# IceCreamLabs

> IceCreamLabs is a San Francisco AI venture studio that identifies opportunities, tests demand, and co-builds companies with founders. Its enterprise AI and retail merchandising background now feeds a portfolio spanning B2B commerce, property search, conversational analytics, agent infrastructure, and custom AI systems.

- **Founded:** 2018
- **Headquarters:** San Francisco, United States
- **Founders:** Madhu Konety (Founder & CEO; confirmed by current official website), Mike Mian (Historical founder listed on Wellfound; current involvement unconfirmed), Latha Iyer (Historical founder listed on Wellfound; current involvement unconfirmed), Sanjay Ramakrishnan (Appointed co-founder and president in May 2015; current involvement unconfirmed)
- **Products:** Venture studio partnership, CommerceFlow, Nina, OpenTide, Modo
- **Notable:** One of six Shop.org Innovation Award winners in September 2018, as reported in the NRF announcement reproduced by CB Insights., Current homepage reports 7+ ventures built, 50+ enterprise partnerships, and three exits/acquisitions; these are studio-reported figures with no transaction breakdown on the pages reviewed., A published four-week validation framework makes its problem, buyer, price, and competition checks explicit.

## Products & services

- **Venture studio partnership** — Co-building from discovery through launch, including engineering, product, design, shared infrastructure, initial capital, fundraising support, and operations; terms negotiated per venture.
- **CommerceFlow** — Portfolio venture positioned around AI-powered B2B commerce, catalog data enrichment, procurement, and supplier interactions.
- **Nina** — Portfolio venture offering AI-assisted property search; its current site focuses on North Bangalore through WhatsApp.
- **OpenTide** — Portfolio venture described as infrastructure for agents to discover, connect, and transact.
- **Modo** — Currently described by the studio as conversational AI data analysis for nontechnical teams.
- **NuWorks** — Portfolio venture offering AI strategy, solution design, and deployment for enterprises and startups.
- **CatalogIQ** — Historical merchandising software using machine learning to validate product records, check images, categorize products, and generate content.
- **ContentIQ / CategoryIQ / StyleIQ** — Historical SaaS offerings listed on Wellfound for content enrichment, category intelligence, and automated home/fashion styling. Current availability unconfirmed.

## Achievements

- One of six Shop.org Innovation Award winners in September 2018, as reported in the NRF announcement reproduced by CB Insights.
- Current homepage reports 7+ ventures built, 50+ enterprise partnerships, and three exits/acquisitions; these are studio-reported figures with no transaction breakdown on the pages reviewed.
- A published four-week validation framework makes its problem, buyer, price, and competition checks explicit.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — Published the Validate-Before-You-Build Framework on April 18, outlining a four-week discovery and commercial-validation sprint.
- **2026-04** — Published its AI-era startup-building essay on April 10 and a willingness-to-pay guide on April 3.
- **2026-03** — Published a buyer-versus-user essay on March 28 describing an unnamed early product that attracted users but could not close deals.

## Links

- Website: https://www.icecreamlabs.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/icecreamlabs
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/icecreamlabs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/icecreamlabs

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/icecreamlabs
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-27