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B2B matchmaking guide

B2B matchmaking: how the right companies meet at an event.

Without pairing, the right meeting depends on luck. With matchmaking, every conversation has a commercial reason.

Written by Sergio Torres, Founder of Rodada de Negócios

What is B2B matchmaking?

B2B matchmaking is pairing companies at an event based on what each one offers and what it is looking for, so that every conversation has a commercial reason.

It can be done in advance, as a schedule with fixed time slots, or live, round by round, among the companies that are present.

How it works at an online business round

  1. When registering, each company states what it offers and what it is looking for.
  2. The platform calculates the affinity of every possible pair, in both directions.
  3. At start time, only those who are present enter the pairing.
  4. In each round, the highest-affinity pairs that have not met yet go to a video room.
  5. At the end, each side marks whether it wants to continue, and contact details are released only if both do.
  6. The organizer receives a report with the conversations held and the mutual connections.

Key terms in one line

Affinity:
how well one company's offer answers the other's need, as a percentage.
Live pairing:
pairs formed on the spot, round by round, only among the companies present.
Pre-booked schedule:
time slots and counterparts fixed before the event starts.
Mutual connection:
a conversation in which both sides marked that they want to continue.
Round:
the block of minutes, set by the organizer, in which each pair talks.

Pre-booked or live: the two ways to do matchmaking

In pre-booked matchmaking, pairing happens before the event: each company receives a schedule with fixed time slots and counterparts. It is the usual model at in-person trade shows and conferences, where every meeting needs a table and a reserved slot.

Its weak point is no-shows. Whoever is missing leaves the other company waiting at an empty table, and the whole schedule was calculated counting on people who did not come.

In live pairing, pairs are formed on the spot, round by round, only among the companies that are present. In each round, the system picks the highest-affinity pairs that have not met yet, and nobody waits for someone who did not show up.

That is how the platform's online rounds work: the organizer chooses between affinity pairs or everyone meeting everyone, and the rotation runs automatically from start to finish.

How the pairing is calculated

The rule that makes pairing work fits in one sentence: cross what one company offers with what the other is looking for, in both directions.

Comparing profile with profile, by text similarity, rewards the wrong pair, because the companies with the most similar descriptions tend to be direct competitors. Two packaging manufacturers have nearly identical texts and neither wants to talk to the other; the manufacturer wants the distributor, whose text looks nothing like its own.

Good pairing also spreads the conversations. If three companies all want to talk to the same one, the platform balances the rounds so that everyone gets conversations, not just the most sought-after companies.

See matchmaking at a real round

Your first round is free (one per Brazilian company registration, CNPJ).

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What matchmaking needs in order to work

The algorithm is the easy part. What separates a round with good pairs from one with poor pairs almost always happens before it:

  • A commercial profile that was actually filled in

    Pairing reads text. A profile with one boilerplate line gives nothing to cross-reference, so the company gets conversations with no reason behind them, concludes the system does not work, and does not come back.

  • Offer and need asked separately

    Asking each company only to describe itself is where the problem starts. These are two different questions, and the cross-reference needs both to have any direction.

  • Enough companies in the room

    With too few companies, any system returns poor pairs, because no good combination is available. Matchmaking multiplies the quality of a base; it does not create one.

  • Realistic conversation length

    A round that is too short turns a good conversation into an interrupted pitch. Five to ten minutes per conversation is the range where the format works.

How to measure whether it worked

Matchmaking is easy to sell and hard to prove. Three numbers show whether it worked, and all three come from the round report:

  • Conversations held

    How many conversations each participant had. It shows whether the pairing spread the meetings well or concentrated everything on a few companies.

  • Mutual connections

    In how many conversations both sides flagged interest in continuing. It measures the quality of the pair, not the effort of the organizer.

  • Business one week later

    Seven days after the round, those with a mutual connection answer whether any conversation turned into business. It is the number that survives a sponsor's question.

Where B2B matchmaking applies

At business rounds, matchmaking is the whole event: without it, all that is left is a room and luck.

At associations, chambers of commerce and coworking spaces, it is what turns a base of companies into a network that does business with itself. At trade shows and conferences, it prevents the exhibitor from spending the day at the booth without talking to anyone relevant.

Frequently asked questions

What is B2B matchmaking?
It is pairing companies at an event based on what each one offers and what it is looking for, so that every conversation has a commercial reason. It can be done in advance, as a schedule with fixed time slots, or live, round by round, among the companies that are present.
How does matchmaking work at a business round?
When registering, each company states what it offers and what it is looking for. On the day, in each round, the platform forms the highest-affinity pairs among those present who have not met yet, and takes each pair to a video room with a timer.
What is the difference between a pre-booked schedule and live pairing?
In a pre-booked schedule, time slots and counterparts are fixed before the event, and whoever is missing leaves the other company waiting. In live pairing, pairs are formed on the spot, only among those present, and nobody is left at an empty table.
How does AI do matchmaking between companies?
It reads what each company offers and what it is looking for and calculates the affinity of every possible pair, in both directions. Affinity decides who talks to whom; it does not guarantee business, which depends on the conversation and on what comes after.
How does pairing avoid putting direct competitors together?
By crossing offer with need, rather than profile with profile. Comparing descriptions by similarity brings competitors together precisely because they are the ones with the most similar texts.
Does matchmaking work at a small event?
It works, but it yields less. Pairing multiplies the quality of the combinations available in a base; with few companies there are few good combinations available, and no algorithm creates what does not exist.

Keep reading

Pairing at your own round

Organizers running a round on the platform get the pairing already done: companies fill in what they offer and what they are looking for when they register, on the day the platform forms the pairs live, round by round, among whoever is present and without repeating a conversation, and the results report comes after.

Organize a roundSee upcoming rounds

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