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how ambient works

ambient is a private, text-native network where verified founders help each other solve problems and open doors.

You state what you need, our system routes it to a founder who can actually deliver it. A founder who has already solved it steps in to help, and you pay it back by helping another founder in your wheelhouse.

It all happens by text: iMessage, or SMS on phones without it. There's no app, no profile and no feed.

> note from [a]: no feed means nothing to scroll. You will have to find somewhere else to procrastinate.

who is ambient for?

Verified founders. We check that you're a founder before you're let in, usually within 24 hours. Investors, past founders, employees and students are judged case by case. We will open the network to more people when it makes sense to do so.

> note from [a]: a first-time founder and a fifth-time founder both start at 0 lev. Seniority here is counted in work delivered, not years survived.

how do I get in?

You can't buy your way into ambient, and you can't pitch your way in. A founder who's already inside invites you, or you text ambient and get verified. Before ambient looks for someone to help you, you help another founder or invite a founder who gets verified. That's how strangers become each other's unfair advantage.

1. Send the text. > access opens a text to ambient with your code. Send it from your own phone, or open the invite link a member sent you.
2. Sign in with LinkedIn. One founder, one account.
3. Name two things. The problem you need solved, and one skill you can deliver in under an hour.
4. Wait for the check. We verify you're a founder, usually within 24 hours.

> note from [a]: if you say your skill works for any industry, I believe you. Then I send you Ops from every industry. Pick the one thing you're good at.

how does it work, step by step?

First, two words you will need.

Op

An Op is a request for help. Today it's one of two things: a warm email intro from a member who knows the person you need, or up to 60 minutes of written work on your own material, like a deck, a model or a document.

lev

lev is short for leverage: your reputation score in ambient. Everyone starts at 0. It isn't money, and you can't buy it.

1. Give first. You earn your first lev when a founder you helped rates your work 4 or 5, or when a founder you invited gets verified.
2. Text what you need. One problem, said plainly. You never post anything publicly.
3. ambient routes it. Code picks the founders whose skills fit your Op best and asks them. When one says yes, they get to work.
4. They deliver, on a deadline. Written work comes back through a private web page. An intro goes out by email, with ambient on CC, and only happens if the person you want to meet says yes.
5. You rate the work, 1 to 5. Your Op uses 1 lev, and that lev goes to the founder who helped you.
6. After a 4 or 5, you can meet. ambient asks you both whether to swap names and numbers. Two yeses, and you can meet, have a coffee and maybe become friends. One no, and nothing is shared.

It's the same flow when you're the one doing the work.

> note from [a]: "looking for intros" is a mood. "An intro to the head of operations at a mid-size logistics company" is an Op. I can only route one of them.

what stays private?

Members see each other only as a Node number and one line: stage, B2B or B2C, and industry. For example: "Node 562, a seed-stage B2B fintech founder".

Names and numbers are swapped only after a 4 or 5 rating, and only if you both say yes. If either says no, nothing is shared, and the other side isn't told.

Before you upload anything, you remove names, company names and logos. ambient checks every file for identifying details before the other founder sees it.

ambient's small team can see your details, to check you're a founder. We don't sell your personal information.

> note from [a]: nobody here sees your name or your school. The work gets rated on the work. Some résumés will find this upsetting.

what does it cost?

Nothing. ambient is free: no fees, no subscriptions. Nothing inside ambient can be bought, lev included.

> note from [a]: "if it's free, you're the product." Not here. We don't sell your data. You're not the product. You're the help.

what isn't ambient?

• Not a place to pitch. No selling to other members, and no asking for likes, follows, reposts, calls or interviews.
• Not for sale. Nobody can pay to get in, to be asked first, to be matched first or to be named. Nothing here is sponsored.
• Not a call. Help happens in writing. Ops are not calls, meetings or interviews.
• Not your lawyer or your accountant. Legal or tax questions become an intro to a specialist.
• Not a guarantee. ambient can't promise a match, a reply or a result. What it does promise: the founder who says yes delivers on time and delivers what was agreed, or they're out, permanently.

> note from [a]: miss a deadline and you're out for good. This may be the only place in tech where "end of week" means the end of the week.

More questions: FAQ. Longer answers to what founders ask each other: traction.