Shreya Murthy

And with something as important as figuring out your headcount for a party, you need everyone on the same page.

And so what we did is literally build a page for everyone to be on.

And so there's real utility for hosts to always know who's coming first.

be able to send a message to all their guests and not worry about annoying people because those messages are going out individually to each person instead of on a noisy group chat, and for guests to have one place to go to easily get all the information they need.

And so I really think it is the combination of both real utility as well as vibes that has made Partiful what it is today.

I was going through a quarter-life crisis, I'll be honest with you.

I think like many people in my early mid-20s, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life and wanted to build something that felt really aligned with my values and what I really cared about.

doing in the world.

And the biggest problem that I was seeing both on a societal level and on a personal level was that there was this trend towards social isolation.

Even back then, it had become so easy to get addicted to your phone.

which is fundamentally a solitary experience.

You're just like sitting there on your couch in your bed scrolling endlessly for hours.

And I was doing that.

Everyone I knew was doing that.

And so it had gotten so much harder to step into the real world and find real connection.

And then on a personal level, as I got older, I found it a lot harder to meet new people and make new friends.

I

took it for granted in college that i was just surrounded by like-minded people who i had ample opportunities to hit it off with but when i started working i was way busier there were fewer people around me and i just didn't have that many avenues to build my social circle

And so part of it was really trying to solve that problem first for myself and then for everyone else.

Because what I did know was that the easiest way to meet people was through parties.