New tasks land quietly through the day — no pressure to grab them.

PENNA PLC Company number 01918150
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About Coldab

A small team building a gentler way to earn from short online tasks — for members, and for the organisations that rely on their care.

Our story

Why we built a calmer marketplace

"We wanted a place where closing the app at the right moment felt like success, not a missed opportunity."

Coldab started with a simple observation. Plenty of people want to earn a little extra from home — around caring responsibilities, health conditions, study or retirement — and short online tasks seem like a natural fit. Yet many of the platforms offering that work were designed like slot machines: countdown timers, tasks that vanished in seconds, notifications at midnight and a constant sense that someone else was getting there first.

The people we spoke to did not lack motivation. They lacked calm. They described refreshing a feed during dinner, rushing through a survey in case it closed, and feeling anxious when they stepped away for a week. Several had stopped altogether, not because the work was hard, but because the experience around it was exhausting.

We thought that was both unkind and unnecessary. Organisations commissioning research, testing or labelling do not benefit from rushed, distracted contributors. They want thoughtful answers, careful observations and honest feedback. A calmer environment, it turns out, is also a more accurate one.

So we set out to build a marketplace around a few plain ideas. Tasks should stay available long enough to finish a cup of tea. Members should choose a pace, not be pushed into one. Rejections should come with reasons and a route to a second opinion. Earnings should be described honestly, as a useful top-up rather than a promised salary. And stepping away for a day, a month or a season should carry no penalty at all.

None of this is revolutionary, and we do not claim to have everything right. What we can promise is that each new feature is checked against a single question: does this make the work calmer and fairer, or just busier? If the honest answer is "busier", it does not ship.

Today Coldab is run by PENNA PLC Company number 01918150, a small team of researchers, designers and support staff who regularly complete tasks themselves. That habit keeps us close to what members actually experience.

What we value

Five values we hold ourselves to

Unhurried by design

We remove artificial urgency wherever we find it. Members should feel free to read a brief twice, take a break and come back later.

Fair in both directions

Members deserve clear briefs and reasoned reviews. Requesters deserve honest, careful work. We hold both sides to those standards.

Plain speaking

No inflated earnings claims, no jargon and no small print hiding the important parts. If something changes, we explain it simply.

Privacy as a default

We collect only what is needed, share answers rather than identities, and make leaving as easy as joining.

Listening first

Many of our features began as a member's email. We read every suggestion, and we say so when we decide not to act on one.

Milestones

How we have grown, slowly and on purpose

  1. The beginning

    Conversations, not code

    We spent the first months interviewing people who had tried microwork and asking what had put them off.

  2. First pilot

    A small invited group

    A modest group of testers tried early surveys and writing briefs, and told us bluntly what felt stressful.

  3. Pace settings

    Choose your nest

    Session lengths, soft limits and stretch reminders arrived, shaped largely by pilot members' feedback.

  4. Fairer reviews

    Reasons and second looks

    Every rejection gained a written reason, and members could request a fresh reviewer from the same screen.

  5. Today

    Twelve kinds of work

    The task library now covers twelve categories, with more added only when we can support them properly.

Three people in a cosy living room chatting on a video call with remote colleagues
For organisations

How we work with organisations

Research agencies, product teams, retailers and data specialists use Coldab when they need careful human input at a manageable scale. We work with them before a project goes live, so that members receive tasks they can actually do well.

  • Briefs are reviewed first. Our team checks each brief for clarity, realistic timings and fair pay before members see it.
  • Pricing reflects effort. We ask requesters to price tasks against honest time estimates, and we push back when they do not.
  • Data is minimised. Requesters receive the answers they need, not members' contact details or profiles.
  • Feedback flows both ways. Member questions and second-review outcomes are shared with requesters so briefs improve over time.
  • Sensitive work is flagged. Any content that could be upsetting carries a clear warning, and members are never obliged to accept it.
Get in touch

We would like to hear from you

Whether you are a member with a question, an organisation with a project in mind or a journalist curious about calmer microwork, write to us and a person will reply.

Company
PENNA PLC Company number 01918150
Registered address
Folgate Building, 4 Norton Folgate, London, England, E1 6DB
Response time
Usually within one to two working days