By reimagining events as a measurable growth channel, founder Tonje Bakang Tonje is building the intelligence layer companies didn’t know they were missing.

For decades, companies have spent millions on events, from Cannes Lions activations to Davos dinners and SXSW takeovers, without being able to answer one basic question:

Did it actually work?

The default answer? Probably.

In relationship-driven industries, that uncertainty became normalized. Events were labeled intangible, valuable, but impossible to measure. A branding exercise. A networking play. A “nice to have.”

But as Tonje Bakang Tonje, founder of Moots, sees it, the problem was never the events themselves.

It was the missing infrastructure behind them.

For years, companies have instinctively understood the power of in-person connection. At global gatherings like Cannes Lions, CES, and Art Basel, entire ecosystems of side events have emerged, including private dinners, branded houses, and invite-only receptions. All of them are designed to do one thing: build relationships.

And for good reason. As AI lowers the barrier to building products, differentiation increasingly comes down to trust and relationships.

“Each one exists because companies know that in a world where anyone can build a product with AI in a few weeks, the real differentiator is the relationship you build with your customers and the trust people have in your brand. Nothing beats in-person for that,” Tonje explains.

Yet despite the scale of investment, the intelligence behind those relationships has historically been fleeting. After the event ends, what remains is fragmented. A guest list here. A spreadsheet there. Scattered notes. Most often, the knowledge lives in someone’s memory.

Most teams, at best, walk away with a name and a company.

That is not intelligence. That is a list.

And when the person who hosted the event or built those relationships leaves the company, that knowledge often disappears with them.

The turning point for Tonje came from recognizing a fundamental disconnect. Companies were investing in events as if they were critical to growth, yet measuring them as if they did not matter.

A brand might spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on an activation at SXSW or a private executive dinner during Davos. Months later, they still cannot trace which relationships began there, let alone whether those interactions led to pipeline, partnerships, or revenue.

“It’s not that events don’t work,” Tonje says. “There’s been no system connecting who was in the room to whether those relationships turned into pipeline, partnerships, or deals. The investment has always been massive. The infrastructure to measure it simply didn’t exist.”

That realization led to the creation of Moots, a platform built around a new concept: guest intelligence.

Guest intelligence reframes how events are understood. Instead of focusing on attendance or logistics, it centers on three questions:

  • Who should be in the room?
  • What should happen between those people?
  • Did those interactions lead to outcomes?

Today, most companies rely on a fragmented stack of tools. Invitation platforms, RSVP systems, CRMs, and enrichment tools often operate separately and do not communicate with one another. The result is disconnected data and missed opportunities.

Moots connects these systems and transforms scattered inputs into a unified intelligence layer. More importantly, it activates that intelligence in real time.

Before an event, the platform scores and prioritizes guests based on specific objectives. During the event, it guides interactions by identifying who should meet, alerting teams when high-value attendees arrive, and equipping staff with context for meaningful conversations. Afterward, it ensures that follow-ups are timely, informed, and connected to business outcomes.

What was once left to chance becomes intentional.

This shift has major implications for how companies think about return on investment. Traditional event metrics such as attendance, impressions, and social reach offer only surface-level insight. Moots instead connects experience directly to outcomes.

If the right people meet and find value in the interaction, the likelihood of conversion increases significantly. If they do not, even the most well-produced event will fall short.

For the first time, companies can trace a clear path from who was in the room to what conversations took place to what those conversations produced.

Looking ahead, Tonje believes events are entering a new phase. They will no longer be isolated moments. Instead, they will become part of a continuous system where each interaction builds on the last and every gathering strengthens a company’s network and insight.

“The companies that win in the next decade will be the ones with the deepest relationships, not the best ad spend,” Tonje says. “In-person events are the most powerful tool for building trust, and the market is reflecting that.”

For an industry long driven by instinct, this represents a meaningful shift. Not away from human connection, but toward finally understanding its full value.