“Partiful will not make money. There is no pitch at scale,” Partiful once posted via tweet in 2023, adding, “Investors gave us money to help u party, and that is what we are here to do. Enjoy it babes.”
In a call with WIRED, Murthy said the tweet was always meant to be a joke.
“It’s kind of funny how many people took it literally, and now it’s followed us around everywhere, and it’s become a meme,” Murthy said. “But it is nice to say that Partiful is monetizing now.”
Last Call
Courtesy of Partiful
Partiful has done well partly due to its ability to channel a kind of public whimsy and weirdness people are looking to partake in. Just a cursory glance through a list of events in the Bay Area shows events like “Open Paint Night,” “Capture the Flag,” and “Bean-Up.” (The description reads, “Do you love beans?” 42 people say they are going at the time of writing.) The service has its detractors, but it has proved very popular for people looking to arrange quick get-togethers or off-kilter social experiments.
Partiful couldn’t have coasted along on good vibes alone forever. Especially when it faces challengers like Facebook Events, Apple Invites, or the hot new invite app, Luma. But the move to build out a financial future is likely to make users nervous. Enshittification is en vogue, after all, and users have seen service after service get bogged down by growth-driven monetization machinations that eventually bloat the experience and alienate its users.
“I would contend that with the launch of ticketing, this is an act of unshittification,” Murthy says. “The experience today is janky for hosts, and it’s janky for guests. That process that people were already going through is now streamlined directly in Partiful.”
Murthy says she wants Partiful to focus on smaller, community-oriented events, rather than take direct aim at ticket behemoths like AXS or Ticketmaster that run ticket sales for larger events. The immediate plan isn’t to become a platform that sells Taylor Swift Eras tour tickets, though when asked if that’s the goal, Murthy is not not down.
“Look, if Taylor Swift reads this article, please print that I would love for her to have her concert on Partiful,” Murthy says. “She can have her people contact my people.”