About
About Efestra
Efestra checks whether the evidence behind business decisions can support the confidence placed in it.
How it started
In 2014, Manuel da Costa noticed a pattern across experimentation teams. Skilled specialists were running sophisticated tests, but most could not say what they had tested last quarter or what they had learned. Tests were tracked in spreadsheets, if at all, and insights disappeared once an experiment ended.
He founded Effective Experiments to give teams one place to document experiments and their outcomes.
From records to governance
As more teams used the platform, the most successful ones used it to connect experiments with business needs, not only to store them. Effective Experiments added workflows that linked experiments to business objectives, tracked implementation and kept insights findable.
Working with hundreds of programmes showed a wider problem. Tests reported improvements that were never implemented, and leaders doubted whether experimentation was relevant to the business. Running more tests did not fix this. What was missing was a reliable link between the evidence and the decisions it should inform.
Efestra
In 2025, Effective Experiments became Efestra. The work widened from experiments to research, and from recording evidence to checking whether it reaches decisions.
Since then, AI tools have made experiments, analyses and research summaries much faster to produce. The checking has not kept up, because it is still usually done by the team that produced the work. Efestra now offers an independent evidence audit for leaders, and Flywheel for organisations that want evidence checked as it is produced.
What we believe
- Learning that does not change a decision has little value.
- Knowledge that is not shared is lost when people leave.
- Clear standards make work faster, because they reduce confusion and rework.
- Leaders trust evidence they can see and check.
- One poorly designed experiment weakens confidence in the whole programme.
- The people who produce evidence should not be the only ones who check it.
Who runs Efestra
Manuel da Costa
Founder, Efestra (formerly Effective Experiments)
For more than a decade, I have worked on how experimentation and research evidence is documented, governed, challenged and used to make decisions. I carry out each audit myself.
Manuel on LinkedInEfestra is a trading name of Digital Tonic Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 07811720.