Behavioral Science for Startups & SpiritTech

​Behavior Science at Startups: Spirit Tech Case Study

​In this talk, Anupriya Kukreja will bring behavioral science to the table where it’s not necessarily invited — and apply it to a marketplace context with motivations that are not as easily understood as traditional commercial platforms.
Using a real case study from a spiritual services startup, she'll walk through what happens when engagement doesn’t translate into bookings, trust remains fragile, and no-shows are high. Rather than assuming a motivation problem, she examines friction across three layers: supply (guides), demand (seekers), and the interaction architecture between them. This session explores how behavioral science can move beyond nudges and growth hacks to diagnose structural friction — especially in products where belief, identity, and trust are prerequisites to conversion.


About the Speaker

Anupriya Kukreja is a behavioral science–informed UX researcher and product designer. Her background spans behavioral science, peacebuilding research, and science journalism — with work at Busara, Behavioral Scientist, APA Division 48 (Peace Psychology), and Columbia's Morton Deutsch Center for Conflict Resolution. After completing graduate work in spiritual psychology at Columbia, she began applying her research skills to the UX and product landscape at a spirituality startup, discovering her love for design in the process. She is also an incoming co-lead of Bescy New York. 

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​About Bescy

​Bescy is a global, volunteer-led network advancing the practice of applied behavioral science by bridging research, practice, and community across disciplines, sectors, and geographies.

We create inclusive spaces where behavioral scientists, practitioners, policymakers, and students come together to translate behavioral insights into actionable, ethical, and contextually grounded solutions. Our community values inclusivity, transparency, and rigorous critical thinking — recognizing both the power and the complexity of behavior change.
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Learn more at www.bescy.org