About: Circle

Circle.so is a community platform enabling creators, brands, and organizations to build online communities with features for discussions, courses, content sharing, and events.

Key figures include:

• Estimated revenue exceeding $10 million
• Approximately 100 employees

The platform supports entrepreneurs, educators, and enterprises looking to centralize engagement and monetization.

The Challenge: Modernization for Scale & Performance

Circle needed to transition from Webflow CMS to a more scalable, customizable infrastructure.

Key challenges included:

• Migrating all page content without design inconsistencies
• Rebuilding functionality within Builder.io
• Managing numerous third-party extensions impacting performance
• Implementing custom filtering and search features
• Maintaining performance across high traffic volumes
• Ensuring scalability for future marketing experimentation

The Goal: Deliver a scalable, high-performance marketing platform powered by Builder.io and Next.js while preserving content structure and improving speed.

The Solution: Headless Architecture with Custom Component Development

Multidots delivered a full migration and redesign strategy.

Key Technical Implementations:

• Full Content Migration & Redesign: Recreated all pages in Builder.io with a refreshed design to improve UX and scalability.
• Custom Data Models: Developed tailored content models within Builder.io to ensure structured management and display.
• Next.js Custom Components: Built custom components and features using the Next.js framework to replicate and enhance prior website functionality.
• Search & Filtering Logic: Implemented filtering and search functionality using custom coding within Next.js.
• Third-Party Tool Integration: Integrated OptinMonster, VWO, and additional analytics tools for performance tracking and experimentation.
• Hosting & Deployment: Hosted on Pressidium servers with deployment managed via DeployHQ.
• Performance Optimization: Applied efficient code practices and caching strategies to reduce server requests and improve load times.

The Results: Performance Gains & Scalable Architecture

1. Performance Improvements

• 60% improvement in page speed (mobile scores)
• Improved caching and server request handling
• Faster load times across devices

2. Platform & Scalability Enhancements

• Seamless Webflow to Builder.io migration
• Headless-ready architecture with Next.js
• Enhanced SEO-friendly structure
• Improved future scalability and customization flexibility

3. Marketing & Analytics Enablement

• Integrated experimentation tools (VWO)
• Enhanced traffic monitoring via OptinMonster
• Consolidated analytics and performance tracking