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Practical guide

A business round is a schedule of meetings with companies that matter to yours.

Instead of walking around a room hoping to bump into the right person, you get a sequence of short conversations, proposed by the pairing, with companies related to what yours offers or is looking for. This guide explains the format, the timing, what happens at each stage and how to prepare.

Written by Sergio Torres, Founder of Rodada de Negócios

What a business round is

A business round is a business meeting with an organised schedule: each participating company talks to several others, one at a time, for a set period. When the clock runs out, everyone switches partners and the next conversation begins.

The format was born at trade shows and trade missions, precisely because it solves the biggest waste at those events: the time spent looking for someone to talk to. At a round, who you talk to is decided by the pairing, not by luck in the aisles.

How it works in practice

The design varies from organiser to organiser, but the backbone is always the same. At an online round, these are the five stages:

  • 1. Registration and company profile

    You register and describe the company: what it offers, what it is looking for, which sectors it works in. This text is what the pairing will read, and it is the stage most people rush through and later regret.

  • 2. Confirmation and reminders

    After you register, the confirmation and the reminders with date and time arrive by email. A list of companies does not: who you will talk to is decided on the spot, among whoever is present. The logic of the pairing is complementarity: who sells to whom, not who resembles whom.

  • 3. Pairs are formed live

    When the round starts, the platform forms the pairs one round at a time, among whoever is present and without repeating a conversation: by affinity between what one offers and the other is looking for, or at random, as the organiser chooses. As each conversation opens, the screen shows the other company's card: name, company, what it does, what it is looking for and why it was suggested.

  • 4. The conversations

    At the scheduled time, the rooms open in sequence. Each conversation has a fixed length, with a closing warning, and the next one starts automatically when it ends.

  • 5. What is left afterwards

    At the end of each conversation, each side records whether there was interest. When both mark interest, contact details are released and the conversation continues outside the event.

How long each conversation lasts

At most rounds, each conversation lasts between five and ten minutes. It sounds short, and that is deliberate: the goal of a round is not to close a deal there, it is to find out quickly whether a deal is possible at all.

That time is enough for three things, and only three: saying who you are and what you are looking for, understanding the same from the other side, and agreeing on the next step if it makes sense. Whoever tries to present the whole company burns the ten minutes and leaves knowing nothing about the other one.

What changes in an online business round

The mechanics are the same; what changes is the cost of taking part and the reach. With no travel, no hotel and no full day away, the barrier drops a great deal, and your network stops being limited to whoever is in the same city.

There are three practical differences worth knowing. The first is technical: connection, camera and a quiet room become part of the preparation. The second is about rhythm: online, room changes are automatic and punctual, so being late means missing the conversation rather than starting it later. The third is the pairing: on the platform, pairs are formed live, round by round, among whoever is present, so there is no schedule to research in advance, and the other company's card appears when the conversation opens.

How to prepare

The difference between leaving a round with three good conversations or with none usually comes down to simple things, done beforehand:

  • Write the profile for the person who will read it

    It is not a boilerplate description: it is what you offer and what you are looking for, in words another company recognises. That text is what decides who you will talk to.

  • Prepare 60 seconds, not 10 minutes

    Who you are, who you sell to, and what you are looking for there. The rest of the conversation is for listening.

  • Know who you are talking to

    If the round publishes its schedule in advance, as many in-person rounds do, two minutes on each company's website turns the conversation from 'tell me what you do' into 'I saw you serve retail; so do we'. At the platform's online round, pairs are formed on the spot: have your side ready and use the first seconds to read the other company's card and open with the reason it was suggested.

  • Have the next step ready

    If the conversation makes sense, what happens next? Having the answer ready is what turns interest into a meeting.

Who business rounds work for

They work best for companies that sell to other companies and have a sales cycle that starts with a conversation: manufacturing, distribution, B2B services, technology, consulting. The more your business depends on trust and on explaining what you do, the more the format helps.

They work less well for impulse sales to end consumers, and for anyone expecting results the same day. A round opens doors; closing depends on what comes after it.

Frequently asked questions

What is a business round?
It is a business meeting with an organised schedule, in which each company talks to several others in sequence, for a set period. The pairing crosses what each one offers and is looking for, so that the conversations make commercial sense.
How long does each conversation last at a round?
Usually between five and ten minutes. The short format is deliberate: it is there to find out quickly whether a deal is possible and to agree on the next step, not to close on the spot.
Do I have to pay to take part in a business round?
It depends on the event. There are free rounds, opened by associations and organisers, and paid rounds. On RodadaDeNegocios.org, taking part is tied to your plan, and the plans page shows what each one includes.
How do I know who I will be talking to?
It depends on the format. At many in-person rounds, the organiser sends the schedule beforehand, with the companies and the time slots. At the online rounds on RodadaDeNegocios.org there is no list in advance: pairs are formed live, one round at a time, among whoever is present, and when the conversation opens the screen shows the name, the company, what it does, what it is looking for and why it was suggested. That is why the preparation that pays off most is getting your own side ready: a clear profile, a pitch, questions and a next step.
What happens after the round?
At the end of each conversation both sides record whether there was interest. When both mark it, contact details are released and the conversation continues outside the event. Without mutual interest, no contact details are shared.

Keep reading

See the next open rounds

Rounds opened by the platform are listed with date, time and theme. You register, fill in the company profile and, on the day, talk to the companies present, in pairs formed live by the matching.

See upcoming roundsLook at the plans