Only 3% of people who show up to an event went looking for it. The other 97% came because someone they trust was already going.
In this episode of Women Disrupting Tech, I talk with Elise Mol, co-founder of Bash, a platform that helps event organizers turn ticket buyers into a community-driven marketing engine. We explore why exclusive early access beats public discounts, why the events industry is under more financial pressure than most people assume, and what it takes to build trust-based growth instead of relying on paid ads.
What you’ll learn in this episode
Why public “early bird” discounts fail to reward loyal community members, and what exclusive access does instead
Why your first ticket buyers act as an organic marketing channel in the months before an event
How the “plus-one” system turns a single ticket into a referral loop through WhatsApp and other personal channels
Why the post-COVID events industry is under more financial pressure than headlines suggest
Why BASH chose to work with organizers who already understood their model, rather than trying to convince skeptics
Why proving one local market matters more than international expansion early on
A simple practice for turning routine tasks like washing the dishes into space for solving hard problems
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
04:50 BASH and Its Origins
07:04 The Impact of COVID-19 on Event Planning
10:05 Transitioning from User to Organizer Focus
12:53 Challenges Faced by Event Organizers Post-COVID
16:08 The Importance of Early Ticket Sales
18:51 Building Community and FOMO in Event Marketing
21:46 BASH’s Role in Supporting Event Organizers
26:43 The Art of Event Organization
32:46 Building Community Through Events
38:39 Scaling and Cultural Considerations
42:38 Goal Setting and Company Growth
46:09 Design Principles for Trust and Belonging
More about the episode
Blog: https://womendisruptingtech.blog/2026/08/27/episode-167/
Substack: https://womendisruptingtech.substack.com/p/episode-167
Connect with Elise Mol and BASH
Elise Mol on LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/elisemol
BASH: https://bash.social
Connect with host Dirkjan Hupkes
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirkjan-hupkes/
FundingCoach: https://fundingcoach.ai
About Women Disrupting Tech
Every week, Women Disrupting Tech covers the decisions, patterns, and structural realities that female founders and investors rarely discuss in public but run into every time they meet. Follow to get it in your feed.
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