GroundTest

THE GROUND TEST is a real-world technology and entrepreneurship experiment aimed at building a local travel ecosystem from scratch, beginning in Ayodhya, India. The project addresses the fragmented nature of local tourism, where travellers often struggle to discover reliable transportation, accommodation, food, sightseeing options, and local service providers. The proposed solution is a unified digital platform that brings these services together, simplifies travel planning, and helps local businesses become more accessible to travellers. The platform aims to incorporate AI-powered travel assistance, personalized itineraries, local service discovery, and a centralized system for coordinating travel experiences. What makes this project different is its approach: instead of building based on assumptions, the entire journey begins with ground-level research, conversations with local stakeholders, experimentation, and iterative development. THE GROUND TEST also documents the entire process publicly, including the challenges, failures, technical decisions, and lessons learned while turning an idea into a working product.