Shreya Murthy

What happens if you want to invite someone that you're in touch with on Instagram or X or wherever it is?

Like all of a sudden you have these fragmented social connections.

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