B2B | EVENT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM | STARTUP
B2B / STARTUP /
EVENT MANAGEMENT PLATFORM
Redesigning Event Approvals at Circa
Redesigning Event Approvals at Circa
Circa (Eventgeek) is a Y Combinator-backed B2B event management platform used by teams at Salesforce, Okta, Honda, Elsevier, Farmers Insurance, and IBM to manage over 40,000 in-person and virtual events.
During my time leading the design, the business grew 290% year-over-year and platform engagement increased 330%, expanding from small teams to enterprise clients managing multi-million dollar event programs.
This case study highlights a key initiative that helped unlock that growth by redesigning how enterprise teams request and approve events. Bringing approvals into Circa meant owning the full event pipeline: more events captured, more data, better forecasting, stronger personalization, and new revenue models tied to event volume.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Research & strategy
Design & prototyping
Usability testing
Stakeholder alignment
Tools
Mixpanel
Hotjar
Figma
Maze
Miro
TIMELINE
4 months
Results
+40% event volume
45% adoption rate
75% template reuse
Circa (Eventgeek) is a Y Combinator-backed B2B event management platform used by teams at Salesforce, Okta, Honda, Elsevier, Farmers Insurance, and IBM to manage over 40,000 in-person and virtual events.
During my time leading the design, the business grew 290% year-over-year and platform engagement increased 330%, expanding from small teams to enterprise clients managing multi-million dollar event programs.
This case study highlights a key initiative that helped unlock that growth by redesigning how enterprise teams request and approve events. Bringing approvals into Circa meant owning the full event pipeline: more events captured, more data, better forecasting, stronger personalization, and new revenue models tied to event volume.
RESPONSIBILITIES
User research & insights, cross-functional workshop facilitation, MVP design & validation,
iterative product development
Tools
Mixpanel, Hotjar, Figma, Maze, Miro
Mixpanel, Hotjar, Figma, Maze, Miro
TIMELINE
4 months
4 months
Results
+40% event volume
+40% event volume
45% adoption rate
45% adoption rate
75% template reuse
75% template reuse
The Challenge
In large B2B organizations, event approvals are often handled outside formal systems through email threads, Slack messages, and shared spreadsheets.
🚫 Marketing and field teams manage hundreds of event requests annually, but without a standardized process, approvals become inconsistent, timelines slip, and critical opportunities fall through the cracks.
The lack of a unified system creates confusion, slows down decision-making, and directly impacts revenue tied to high-impact events.
In large B2B organizations, event approvals are often handled outside formal systems through email threads, Slack messages, and shared spreadsheets.
🚫 Marketing and field teams manage hundreds of event requests annually, but without a standardized process, approvals become inconsistent, timelines slip, and critical opportunities fall through the cracks.
The lack of a unified system creates confusion, slows down decision-making, and directly impacts revenue tied to high-impact events.
Example of an event request flow in shared spreadsheet
Example of an event request flow in
shared spreadsheet
Project goal: Bring event approvals into Circa to create visibility, consistency, and capture the full event pipeline.
Project goal: Bring event approvals into Circa to create visibility, consistency, and capture the full event pipeline.
Project goal: Bring event approvals into Circa to create visibility, consistency, and capture the full event pipeline.
DISCOVERY
DISCOVERY
Researching Enterprise Approval Challenges
Working in a B2B SaaS startup environment meant facing two common constraints: limited access to end users and no dedicated research team.
To uncover the behavioral and structural friction behind approval inconsistency, I designed and ran a multi-layer discovery process that combined customer success insights, usage pattern analysis, and client artifact reviews.
Customer Insights → Usage Patterns → Workflow Analysis
Working in a B2B SaaS startup environment meant facing two common constraints: limited access to end users and no dedicated research team.
To uncover the behavioral and structural friction behind approval inconsistency, I designed and ran a multi-layer discovery process that combined customer success insights, usage pattern analysis, and client artifact reviews.
Customer Insights → Usage Patterns → Workflow Analysis
Customer Support Conversations
Customer Support Conversations
I regularly joined Customer Success calls, where I listened in and occasionally asked follow-up questions. These live conversations revealed the friction teams faced when managing requests, and helped me understand how approval delays were affecting both timelines and revenue.
I regularly joined Customer Success calls, where I listened in and occasionally asked follow-up questions. These live conversations revealed the friction teams faced when managing requests, and helped me understand how approval delays were affecting both timelines and revenue.
User Workarounds
User Workarounds
Usage patterns showed users renaming shared team spaces to reflect approval status. These workarounds signaled unmet needs and highlighted how users were trying to force structure into Circa.
Usage patterns showed users renaming shared team spaces to reflect approval status. These workarounds signaled unmet needs and highlighted how users were trying to force structure into Circa.
External Templates and Manual Processes
External Templates and Manual Processes
Clients shared the external templates, PDFs, and spreadsheets they used to submit event requests. Reviewing these artifacts gave me insight into the approval complexity and showed how much time was wasted in fragmented, manual systems.
Clients shared the external templates, PDFs, and spreadsheets they used to submit event requests. Reviewing these artifacts gave me insight into the approval complexity and showed how much time was wasted in fragmented, manual systems.
DISCOVERY
Researching Enterprise Approval Challenges
Working in a B2B SaaS startup environment meant facing two common constraints: limited access to end users and no dedicated research team.
To uncover the behavioral and structural friction behind approval inconsistency, I designed and ran a multi-layer discovery process that combined customer success insights, usage pattern analysis, and client artifact reviews.
Customer Insights → Usage Patterns → Workflow Analysis
Learning and insights
Learning and insights
Interviews, support conversations, and usage data, a few consistent issues kept emerging:
Requests disappeared into email threads, Slack messages, and shared folders
Approvers lacked context and had to follow up manually
Planners spent hours resending information and clarifying expectations
No one had visibility into what was pending, blocked, or approved
No shared standard existed across teams, causing constant misalignment
Interviews, support conversations, and usage data, a few consistent issues kept emerging:
Requests disappeared into email threads, Slack messages, and shared folders
Approvers lacked context and had to follow up manually
Planners spent hours resending information and clarifying expectations
No one had visibility into what was pending, blocked, or approved
No shared standard existed across teams, causing constant misalignment
Interviews, support conversations, and usage data, a few consistent issues kept emerging:
Requests disappeared into email threads, Slack messages, and shared folders.
Approvers lacked context and had to follow up manually.
Planners spent hours resending information and clarifying expectations.
No one had visibility into what was pending, blocked, or approved
No shared standard existed across teams, causing constant misalignment
These signals pointed to a fragmented approval process and helped clarify where our product needed to step in.
These signals pointed to a fragmented approval process and helped clarify where our product needed to step in.
These signals pointed to a fragmented approval process and helped clarify where our product needed to step in.
“I wish I could see all the event requests in one place to review.”
Event Planning Department Manager
“I wish I could see all the event requests in one place to review.”
Event Planning Department Manager
INSIGHT #1
There was no clear or standardized way to
There was no clear or
standardized way to request
event approvals
request event approvals
Companies had no formalized approach for submitting event requests. Even within the same organization, approval processes differed across departments, event types, and roles making it difficult to define, track, or support the workflow in a scalable way.
Companies had no formalized approach for submitting event requests. Even within the same organization, approval processes differed across departments, event types, and roles making it difficult to define, track, or support the workflow in a scalable way.
INSIGHT #2
Lack of clarity and incomplete event requests
Lack of clarity and incomplete
event requests delayed
approvals and increased rework
delayed approvals and increased rework
Event managers submitted requests without clear criteria for what was considered “ready for approval.” Approvers received fragmented details across emails, chats, and documents that often miss key context. As a result, both sides wasted time chasing clarity, delaying decisions and increasing back-and-forth.
INSIGHT #3
Lack of status tracking led users to build
Lack of status tracking led users
to build their own approval
workflows
their own approval workflows
Circa users renamed team spaces to represent approval states (e.g., “Pending,” “Approved”) and used them to organize events. These hacks revealed a clear need for built-in approval stages and visibility.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Event Management Teams across B2B companies have no clear way to request or track event approvals. Details got lost in emails and chats, approvers lacked context, and there was no shared process across teams. This caused delays, confusion, and missed opportunities and revenue.
Event Management Teams across B2B companies have no clear way to request or track event approvals. Details got lost in emails and chats, approvers lacked context, and there was no shared process across teams. This caused delays, confusion, and missed opportunities and revenue.
INSIGHT #1
There was no clear or
standardized way to
request event approvals
Companies had no formalized approach for submitting event requests. Even within the same organization, approval processes differed across departments, event types, and roles making it difficult to define, track, or support the workflow in a scalable way.
INSIGHT #2
Lack of clarity and
incomplete event requests
increased rework
delayed approvals and
Event managers submitted requests without clear criteria for what was considered “ready for approval.” Approvers received fragmented details across emails, chats, and documents that often miss key context.
As a result, both sides wasted time chasing clarity, delaying decisions and increasing back-and-forth.
INSIGHT #3
Lack of status tracking led
users to build their own
approval workflows
Circa users renamed team spaces to represent approval states (e.g., “Pending,” “Approved”) and used them to organize events. These hacks revealed a clear need for built-in approval stages and visibility.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Event Management Teams across B2B companies have no clear way to request or track event approvals. Details got lost in emails and chats, approvers lacked context, and there was no shared process across teams. This caused delays, confusion, and missed opportunities and revenue.
IDEATION
IDEATION
Finding a scalable solution
Ideation workshop
Ideation workshop
I facilitated a cross-functional ideation workshop with product, engineering, sales, and customer success to address a core challenge:
🚫 Every company and often every department inside the same company had a completely different event approval process.
We explored dozens of ideas (integrations, stricter templates, tighter admin controls) but quickly realized that a one-size-fits-all solution would fail. Instead, we needed to design a system that could flex to each organization's unique needs while driving more business value for Circa.
I facilitated a cross-functional ideation workshop with product, engineering, sales, and customer success to address a core challenge:
🚫 Every company and often every department inside the same company had a completely different event approval process.
We explored dozens of ideas (integrations, stricter templates, tighter admin controls) but quickly realized that a one-size-fits-all solution would fail. Instead, we needed to design a system that could flex to each organization's unique needs while driving more business value for Circa.
The turning point
The turning point
During the workshop, two opportunities became clear:
During the workshop, two opportunities became clear:
Structured data collection was missing entirely.
Structured data collection was
missing entirely.
Event requests were scattered across PDFs, emails, spreadsheets, and screenshots, making it impossible to track, report, or build analytics.
Event requests were scattered across PDFs, emails, spreadsheets, and screenshots, making it impossible to track, report, or build analytics.
Approvals were happening entirely outside Circa.
Approvals were happening
entirely outside Circa.
If we could move the approval process inside the platform, we would capture every event, even those that previously stayed off-platform. This could increase event volume and data stored in Circa by 3-4×, unlocking future personalization and recommendations.
If we could move the approval process inside the platform, we would capture every event, even those that previously stayed off-platform. This could increase event volume and data stored in Circa by 3-4×, unlocking future personalization and recommendations.
Why the Builder + Request Form model
Why the Builder + Request Form model
Rather than standardize processes (which we knew would break), we leveraged Circa's existing custom event fields to build a flexible template builder.
Rather than standardize processes (which we knew would break), we leveraged Circa's existing custom event fields to build a flexible template builder.
Rather than standardize processes (which we knew would break), we leveraged Circa's existing custom event fields to build a flexible template builder.
Admins
Admins
Design templates for their unique event types and required information, creating standardized intake processes.
Allow users to select all needed sizes in one upload, eliminating unnecessary steps and repeat actions.
Allow users to select all needed sizes in one upload, eliminating unnecessary steps and repeat actions.
Event Managers
Event Managers
Use templates to submit requests in a guided, consistent way inside Circa, ensuring all required context is captured upfront.
Use templates to submit requests in a guided, consistent way inside Circa, ensuring all required context is captured upfront.
Event Approvers
Event Approvers
Review, comment, and set status directly in Circa with full context and no reliance on external tools
Deliver measurable UX and system
improvements in weeks, without major architectural changes.
This approach delivered value for both users and the business:
USER VALUE
USER VALUE
Structured approval flow, all info in one place, workflows, real-time collaboration, and approvals that didn’t get lost in email chains.
Structured approval flow, all info in one place, workflows, real-time collaboration, and approvals that didn’t get lost in email chains.
Structured approval flow, all info in one place, workflows, real-time collaboration, and approvals that didn’t get lost in email chains.
BUSINESS VALUE
BUSINESS VALUE
Bringing approvals into Circa means owning the full event pipeline. More events captured → more data, better forecasting, stronger personalization, and new revenue models tied to event volume.
Bringing approvals into Circa means owning the full event pipeline. More events captured → more data, better forecasting, stronger personalization, and new revenue models tied to event volume.
Bringing approvals into Circa means owning the full event pipeline. More events captured → more data, better forecasting, stronger personalization, and new revenue models tied to event volume.
BUILDING SOLUTION
BUILDING SOLUTION
MVP and validation
I led the design of an MVP, collaborating weekly with engineering to reuse our existing custom field architecture and ship fast. Engineering partnership revealed we could leverage 70% of existing components and our workflow engine, significantly reducing development time.
The MVP included:
A basic template builder connected to event fields
Request forms with structured sections and statuses
Inline commenting and notifications for both planners and approvers
I led the design of an MVP, collaborating weekly with engineering to reuse our existing custom field architecture and ship fast. Engineering partnership revealed we could leverage 70% of existing components and our workflow engine, significantly reducing development time.
The MVP included:
A basic template builder connected to event fields
Request forms with structured sections and statuses
Inline commenting and notifications for both planners and approvers
Usability testing & iterations
Usability testing & iterations
We tested the MVP with enterprise clients through Maze and live pilots, uncovering critical usability gaps that shaped our roadmap:
We tested the MVP with enterprise clients through Maze and live pilots, uncovering critical usability gaps that shaped our roadmap:
Key findings
Key findings
Form complexity
Form complexity
Users needed more flexibility for long-form requests and better visual hierarchy.
Users needed more flexibility for long-form requests and better visual hierarchy.
Feature gaps
Feature gaps
File uploads, draft saving, and multiple form support became immediate priorities.
File uploads, draft saving, and multiple form support became immediate priorities.
Approval workflow clarity
Approval workflow clarity
"Who's reviewing? Who should set this up?" revealed confusion about roles and permissions.
"Who's reviewing? Who should set this up?" revealed confusion about roles and permissions.
Status granularity
Beyond approved/declined, users needed intermediate states like "pending more info" with custom decline reasons.
Status granularity
Beyond approved/declined, users needed intermediate states like "pending more info" with custom decline reasons.
V1 launch & early impact
Following usability-driven iterations, we launched the first full version of the form system.
Following usability-driven iterations, we launched the first full version of the form system.
The approval system design delivered measurable improvements across user adoption, operational efficiency, and business outcomes.
↑ 40%
Event volume
increase in events
submitted
45%
Adoption rate
across all active
orgs
75%
Template Reuse
Increase in saved templates
used across departments
Increase in saved templates used across departments
V1 launch & early impact
Following usability-driven iterations, we launched the first full version of the form system.
The approval system design delivered measurable improvements across user adoption, operational efficiency, and business outcomes.
↑ 40%
Event volume
increase in events submitted
45%
Adoption rate
across all active orgs
75%
Template Reuse
Increase in saved templates
used across departments
Scaling to Complex Workflows: Farmers Insurance
Scaling to Complex Workflows: Farmers Insurance
Farmers Insurance became one of Circa's largest enterprise clients, bringing over 48,000 insurance agents who needed a streamlined event request system across their distributed network.
I led the design of a tailored Event Request solution for both mobile and web interfaces, customized for mobile-first agent access, regional approval hierarchies, and compliance requirements.
The implementation delivered 80% cost savings in organizational expenses by eliminating manual processing and reducing approval cycle time.
Farmers Insurance became one of Circa's largest enterprise clients, bringing over 48,000 insurance agents who needed a streamlined event request system across their distributed network.
I led the design of a tailored Event Request solution for both mobile and web interfaces, customized for mobile-first agent access, regional approval hierarchies, and compliance requirements.
The implementation delivered 80% cost savings in organizational expenses by eliminating manual processing and reducing approval cycle time.
© 2025 Anna Vasyukova
© 2025 Anna Vasyukova
© 2025 Anna Vasyukova