Tech Blog: Update 26th June 2026

People often imagine that building a website starts with somebody opening a laptop and writing code.

It doesn’t.

Or at least, it shouldn’t.

Good software begins long before the first database is created or the first button appears on a screen. It begins with questions.

• Is anyone asking for this?
• Can we genuinely build something better?
• Which technology gives us the strongest foundations five years from now, not just five weeks from now?

Those are the questions we’re answering during Phase One of Circles.

Start by proving the idea

One of the easiest mistakes a software company can make is falling in love with its own idea. Building something is exciting. Research isn’t always quite as glamorous. Unfortunately, research is also the part that prevents expensive mistakes later. That’s why our first priority isn’t writing software.

It’s listening.

We’re publishing articles like the ones you’ve probably already read on this site to explore the conversations people are actually having. Topics like confidence, sex, casual dating, self-esteem, kinks, menopause, loneliness and modern connection. These aren’t marketing exercises. They’re ways of understanding the people we hope will eventually use Circles.

At the same time, we’re quietly measuring interest.

• Are people reading?
• Are they sharing articles?
• Are they joining the waitlist?

Those signals tell us whether we’re solving a real problem or simply building something we personally think is interesting.

The difference matters.

Choosing technology is surprisingly complicated

People often ask what technology we’re using.

The honest answer?

We’re still evaluating it and that’s entirely deliberate.

Once you commit to a technology stack, changing direction becomes increasingly expensive.

So before we make those decisions, we’re investigating everything.

• Hosting.
• Cloud infrastructure.
• Identity verification.
• Media storage.
• Content moderation.
• Video platforms.
• Security services.
• Scalability.
• Performance.

Every component has strengths, weaknesses and costs.

Our goal isn’t to find the newest technology, it’s to find the technology that will still make sense years from now.

Sometimes the most exciting solution isn’t the best one. Sometimes boring technology wins because it has already proven itself.

We’re perfectly happy with that.

Building the business before building the platform

Software doesn’t exist in isolation.

It needs funding, planning and realistic expectations.

That means a surprising amount of our time has been spent away from code editors and inside spreadsheets, documents and presentation software.

We’ve been developing a detailed business plan that explains not only what Circles is, but how it can grow sustainably.

Alongside that sits an investor pack that communicates the same vision to potential partners.

Those documents force us to answer difficult questions.

• How many members do we need?
• How quickly can we grow?
• What happens if growth exceeds expectations?
• What happens if it doesn’t?
• What risks are we accepting?

Every answer makes the product stronger.

Why we’re documenting the journey

One thing we’ve learned from years working in technology is that projects often become mysterious.

People only see the polished product – nobody sees the hundreds of decisions that shaped it.

We’d like to change that.

This Tech Blog is our way of opening the workshop door.

• We’ll share the decisions we make.
• We’ll explain why we rejected certain technologies.
• We’ll celebrate the milestones.
• We’ll probably admit a few mistakes along the way too.

If something changes, we’ll tell you.

If we discover a better solution, we’ll explain why we switched.

Technology moves quickly, and we’d rather be transparent than pretend we always knew the perfect answer.

What’s next?

Phase One continues for a little while yet.

There’s still more research to complete, more conversations to have and more technical evaluations to finish before development begins in earnest.

Once we’re satisfied that the foundations are solid, we’ll move into designing and building the platform itself.

That’s where things become really exciting.

The visible part of Circles will eventually be the website.

The invisible part will be thousands of thoughtful decisions made long before anyone creates an account.

Those are the decisions we’re making now.

And in our opinion, they’re some of the most important ones of all.

Follow the site’s Tech Blog if you like that kind of thing.