The Decision Lab
The Decision Lab is a Montreal-based behavioral science and AI consulting firm serving global enterprises, governments, and NGOs across healthcare, finance, technology, and public policy. It combines proprietary behavior-change frameworks with synthetic data and AI tools to drive measurable organizational and consumer outcomes.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2016
- HeadquartersMontreal, Canada
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What The Decision Lab does
The Decision Lab is a Montreal-headquartered behavioral science and AI consulting firm founded in 2016 that applies proprietary behavior-change frameworks to drive measurable outcomes for enterprise, government, and non-profit clients globally. The company operates a portfolio of consulting practices including AI Adoption, Behavioral Product Design, Data & Analytics, Innovation & Design, Strategy & Corporate Finance, Operations, People & Organization, Marketing & Consumer Insights, and Risk & Compliance. Underpinning the consulting work is a decade of methodology development drawing on data from tens of millions of users and a network of hundreds of behavioral scientists, formalized under the SPICE principles (Socially Conscious, Pragmatic, Inventive, Catalytic, Evidence-Based).
The firm has productized portions of its capability into two tools: Artificial Populations, an AI-powered platform that simulates realistic focus groups and generates behavioral insights in minutes using synthetic data, and the AI Adoption Toolkit, a diagnostic survey product for uncovering barriers to enterprise AI rollouts. The underlying technical stack includes Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) for synthetic data, hyper-personalization engines, and machine learning deployment for behavioral analytics. Strategic alliances with Mila (Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms), Pinterest, and IDEAS.org extend the firm's research and delivery footprint.
The Decision Lab generates revenue through professional services engagements sold directly to enterprise and institutional buyers, with quote-based pricing on multi-year contracts. Customer acquisition is content-led, driven by a newsletter reaching over 100,000 leaders, a podcast series, a Biases Index, and recurring media features in Forbes, Bloomberg, the New York Times, and Nature, supplemented by a network of advisors from Google, Amazon, Cornell, the World Bank, and other institutions who provide referrals. The client roster spans Big Tech (Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, IBM), financial services (Citi, Visa, Mastercard, Morgan Stanley, Capital One, Commonwealth Bank, ICICI), healthcare (Roche, AstraZeneca, CVS), government (NASA, UN, World Bank, Health Canada, NHS), and major consumer brands (Walmart, Tesla, LVMH, P&G).
The Decision Lab firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- The Decision Lab
- Legal name
- The Decision Lab
- Website
- https://thedecisionlab.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2016
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- The Decision Lab is a Montreal-based behavioral science and AI consulting firm serving global enterprises, governments, and NGOs across healthcare, finance, technology, and public policy. It combines proprietary behavior-change frameworks with synthetic data and AI tools to drive measurable organizational and consumer outcomes.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
The Decision Lab industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Management Consulting
- NAICS
- Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), Medical Laboratories (621511)
- SIC
- Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services (BPAHALAJ)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services (BPAEAHAF), Real-Time Decisioning & Next-Best-Action Engines (HDAAAHAK)
Keywords
Where The Decision Lab is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Montreal
- HQ country
- Canada
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
The Decision Lab business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Behavioral Science Consulting Services: The Decision Lab generates revenue through consulting engagements with enterprise clients, offering services in AI adoption, behavioral product design, data & analytics, innovation & design, and various industry-specific consulting practices. They work with large organizations to build internal behavioral science capabilities and deliver measurable outcomes.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom enterprise consulting engagements |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
The Decision Lab product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Decision Lab is a behavioral science and AI consulting firm that helps enterprise and government clients drive measurable behavior change. It delivers consulting engagements across domains such as AI adoption, behavioral product design, data and analytics, innovation and design, marketing and consumer insights, strategy and corporate finance, operations, people and organization, and risk and compliance. It also operates two proprietary tools: the Artificial Populations platform for AI-powered synthetic focus groups, and the AI Adoption Toolkit for diagnosing AI adoption barriers.
Product overview
The Decision Lab is a behavioral science and AI consulting firm that offers a portfolio of services and tools rather than a unified software product. The core offerings include consulting services across multiple domains (Data & Analytics, Innovation & Design, Strategy, Operations, Marketing, Risk & Compliance) supplemented by specialized tools: Artificial Populations (an AI-powered research platform for running synthetic focus groups) and the AI Adoption Toolkit (for diagnosing AI adoption barriers). The company applies behavioral science methodologies combined with AI/ML techniques including synthetic data generation, behavioral analytics, and machine learning to help organizations drive behavior change, improve decision-making, and optimize products and services.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Artificial Populations: A tool for running realistic AI focus groups to get insights in minutes.
- AI Adoption Toolkit
Products and services
- Artificial Populations An AI-powered platform that enables users to run realistic AI focus groups and get behavioral insights in minutes, providing synthetic population data for research and decision-making.
- AI Adoption Toolkit A diagnostic tool that enables organizations to run anonymous surveys and uncover barriers to AI adoption within their workforce.
- AI Adoption Consulting service that helps organizations turn AI potential into everyday practice through evidence-backed interventions that drive real behavior change, including responsible rollout design, workflow integration, and scalable lightweight programs.
- Synthetic Data Service for deploying high-validity synthetic data systems that mimic real-world information while preserving privacy and addressing data scarcity challenges.
- Agentic Workflow Design Service focused on designing AI that fits into complex human systems, enabling seamless human-AI collaboration.
- Behavioral Product Design Service for building world-class digital products with behavioral science, applying heavily-researched insights to engage, convert, and empower users.
- Data and Analytics Consulting service using machine learning and AI to deliver hyper-personalization, behavioral analytics, and machine learning deployment for enhancing human decision-making.
- Innovation and Design Service for designing people-centered next generation products and services using behavioral science to inform the creative design process.
- Strategy and Corporate Finance Service using evidence-based approaches to solve strategic business problems.
- Operations Service leveraging behavioral science to achieve operational excellence through service design, knowledge management, and business process optimization.
- People and Organization Service cultivating talent and fostering wellbeing through behavioral design.
- Marketing and Consumer Insights Service focused on understanding consumer decision making and designing for it, including loyalty programs, psychographic segmentation, and pricing optimization.
- Risk and Compliance Service leveraging behavioral science to generate positive and scalable behaviors in regulatory and compliance contexts.
Quantifiable outcome
- $30M increase in annual revenue for a major North American insurer by launching an internal behavioral science practice
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use The Decision Lab
Customer profileNamed customers45 records
Segments7 records
Ideal customer profiles5 records
The Decision Lab technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability6 records
Feature4 records
The Decision Lab partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and notable.
- PinterestcoreThe Decision Lab collaborated with Pinterest on a research initiative examining how curated digital experiences affect shopping behavior. The collaboration produced insights showing that personalized curation improves consumer confidence and relevance perception, with 90% of Pinterest users finding relevant products and being more likely to consider purchasing.
- Mila (Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms)coreTDL partnered with Mila, the world-renowned AI Institute, to build the groundbreaking COVI app during the COVID-19 pandemic. This collaboration combined AI capabilities with behavioral product design to empower Canadians in the fight against COVID-19.
- IDEAS.orgnotableCollaboration focused on fostering stronger relationships between nutritionists and their patients, applying behavioral science to healthcare communication.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
The Decision Lab competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Savanta: Research and insights consultancy offering survey, panel, and behavioral research services to enterprise clients — comparable to TDL's Marketing & Consumer Insights and survey-based diagnostic work.
- ideas42: US-based nonprofit behavioral science consultancy applying behavioral insights to social and economic problems across finance, health, education, and governance — directly comparable in methodology and use-case mix to TDL's behavioral science consulting practice.
- BEworks: Toronto-based behavioral economics consulting firm offering services in behavioral design, AI, and strategy to enterprise and government clients — the closest direct competitor to The Decision Lab in the Canadian behavioral consulting market.
- Irrational Labs: Boutique behavioral design consultancy that combines behavioral science with product design and AI to help enterprises build better products — overlapping with TDL's Behavioral Product Design and Data & Analytics offerings.
- The Behavioural Insights Team: UK-origin social purpose company applying behavioral science to public policy and enterprise, with global operations — comparable in mission, methodology, and government/enterprise client mix to TDL.
- Material: Behavioral design and strategy consultancy working across financial services, healthcare, and retail — comparable in deliverable mix (research, strategy, design) and Fortune 500 client base to TDL.
Emerging players
- Pentagram: Independent design consultancy with practices in branding, product design, and behavioral design — overlaps with TDL's Innovation & Design and Behavioral Product Design services for enterprise clients.
- Mostly AI: Synthetic data platform vendor serving enterprise and regulated industries — directly comparable to TDL's Synthetic Data service and Artificial Populations product, though primarily software-led rather than consulting-led.
Broad incumbents
- Nielsen Norman Group: Established UX research and consulting firm providing evidence-based user experience and behavioral design advisory — overlapping with TDL's data-driven product and consumer insight work.
- McKinsey & Company (Behavioral Science practice): Global management consulting firm with an established behavioral science practice — competes with TDL on enterprise mandates where behavioral change is the lever, but as part of a much broader portfolio.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
The Decision Lab social profiles
Digital presenceThe Decision Lab financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
The Decision Lab leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles7 records
The Decision Lab funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
The Decision Lab M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about The Decision Lab
What does The Decision Lab do?
The Decision Lab is a behavioral science and AI consulting firm that helps enterprise and government clients drive measurable behavior change. It delivers consulting engagements across domains such as AI adoption, behavioral product design, data and analytics, innovation and design, marketing and consumer insights, strategy and corporate finance, operations, people and organization, and risk and compliance. It also operates two proprietary tools: the Artificial Populations platform for AI-powered synthetic focus groups, and the AI Adoption Toolkit for diagnosing AI adoption barriers.
Is The Decision Lab a public or private company?
The Decision Lab is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was The Decision Lab founded?
The Decision Lab was founded in 2016. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is The Decision Lab based?
The Decision Lab is headquartered in Montreal, Canada, in the North America region.
How does The Decision Lab make money?
One revenue line is on record: behavioral Science Consulting Services.
Who are The Decision Lab's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Savanta, ideas42, BEworks, Irrational Labs, The Behavioural Insights Team and Material. Emerging players are Pentagram and Mostly AI. Broad incumbents are Nielsen Norman Group and McKinsey & Company (Behavioral Science practice).
Does The Decision Lab have an API?
No public API is recorded for The Decision Lab.
What industry is The Decision Lab in?
The Decision Lab's product category is Management Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAHALAJ, Survey, Panel & Fieldwork Services, with a secondary code of BPAEAHAF, AI/ML Engineering & Model Development Services. Its NAICS code is 54161 and its SIC code is 8742.