DataNativ

Learn AI. Build Apps. Stand Out.

Cohort starts mid-September · Grades 7–12

Not just tools.
Decision-making skills.

An 18-week live program where your teen investigates real business problems, builds AI-powered solutions, and presents findings with confidence — the way a professional analyst does it. SQL and Python are the vehicle. Judgment is the destination.

Apply for the cohort See what they'll build

18 weeks

Live, not self-paced

4 real projects

Each one shipped and public

1 capstone

Presented to a real panel

The Reality

Every kid uses AI.
Almost none can build with it.

That gap is the biggest opportunity in education right now. AI is reshaping colleges, internships, and careers — and the students who know how to build AI products and solve real-world problems will stand out in a way grades and test scores alone never could.

Coding is now a commodity

Coding was once a niche, high-value skill. AI commoditized it overnight. The future belongs to those who can build problem-solving skills, think critically, and use AI to create real solutions — not just write syntax. If you're only learning to code and think your future is secure, think twice.

Traditional curricula are struggling to keep pace

While schools are adapting to ChatGPT, very few are teaching the actual architecture behind it — like RAG, LLM orchestration, or AI product thinking.

DataNativ

Learn AI. Build Apps. Stand Out.

Cohort starts mid-September · Grades 7–12

Not just tools.
Decision-making skills.

Apply for the cohort See what they'll build

18 weeks

Live, not self-paced

4 real projects

Each one shipped and public

1 capstone

Presented to a real panel

The Reality

Every kid uses AI.
Almost none can build with it.

Coding is now a commodity

Traditional curricula are struggling to keep pace

While schools are adapting to ChatGPT, very few are teaching the actual architecture behind it — like RAG, LLM orchestration, or AI product thinking.

Our Philosophy

Not a class.
An AI product lab.

You don't sit through lectures. You ship products. Every week. Students graduate DataNativ with real deployed apps, a portfolio of projects, and a deep understanding of how the architecture actually works.

Rapid Prototyping

During the summer Bootcamp, use the DataNativ Studio to visually build and validate AI concepts without getting bogged down in syntax. In the 16-month Builder Track, the training wheels come off — you will write code entirely from scratch to build and deploy production-ready applications.

Think Like a Founder

Learn to identify real-world problems and design AI systems to solve them, focusing on product strategy and AI architecture.

Taught by a real AI director

Ashwin Thota has built enterprise AI at scale. This isn't staffed by recent grads — it's the real thing.

College apps get interesting fast

'I built an AI product' is a different kind of application essay. Our students have something real to show.

What they actually walk away with

Four real projects.
Not four certificates.

Every project ships to a real, public GitHub portfolio your teen owns — not a private grade in a gradebook.

WEEKS 1–6

SQL Foundation

NorthMart SQL Performance Report

5 real queries and 3 written findings on a 120,000-row retail dataset, with an AI-generated brief they fact-check line by line.

Ships to GitHub

Week 6

WEEKS 7–10

Python Entry

FoodFlash Intelligence Report

Their first programmatic AI API call, written in their own code — then they deliberately feed it wrong data to see it hallucinate.

Ships to GitHub

Week 10

WEEKS 11–14

pandas + Live App

SkyRoute "Ask My Analysis"

A working AI web app, live at a real public URL, that answers questions using only their own findings — nothing invented. They also automate analysis that would take hours by hand in Excel.

Live on GitHub Pages

Week 14

WEEKS 15–18

Capstone

A self-scoped business investigation

No guided prompts. They pick the question, scope it, analyze it, and defend it in a 10-minute presentation to a real panel.

Demo Day

Week 18

This is what makes DataNativ different

The capstone is a real business problem.
Not a simulation.

In the final 4 weeks, students receive a genuine brief — a dataset and a question that has no known answer. No guided prompts, no starter code. They scope the investigation themselves, run the full analysis pipeline, build a live AI-powered Q&A interface, and present their findings to a panel that asks hard questions.

Demo Day

A real panel, a live presentation, and genuine Q&A — not a quiz.

Live on the internet

Their AI Q&A interface is deployed and publicly reachable, not a local demo.

Full autonomy

Real dataset, unknown answer — the investigation is entirely theirs to own.

Why this isn't a summer AI camp

Real datasets.
Real presentations.
No badges.

Typical teen "AI camp"

Games and guided tutorials

Simulated exercises with one right answer

Certificate of participation

AI does the work for them

Nothing to show afterward

DataNativ

Real, messy datasets — no obvious answer

A capstone they scope and own themselves

A public GitHub portfolio + live AI web app

AI as a thinking partner they learn to audit

A real panel presentation, Q&A included

The intangible skills

The part that doesn't
show up on a syllabus.

Tools change every few years. These don't.

Think before you click

Scoping a problem before touching a keyboard — the habit most self-taught coders skip.

Communicate under pressure

Defending a real analysis to a panel that asks "How do you know this isn't just correlation?"

Know what AI can't do

They watch AI confidently hallucinate on their own data — then learn to catch it.

Own something real

One fully-owned analysis, start to finish, is worth more than a list of finished tutorials.

How it runs

Live every week.
In person once a month.

DFW Families

Weekly live online + monthly in-person meetup

Same weekly live sessions as everyone else, plus an in-person meetup once a month to work alongside their cohort and mentors face to face.

Everywhere Else

Fully live, online, every week

The full 18 weeks run live online — real-time sessions with a facilitator, not pre-recorded video.

Who's Teaching This

Ashwin Thota

Director of AI & Data Science

Ashwin is a Director of Enterprise AI and Data Science at a leading luxury retailer, where he leads the development of enterprise-scale data and AI platforms that generate measurable business value, including millions in revenue impact. His background spans financial services, banking, retail, and large-scale enterprise analytics and AI, shaping a perspective grounded in real-world execution, not theory.

He started DataNativ to bridge an important gap he sees emerging in the age of AI. As AI makes basic coding increasingly accessible, coding alone is no longer enough to stand out. The real differentiator now is the ability to solve complex problems, design intelligent products, and apply AI with structure, judgment, and purpose.

That philosophy is at the heart of both the AI Discovery Bootcamp and the AI Product Builder Fellowship. Students are introduced to the concepts that matter in modern AI product building - including AI product thinking, prompt engineering, RAG, and guardrails - through a hands-on experience centered on building, not just consuming.

DataNativ complements traditional education with something many students do not yet get access to: a practical, current, product-first way of learning how AI works in the real world.

September 2026 Cohort

The September cohort is
open for applications.

18 weeks. Four real projects. One capstone your teen will actually be proud to show people.

$1575.00/ full 18-week program

Apply for the Cohort

Limited seats available • Applications reviewed on a rolling basis

Not just tools.Decision-making skills.

Every kid uses AI.Almost none can build with it.

Coding is now a commodity

Traditional curricula are struggling to keep pace

Not just tools.Decision-making skills.

Every kid uses AI.Almost none can build with it.

Coding is now a commodity

Traditional curricula are struggling to keep pace

Coding camps teach syntax, not thinking

Portfolios beat certificates every time

Not a class.An AI product lab.

Rapid Prototyping

Think Like a Founder

Taught by a real AI director

College apps get interesting fast

Four real projects.Not four certificates.

NorthMart SQL Performance Report

FoodFlash Intelligence Report

SkyRoute "Ask My Analysis"

A self-scoped business investigation

The capstone is a real business problem.Not a simulation.

Demo Day

Live on the internet

Full autonomy

Real datasets.Real presentations.No badges.

Typical teen "AI camp"

DataNativ

The part that doesn'tshow up on a syllabus.

Think before you click

Communicate under pressure

Know what AI can't do

Own something real

Live every week.In person once a month.

Weekly live online + monthly in-person meetup

Fully live, online, every week

Ashwin Thota

The September cohort isopen for applications.

Thoughts by Ashwin Thota

The Future of Data Analytics Careers

How Students Can Use AI to Accelerate Learning

How DataNativ Helps Students Break Into Tech

Not just tools.
Decision-making skills.

Every kid uses AI.
Almost none can build with it.

Not just tools.
Decision-making skills.

Every kid uses AI.
Almost none can build with it.

Not a class.
An AI product lab.

Four real projects.
Not four certificates.

The capstone is a real business problem.
Not a simulation.

Real datasets.
Real presentations.
No badges.

The part that doesn't
show up on a syllabus.

Live every week.
In person once a month.

The September cohort is
open for applications.