.

Over the next few years, students would turn a free study concept into courses, practice tools, partnerships, and a platform reaching tens of thousands of learners.

2023

The spark

As generative AI emerged, the founding team imagined study tools that could feel more personalized, intuitive, gamified, free, and accessible.

  1. March

    Mission

    Motivation

    Inspired by the emergence of generative AI, the founders began asking a simple question: what would studying feel like if every student could get personalized help for free?

    Mission

    Founding

    Stellar Learning was founded by Nicholas Wang, Aaryan Parikh, and Neel Parpia to build an interactive learning platform for students taking rigorous courses.

2024

Early growth

Stellar moved from idea to working platform as early courses, product features, design systems, engineering foundations, and testing practices started taking shape.

  1. April

    Product

    Graphic Design

    Stellar's visual identity took shape through graphics and design systems led by Rachel Kwan, whose work still gives the platform much of its personality.

  2. May

    Curriculum

    AP Economics Courses Launch

    AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics courses took shape through curriculum work by Alex Chen, who later helped scale academics as SVP of Academics and COO while the curriculum team reached up to 200 people at its peak.

    Product

    Backend Improvements

    Backend engineering gained structure through Vedh Reddy's work as VP of Engineering.

  3. June

    Product

    AI Improvements

    Stellar's AI direction became a stronger engineering focus with guidance from Warren Li, who continues to serve as SVP of Engineering.

  4. July

    Product

    First Public Launch

    Stellar officially launched its first version, opening free multiple-choice practice to AP students.

  5. September

    Curriculum

    AP CS Courses Launch

    AP Computer Science courses grew out of the Computer Science Curriculum department founded by Aryan Narendra.

    Growth

    Marketing Growth

    Marketing became a more organized growth function through outreach led by Aditya Siddabathuni, who became Director of Marketing.

    Curriculum

    AMC 8 Course Launches

    AMC 8 course development began under Benjamin Zhang, the first director of the Competitive Math Curriculum department, helping Stellar expand beyond AP courses.

    Curriculum

    AP Biology Course Launches

    The AP Biology course launched through curriculum work by Eric Li.

    Curriculum

    Drawing: Basic Course Launches

    Drawing: Basic launched through Nolan Thelen's work, alongside early marketing efforts for Stellar.

  6. October

    Mission

    501(c)(3) Status Received

    Stellar officially became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, giving its free-learning mission a formal home.

    Mission

    PVSA Certification Received

    Stellar also became a PVSA-certified organization, allowing volunteers to receive certified and verifiable service hours.

    Curriculum

    Four Physics Courses Launch

    Four physics courses launched through Liam Tran's leadership: AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP Physics C: Mechanics, and Honors Physics. He continues to serve as VP of the Physics and Chemistry Curriculum.

  7. December

    Product

    Product Testing

    Product quality became more formal when Alina Zhu founded Stellar's Product Testing team.

2025

First momentum

Stellar began gaining real traction as AP season, outreach, partnerships, competitive math, and returning learners brought the platform to a much larger audience.

  1. January

    Product

    Competitive Math Practice Launches

    Competitive math practice expanded through Derek Li's program for AMC 10, AMC 12, and AIME, bringing Stellar's approach to a new group of students.

  2. March

    Growth

    BISV Hacks Sponsorship

    Stellar sponsored the first iteration of BISV Hacks (opens in a new tab), marking an early step into student events and community support.

  3. April

    Growth

    Social Media Outreach

    Social media became a stronger acquisition channel through strategy from Shaurya Singhal, helping Stellar reach students during its first AP season.

  4. May

    Growth

    First AP Season

    Stellar passed 5,000 users and reached learners across 80 countries and regions by the end of the 2025 AP season, showing that students were actively choosing free, student-built exam prep.

  5. June

  6. August

    Product

    Neel Resigns as CTO

    Stellar navigated a difficult CTO transition when Neel Parpia resigned from the role.

  7. November

    Growth

    AMC Season Growth

    During the 2025 AMC 10/12 season, thousands of students chose Stellar as their competitive mathematics preparation platform.

2026

Continued expansion

Stellar continued broadening its reach through partnerships, public recognition, stronger courses, and a larger learner community across exam seasons.

  1. March

    Growth

    Second BISV Hacks

    Stellar sponsored the second iteration of BISV Hacks (opens in a new tab), supporting a hackathon with over 125 registered high school participants.

  2. April

    Growth

    Summit Education Partnership

    Stellar partnered with Summit Education (opens in a new tab), a company that provides educational summer opportunities to thousands of high school students.

  3. May

    Growth

    Second AP Season

    Stellar exited the 2026 AP season with over 45,000 users and reached learners across 140 countries and regions, a defining milestone for the organization and its mission.

Learner network · March 2023–May 2026

One spark becomes a community.

Learner growthEach dot is a cluster of 500 students reached.

May 2025First AP season

5,000+learners · 80 countries and regions

May 2026Second AP season

45,000+learners · 140 countries and regions

Users at the end of the 2025 and 2026 AP seasons.
Overall

Stellar keeps growing to reach more learners.

Through continuous product expansion, new curriculum, course launches, partnerships, and outreach, Stellar is working to make high-quality academic support more accessible to the students who need it.

2023
Founded by students
501(c)(3)
Public-benefit mission
45,000+
Learners reached
Full summary

All of Stellar at a glance.

A year-by-year review of the same milestones, gathered in one place so the full history is easier to scan. Pick a milestone to jump to it in the timeline.

2023

The spark2 milestones

2024

Early growth14 milestones

2025

First momentum10 milestones

2026

Continued expansion4 milestones

Join 45,000+ students already acing their exams

Probably the only study site you'll see all day with zero paywalls. Other "free" study sites hate us for this one.

Launch Stellar Join Discord