01
The challenge
Startup Summit Lisbon had grown faster than its team. Three people ran sponsorship, program and marketing, and the website was updated in the evenings. Exhibitor enquiries arrived by phone and WhatsApp and waited days for a reply.
02
What changed
The team pasted the event name into Expola and used the AI event report to prioritise: search visibility and listings first, then checkout. The website builder drafted pages from the report, which the team edited rather than wrote.
The AI phone and WhatsApp assistant took over first-line exhibitor and attendee questions, holding stands and sending payment links. Campaigns were drafted from what each contact did the previous edition and sent after a one-click approval.
“Expola is like an army of experts. The website, the campaigns, the follow-ups: it just runs on autopilot.”
03
The results
Online registrations grew 300% year over year, and monthly ticket sales reached $40,000 in the run-up to the show. The team estimates it saves four hours a week on administrative work, most of it from the assistant.
“We are three people. The assistant answered more exhibitor questions in the last month than our team could have in a quarter.”
Tomás Ferreira, CEO, Atlantic Founders Network
