A Chinese college graduate used an AI-assisted coding method known as "Vibe Coding" to build an open-source sentiment analysis project called BettaFish in just 10 days. The project unexpectedly skyrocketed to over 36,000 stars on GitHub, attracting massive attention from major tech firms and eventually a 30 million RMB (approx. $4.2 million) investment from Chen Tianqiao, founder of Shanda Group. The funding will upgrade BettaFish into an advanced AI simulation engine dubbed MiroFish.
Vibe Coding in Action: 36k Stars in a Week
According to the author's own account, the project started as a solution for his senior-year graduation project anxiety. He spent ten days during summer break, heavily relying on AI tools to build BettaFish, an open-source tool for public opinion analysis. Initially, even a PhD student in his lab deemed the project "below standard." However, after being shared on community forum Linux Do and a WeChat public account, BettaFish hit a viral inflection point. Within a week, it gained 20,000 stars on GitHub, eventually reaching 36,000 and topping the trending chart.
The author shared his Vibe Coding methodology: most of his time went into "market research and technology selection" rather than writing code lines. He positioned himself as a project manager and director, using Figma for sketches, handing off frontend UI polish to Gemini 3.0 Pro, and letting Claude handle complex engineering. He would even run eight AI agents in parallel to pick the best solutions. Writing clear development documents, he stressed, was not just for human readers but for providing precise prompts to AI.
Chen Tianqiao Steps In: $4.2M for a 'Super Individual'
After the project exploded, the student's inbox was flooded with job offers from big tech companies and investment inquiries. Amid the pressure, Shanda Group founder Chen Tianqiao reached out personally. Chen admitted that what drew him was not BettaFish's raw technical maturity, but the author's "ability to see real problems and solve them in a new AI-driven way."
Backed by Shanda's "AI Native organization" philosophy, the student turned down all employment offers and moved to Shanghai. With Shanda's ample computing power, he developed an advanced prediction engine named MiroFish in just ten days. The achievement convinced Shanda to immediately invest 30 million RMB (approx. $4.2 million) and incubate the project full-scale, transforming the student from an intern into the CEO of an AI startup overnight.
MiroFish: From Rearview Mirror to Telescope
The author describes MiroFish as a "digital sandbox" and a multi-agent prediction engine. Unlike BettaFish, which can only analyze past data like a rearview mirror, MiroFish acts as a telescope. Users input breaking news or financial signals, and the system builds a parallel world where thousands of AI agents with independent personalities and memories interact, debate, and evolve. Decision-makers can then observe the chain reactions triggered by different variables — such as a PR statement or policy change — enabling them to "rehearse in the sandbox and decide in reality."