Mystery became Glue after its data showed 90% of its own events changed nothing

Glue is an employee-engagement platform that helps companies keep people connected and retain their best staff

That engagement software could find connection opportunities automatically — reading Slack and calendars with ML and network analysis — instead of waiting on surveys

$18.5M Series A raised in February 2022 from Greylock, Moving Capital, Endeavor and Gaingels

Founded in 2018 as Mystery, the Seattle startup planned surprise dates — dinner, drinks, entertainment, transport — for couples. COVID killed going out; a 'Night In' pivot followed, then a 2021 shift to B2B virtual events the company branded 'morale as a service'.

Events grew — people liked attending, organizers loved the platform — but when Kovalsky asked whether they moved the bottom line of engagement, the answer was no: 90% of events had no effect. He hired data scientist Shawn Ramirez, built an ML connection platform examining Slack and calendars, and acquired PopStage, a two-person HR software company creating visual experiences.

On 28 March 2023 Mystery rebranded as Glue, with almost 50 employees and a new AI-powered connection platform that generates anonymized data for HR leaders to act on.

The company measured its own product against the outcome it sold and let the 90% failure rate force the pivot.

Surveys wait for quarters; signals already inside Slack and calendars let engagement be acted on the week it drops.

Anonymized, employee-first data answers the privacy objection that kills most workplace-surveillance software.

Owning PopStage added the visual-experience layer for the events it still wants people to attend — now chosen by data.

If your own data says the product isn't moving the metric it sells, believe it — and rebuild before the market does it for you.

As of 28 March 2023 Glue had launched its new platform, absorbed PopStage, and employed just under 50 people. No customer or retention results were reported.