We built Circli after one event too many where I left without connecting with the person I wanted to — knowing the people who mattered had been right there, metres away, and I never figured out how to find them.

That pain wasn't only mine. We heard it again and again. So we did what you do with a pain that keeps repeating: we treated it as a design problem. Empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test. This is the story of how we went from pain to medicine.

The names below are invented. The pains are verbatim — we heard them, almost word for word, dozens of times. They're the personas we designed with.

1. Empathize — the pain we heard

Lucía · founder. "I went to a summit to raise my round. The fund that would have led it was in the room. I never knew. I found out three weeks later, on LinkedIn."

Martín · B2B sales. "I came back from the trade show with forty cards and zero meetings booked. The client who would have closed my quarter walked past my booth — and neither of us knew."

Sofía · looking for her next role. "I'm shy. In a room of five hundred people I freeze. I left without talking to anyone, feeling like I'd wasted the day."

Diego · attendee. "Four hundred talks, six rooms, three days. I spent more energy deciding where to go than being there. And I missed the one that mattered — I found out once it was gone."

Four different people, one pattern: the event had everything they needed, and they still walked out empty-handed.

2. Define — the diagnosis

When we put the four stories side by side, the diagnosis was clear:

An event gathers the right people and the right talks into a single room — and then leaves to chance who meets whom and what each person sees.

Two diseases, not one:

The networking lottery. Nobody scrolls a directory of hundreds. The connection that would have made your month stays buried among strangers, and luck decides who you talk to.
Agenda overload. Nobody reads four hundred descriptions. You pick in a rush, miss the talk that mattered, and decision fatigue wins before lunch.

Both share the same root: too many people and too many options, zero help choosing.

3. Ideate — How might we…?

How might we put in front of each person the few who are actually worth their time — and tell them why?
How might we make sure nobody misses the talk that changes their day?
How might we do it without asking them to download an app, create an account, or learn a new tool at the door?

4. The medicine

The cure wasn't one more feature. It was two, and both run on what people already use: WhatsApp. No app, no account.

AI Matchmaking — the person, with the reason. The AI reads what each person is looking for and offering, and puts the few people actually worth meeting in front of every attendee — always with the reason behind each match. Not chance: deliberate. And it works the same at your events and inside your communities (Networks).

AI Smart Agenda — your day, written for you. The AI tags every talk, matches it against your interests, and builds a short, personal agenda plus a real-time nudge for your next talk. The best session of the event stops being on page seven of the grid. (Available on the Pro and Enterprise plans of Events.)

The AI suggests; you choose. A connection only happens when both people say yes. See how Circli's AI works →

5. Test — the cure in each story

Lucía opens WhatsApp and sees three suggested names, each with the reason. One is the fund. She messages them before the coffee break.
Martín is handed, among the attendees, the client he was looking for — with the reason they should talk. He books the meeting instead of hoping to bump into them.
Sofía doesn't have to break the ice cold: she arrives with two people already suggested and a reason to say hello. Shyness weighs less when the event introduces you.
Diego opens his day already written: what to see, in what order, and why. He stops deciding anxiously and makes it to the talk that mattered.

This isn't a lab promise. It's the engine that ran at Sitevinitech 2026: 10,000 attendees, 0 app downloads.

Closing

An event's pain is almost never a lack of people or content. It's that the good stuff is right there and you can't find it. That's the disease Circli treats: turning chance into an actual meeting.

Want your next event to be the one where nobody leaves without meeting the person they were meant to? See how the AI does it or talk to us.

The names below are invented. The pains are verbatim — we heard them, almost word for word, dozens of times. They're the personas we designed with.

1. Empathize — the pain we heard

Lucía · founder. "I went to a summit to raise my round. The fund that would have led it was in the room. I never knew. I found out three weeks later, on LinkedIn."

Martín · B2B sales. "I came back from the trade show with forty cards and zero meetings booked. The client who would have closed my quarter walked past my booth — and neither of us knew."

Sofía · looking for her next role. "I'm shy. In a room of five hundred people I freeze. I left without talking to anyone, feeling like I'd wasted the day."

Diego · attendee. "Four hundred talks, six rooms, three days. I spent more energy deciding where to go than being there. And I missed the one that mattered — I found out once it was gone."

Four different people, one pattern: the event had everything they needed, and they still walked out empty-handed.

2. Define — the diagnosis

When we put the four stories side by side, the diagnosis was clear:

An event gathers the right people and the right talks into a single room — and then leaves to chance who meets whom and what each person sees.

Two diseases, not one:

The networking lottery. Nobody scrolls a directory of hundreds. The connection that would have made your month stays buried among strangers, and luck decides who you talk to.
Agenda overload. Nobody reads four hundred descriptions. You pick in a rush, miss the talk that mattered, and decision fatigue wins before lunch.

Both share the same root: too many people and too many options, zero help choosing.

3. Ideate — How might we…?

How might we put in front of each person the few who are actually worth their time — and tell them why?
How might we make sure nobody misses the talk that changes their day?
How might we do it without asking them to download an app, create an account, or learn a new tool at the door?

4. The medicine

The cure wasn't one more feature. It was two, and both run on what people already use: WhatsApp. No app, no account.

The AI suggests; you choose. A connection only happens when both people say yes. See how Circli's AI works →

5. Test — the cure in each story

Lucía opens WhatsApp and sees three suggested names, each with the reason. One is the fund. She messages them before the coffee break.
Martín is handed, among the attendees, the client he was looking for — with the reason they should talk. He books the meeting instead of hoping to bump into them.
Sofía doesn't have to break the ice cold: she arrives with two people already suggested and a reason to say hello. Shyness weighs less when the event introduces you.
Diego opens his day already written: what to see, in what order, and why. He stops deciding anxiously and makes it to the talk that mattered.

This isn't a lab promise. It's the engine that ran at Sitevinitech 2026: 10,000 attendees, 0 app downloads.

Closing

Want your next event to be the one where nobody leaves without meeting the person they were meant to? See how the AI does it or talk to us.

From pain to medicine: redesigning the event with design thinking

1. Empathize — the pain we heard

2. Define — the diagnosis

3. Ideate — How might we…?

4. The medicine

5. Test — the cure in each story

Closing

From pain to medicine: redesigning the event with design thinking

1. Empathize — the pain we heard

2. Define — the diagnosis

3. Ideate — How might we…?

4. The medicine

5. Test — the cure in each story

Closing