# Partiful makes the invitation part of the event

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/partiful-makes-the-invitation-part-of-the-event/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Shreya Murthy](https://realalpha.app/people/shreya-murthy/) · Partiful
- Host: [John Coogan](https://realalpha.app/people/john-coogan/) · Co-host, TBPN · Co-founded Soylent and Lucy; OpenAI bought his show TBPN in April 2026.
- Host: [Jordi Hays](https://realalpha.app/people/jordi-hays/) · Co-host, TBPN · Founded Branded Native; co-founded fintech Capital, which Rho bought.
- Show: TBPN
- Episode: [Marc Andreessen & Ilya Sutskever Host TBPN](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/), Oct 31, 2025
- Moment: 2:56:18 to 3:01:28 of the episode (5 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/partiful-makes-the-invitation-part-of-the-event/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10578

## Quote

> “I think it's brand, and there's something about you have to want to break the rules because **a party is not**, like, a corporate meeting.”
> — [Shreya Murthy](https://realalpha.app/people/shreya-murthy/) at [2:57:14](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10634) · TBPN

## Takeaways

1. Make the RSVP page feel like part of the party.
2. Reward guests with a fun RSVP and a visible guest list.
3. Support mixed iPhone and Android friend groups.

## About this segment

Shreya Murthy says Partiful treats an invitation as part of the party, not an online form. She sees it becoming a social home as mainstream feeds shift toward entertainment.

From “Marc Andreessen & Ilya Sutskever Host TBPN”, Oct 31, 2025. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/)

## Transcript

From the transcript TBPN publishes with the episode.

[2:56:23](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10583) I I I have another take here. I'd I'd like to know if you if this resonates with you, you're obviously on the inside of this. But I feel like the the invite product has, like there are technical features that someone can clone and and and check the box, but the brand is so important. And I feel like when I get a part of full, it says something about what I'm going to expect walking in there. When I get a paperless post, that's a different vibe.

[2:56:51](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10611) That's a different thing. When I get a physical piece of mail that invites me to something, that's also a different a different brand, a different vibe. It sets me up. It's the welcome moment to the actual event. It's part of the event experience. And so I feel like there's a world where you could clone all the features, but it's not gonna bring the same energy, which is actually what your customers are buying in some way.

[2:57:14](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10634) Part of the product. I I think it's part of the product. But what how do you think about brand and how you stand out from the competition?

[2:57:20](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10640) I think it's brand, and there's something about you have to want to break the rules because a party is not, like, a corporate meeting. Right? A a a party is a party. And so we, from the very beginning, have always been like, the party page should feel as much fun as the party itself. Like, you're already asking guests to do a lot by RSVP ing. Like, you might as well make it fun for them and give them a reward, where they get to see the guest list after they RSVP. Like, you you gotta make it something where people can actually feel bought into the experience, and you don't do that by, know, building something that just looks like an online form or gets buried in someone's email. But I also think there's an interesting, like, cross platform aspect of this too. When you think about Apple, like, if I wanna invite people to my party, I wanna invite my friends who have an iPhone. I wanna invite my friends who have Android.

[2:58:13](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10693) Like, I don't care what phone my friends have. They're still my friends. Yeah. And so I think it's really important, and it's just it's hard for certain companies to

[2:58:21](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10701) actually get on this. Apple Does app only work if you have an iPhone? It it does work for Android. Okay. No. It's just was just say. That's just like that's just mean. Okay? Yeah. Not even being able to invite Android people to parties, that's just mean.

[2:58:35](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10715) I mean, well, they're already green friends. They're already like look like this. Yeah. Yeah. That's funny.

[2:58:39](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10719) What, so so we oftentimes, you know, if we're talking to an enterprise software founder, we don't typically ask the question like, what's the ten year vision? Like, where does this go? Because usually it's like more seats, you know, more contracts, more product Margin expansion. Expansion. But how do how do you like, you know, and I'm sure you've just been learning about what Partifull is as you as you built it.

[2:59:05](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10745) But like, has the vision like, what what was kind of the founding vision? What is it today? How has it changed? And kind of where where are you going? Because I I've always I've like I've seen like your posts or like different press hits throughout the years and there was some really funny post about like have not having any not making any money that that, that stuck with me. But, And obviously, just, like, you know, joking about it or whatever. But, like, yeah. Where where where did you start from and where are you going?

[2:59:36](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10776) Yeah. It's it's funny how many people took that post, like, very seriously. It's like, you can't joke the Internet anymore.

[2:59:44](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10784) Was the exact what was the exact line? I I forget. It was just like, Partiful won't make money. VCs gave us funding to help you party. Enjoy it, babes. Something like that. There are all these like very serious news articles of like, Particle said that VCs gave you a party. Like, is it true?

[3:00:01](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10801) That's kind of a if you guys aren't making money if you guys aren't making money, it's kind of a systemic risk to the part to big party. You know?

[3:00:08](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10808) Yeah. Yeah. No. We we will definitely we will definitely make money, just not right now. The the long term vision is if you look at where most social apps have gone, they've kind of turned into entertainment platforms. Right? Like, when when I open Instagram, I'm being fed a bunch of reels. I'm seeing less and less of my friends' content. TikTok is obviously huge, and it's also an entertainment platform. And so when you really think about it, the content that we're consuming is more and more just like, it can be Netflix.

[3:00:38](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10838) It can be YouTube. It can be reels. It can be shorts. It can be TikTok. But it's all just you're watching entertainment from people who you don't actually know. Mhmm. And so what's gotten lost in that is, like, where do you go if you want to actually connect with your friends? Where do you go if you want to meet more of the people who could be your friends? Because less and less, you or you're discovering them online. And so what we wanna do is create the home for you to hang out with your friends, see them more easily, discover new things to do, and new people to do them with.

[3:01:08](https://realalpha.app/v/m2mWKU0srfY/?t=10868) And we think that as big social actually stops becoming social and starts becoming big new media, that big social deserves to exist. And right now, it's small social. It's part of all, but the goal is big become big social. That's for you. I love it.