Identifying the real drivers of event discovery to strengthen pricing strategy, messaging, and a product roadmap for Circa.
Low visibility for campus events, inconsistent communication, and no clear path to the features that mattered most to students.
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500+
Data points including key customer quotes, unmet needs, and ranked preferences
15+
Feature-level recommendations, de-risking product roadmap
6
Key “Pull Factors” that target users would want in an event app
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Circa is a SaaS startup building a web app to help college students discover, plan, and attend campus events with ease. They faced the classic startup test: pinpointing and delivering the features that would make their product truly indispensable.
For students, planning and discovering campus events felt fragmented across multiple platforms, with limited visibility, inconsistent communication, and low motivation to engage beyond their immediate friend groups.
For Circa, several event apps had already tried and failed to gain traction on campuses — often because they didn’t balance the needs of both students and university staff, leaving adoption and retention short of expectations.
Through a focused Research Sprint, we studied how student leaders plan events, choose tools, and make decisions—testing early marketing concepts and pricing models along the way. We uncovered why many students stick with tools they dislike in an already-saturated campus tech landscape, and where competing event apps repeatedly failed to gain traction. These insights revealed clear opportunity gaps—particularly where products failed to balance the needs of both students and university staff—informing a focused, evidence-based strategy for design, messaging, and go-to-market execution.
500+ Data Points identifying the features that matter most to users
Pricing Model Validation — clear expectations for free vs. paid tiers
Proven Value Propositions — tested messaging to drive adoption
Go-to-Market Strategy + Campus Catalyst List — a prioritized set of roles, segments, and event types to accelerate pilot traction and network growth
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“affinityUX’s ability to articulate and anchor on user needs is exceptional. Their interview questions delve deep, uncovering the authentic needs of users to improve the product. They are a true asset to any team. I welcome the opportunity to collaborate with them again.”
Eli Yazdi
Founder & Product Designer
