Detected relationships in Stage 1

The best way into an account is often someone you already know. A former colleague. A buyer from a past engagement who moved companies. The trouble is remembering. Most sellers have hundreds of connections and no time to check each one against every account on their list.

Stage 1 checks for you. It finds the relationship, shows the evidence and picks the door from it.

What it detects

Six relationships, each from data you'd otherwise have to dig up by hand.

Worked together. Stage 1 compares your LinkedIn work history with the person's. If you were at the same company at the same time for three months or more, and you're not both still there, it's flagged with the company and the years.

Worked for you. Same overlap, but your title was senior and theirs wasn't. They used to report to you, or close to it. They're likely senior now, and the note is written that way.

Former buyer. The person used to work at a company on your past-client list, before their current job. That makes them a likely former buyer, and the evidence names the company and the years they were there.

Standing account. The account itself is on your past-client list. Your firm served them before, and the person reading your note probably didn't sign that work.

Knows you well. You're already connected on LinkedIn, and you've each sent at least three real messages to the other.

Met before. You're connected, and they've written to you at least once. Thinner, but real.

The message counts only look at conversations from before Stage 1 ever wrote to them. Its own sends never make a stranger look like a friend.

Where the data comes from

Your own work history comes from your LinkedIn profile, refreshed weekly. Each person's history is read in the same LinkedIn lookup that checks for warm paths, which needs a paid LinkedIn plan.

Your past clients come from a list you keep under Settings, Workspace, one company per line. Clients named in your Brain's proof count too.

Where you see it

Open an account on the Board. Under each person, a detected relationship shows as a chip, like Former colleague or Former buyer, with the evidence next to it and a Detected tag. A detected standing account shows under History with your firm, with its own Detected tag.

The door follows the relationship. A detected former colleague opens the Former Colleague door when something changed for them or at their company. A detected former buyer opens The Former Buyer. Someone who knows you well gets a Warm note with their first name as the subject. A standing account gets The Standing Account. The reason for each door shows under the person's name, so you can see why before anything is drafted.

When it's wrong

Detection is a read, not a verdict. Tap Not right and it clears for good for that person. Tap Change to set it yourself. Your call always wins over what Stage 1 detects.

For the two things only you can know, a referral someone cleared and a conversation a colleague had at an event, tap the Know link under the person and add them.

Why it matters for services

In services, relationships move with people. Your best buyer from three years ago is now at a company you've never sold to. Your old delivery lead runs engineering somewhere else. Those are your warmest doors, and they stay invisible until someone checks.

A former buyer doesn't need a cold hypothesis about a company they've never heard of you at. They need a note that starts with the work you did together. Stage 1 can only write that note if it knows, and now it does.

For more, see following your champion to a new company, a new leader from a company you served and warm paths in Stage 1.

The point

The people who already trust you show up on the Board with the evidence attached. Stage 1 finds them, and you decide.