What Happens When Partiful Throws Its Own Party

Partiful likes to throw a party. It’s in the name.

The events app, which has become the way Gen Z plans just about everything, threw a party during the New York Tech Week conference this week.

“You might be wondering, ‘Why is Partiful throwing a party?'” Shreya Murthy, Partiful’s CEO, told the crowded room of Tech Week-goers.

In part, it was to celebrate the startup’s first major leap toward actually making money as a social app: ticketing.

Partiful recently rolled out paid tickets for events. The startup will now generate revenue from service fees added to ticket sales. Hosts earn the bulk of the sale, and Partiful charges a fee that varies by event. For instance, as an example listed on its website, Partiful would add a $7 fee to a $50 ticket — about 14% of the original ticket price. Other ticketed events could typically see fees of around 10% to 15%, but it isn’t standardized.

Before the party, Murthy spoke at a fireside chat with Andreessen Horowitz partner Olivia Moore about the startup’s business and push into ticketing. A16z, one of Partiful’s investors — the startup has raised more than $27 million since launching in 2020 — has taken over NYTW and now requires all events on its calendar to use Partiful.

While panels make up a huge chunk of the NYTW agenda, at the end of the day, vibe coders still need to detach from their half-open laptops running Claude.

“What people really want at Tech Week is to meet people,” Partiful’s Ella Edwards, who helps the startup’s community and editorial efforts, told me.

One attendee, startup founder Helen Wu, told me she’s learned to approach Tech Week by simply being “present” at events, instead of getting lost in the networking, FOMO, or “tech bro” culture. Partiful’s shindig, she said, was somewhere she could more casually chat with other founders, including Murthy.

The party, which took place at a Downtown listening room with an open bar, felt a bit more like a New York house party than a New York Tech Week mixer.

On one coffee table, there was a platter of skinny cigarettes for the taking. Partiful merch was splayed all over the venue. There was a competition to guess how many Smarties candies were packed into a bong (the winner got the bong). Projected on one wall was the first game in the NBA finals showdown between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs. Throughout the party, camera flashes went off from the point-and-shoot film cameras some Partiful employees carried.

Partiful isn’t the only social tech company into the idea of throwing house parties to bring together users and industry insiders. Last week, Substack also threw a house party after its all-day summit.

Let me take you into the night.

• The guest list: It is Tech Week after all, so, yes, it was a lot of people working in and around tech: startup founders, marketers, and creators. There was the Partiful crew, including the company’s CEO, Murthy; an employee who wore retro tech accessories with a Tamagotchi necklace and iPod shuffle hairclips; and (disclosure) a college friend of mine. The crowd had some Partiful event host regulars, too.

• The moment: Outside the venue on the sidewalk, guests smoked the Partiful-sponsored slims while chatting. Zyn is out, cigs are back in.
• The quote: “When you think of Partiful, you think of a house party,” Edwards told me as she explained how she planned the night’s party. That got me thinking: With its new push into ticketed events, will Partiful become synonymous with RSVPs of all kinds?

• The gripe: This is less about the party and more about Tech Week. There are too many Partiful invites! I got an email from A16z that I RSVP’d to too many things (oops). My entire Google Calendar is a purgatory of “pending” Partiful RSVPs.

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