Research

Research library

Analysis and findings from across ColdStart Labs experiments. Organised by theme, connected to active experiments.

Artificial Intelligence2026-06-20

AI-Assisted Product Development: From Problem to Deployed Product in Days

How ColdStart Labs uses AI-assisted development to compress the cycle from problem identification to deployed product. A practitioner's perspective on what works, what doesn't, and where human judgement remains irreplaceable.

Related:Taksh FinContexa
AI DevelopmentClaude CodeRapid Prototyping
FinTech2026-06-10

The Broken Home Finance Journey in India

Property buyers in India navigate an opaque system of lender policies, RERA compliance, and eligibility criteria. ColdStart Labs explored this space and found that the problem isn't information scarcity — it's information fragmentation.

Related:Taksh Fin
Home FinanceRERALending
Enterprise Software2026-05-28

Enterprise Messaging Is Fragmented by Design

Why enterprise communication infrastructure remains vendor-locked and what a vendor-neutral orchestration layer might look like. Research from the Contexa experiment.

Related:Contexa
CPaaSEnterpriseMessaging
Collections & Recoveries2026-05-15

AI in Indian Collections: What Actually Works on the Ground

The gap between AI collection vendor promises and what NBFC field teams actually experience. Based on operator conversations and Findrive research.

Related:Findrive
CollectionsNBFCAI
Retail2026-05-01

The Tier-2 Retail Opportunity: Why Ready-to-Deploy Beats Build-from-Scratch

Aspiring retailers in smaller Indian towns face a bootstrapping problem. ColdStart Labs explored this through Saksham and found that the barrier isn't capital — it's operational knowledge.

Related:Saksham
RetailTier-2Entrepreneurship
Mobility2026-04-20

Subscription-Based Shared Mobility: The Fixed Corridor Hypothesis

Why ColdStart Labs chose fixed corridors over flexible routing for the CoMutes experiment, and what the first months of operation revealed about subscription shared commute.

Related:CoMutes
Shared MobilitySubscriptionDelhi NCR
Product Strategy2026-04-10

Designing Experiments That Produce Clear Signal

The ColdStart Labs framework for structuring experiments that generate actionable learning, whether the experiment succeeds or fails.

ExperimentationMethodologyHypothesis Testing
Retail2026-03-25

The Curation Problem in Kids Ecommerce

Online shopping for children is dominated by infinite scroll and algorithmic recommendations. ColdStart Labs explored whether editorial curation could outperform algorithms in a niche category.

Related:Pickly
EcommerceKidsCuration