After years of organizing hybrid conferences like EuroRust, EmberFest, and Svelte Summit, one problem became clear: remote attendees consistently felt disconnected. They missed out on the energy of the event and found it awkward or difficult to meet new people. The same holds true in remote teams. Casual hallway chats and spontaneous connections are hard to replicate online.
We wanted to give remote groups a simple, effective way to help people connect remotely—whether at an event or in a distributed company. So we built Whirlwind.
anchorThe Solution: Fast, Fun, and Human
Whirlwind is a video-based speed networking tool that connects people randomly for short, one-on-one video calls. It’s designed to make remote socializing feel natural, fast-paced, and fun.
By design, Whirlwind solves a few common issues with remote networking:
- No awkward outreach: Random matchmaking removes the pressure of cold-messaging strangers in chat.
- Built-in pacing: The time limit keeps conversations focused and energetic.
- Efficient networking: Participants meet multiple people quickly, with the option to follow up afterward if there’s a spark.
anchorHow We Built It
Whirlwind is built with Svelte on the frontend for snappy performance and a smooth user experience. Video calls rely on WebRTC so that communication is peer-to-peer with minimal infrastructure overhead on our side.
On the backend, we use Rust to build a lightweight signaling server that handles matchmaking and initiates connections. Because the server doesn’t need to relay video streams, it can scale effortlessly and cost-effectively.
