About Happenstance
Everyone already has a network worth searching. Happenstance is the search engine for it.
By Jerry Feng, Growth at Happenstance. Updated September 1, 2026.
The short version
Happenstance is people search over your own network. You connect the accounts your relationships already live in (Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram) and ask, in plain English, who you know and who can introduce you. 500,000+ people use it. The free plan is the whole product, with usage limits on chat and on web searches beyond your network.
What Happenstance is
Most of the people who can help you are already somewhere in your accounts. They're in a thread from four years ago, a calendar invite from a job you've left, a follow you barely remember. The problem was never that you know nobody, it was that no tool could answer a question about the people you already know.
Happenstance answers it. Connect your accounts and it builds one picture of everyone you know, scored by how well you know them, and you ask it questions the way you'd ask a well-connected friend. 500,000+ people use it.
How it works
You connect the accounts. Happenstance reads who you email and how often, who sits in meetings with you, who you're connected to, who you follow, and who's in your Google Contacts. Email is read as headers only, which is enough to tell how well two people know each other.
It scores the relationships. Every tie carries evidence, so the search can rank an old colleague you speak to weekly above someone whose name you accepted once.
You ask in plain English. Every answer names the people, why they matched, and the path to each one: direct, through a friend, or through a group.
Friends and groups widen the reach. Your own accounts are the first degree. Add a friend and each of you can search the other's network, because sharing is always mutual. Join a group and every member opens their network to the rest, which turns a fund, a team or a community into one pool. What you can reach stops being the people you know, and becomes everyone known to anybody willing to help you.
Seed investors in my network who back AI
Example9 people in your network invest at seed; three list AI companies in their portfolios.
| Person | Mutuals |
|---|---|
PN Priya NatarajanPartner at Northgate Ventures | |
DA Daniel AchebeAngel investor, ex-founder | |
ML Marta LindgrenPrincipal at Kestrel Capital |
What people ask Happenstance
- “Who can introduce me to someone at Stripe?”
- “Seed investors in my network who back AI”
- “How am I connected to this person?”
- “Former colleagues who now work at startups”
- “Who on our team knows anyone at Datadog?”
The same questions work from the web app, from the iPhone app (Happenstance AI on the App Store, free, iOS 26.2 or later), and from Sidedoor when you are applying for a job.
What you can connect
Seven sources. Each one brings in more people, and better evidence of how well you know them, so every answer improves as you connect more: Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Friends and groups then extend the search past your own accounts: a friend shares networks with you in both directions, and a group pools a team, fund, cohort or community into one searchable place. Groups are free and unlimited, and the largest make 380,000+ people searchable.
Ask from wherever you work
None of this lives only in a browser tab. Happenstance runs an MCP server and a public API, so an agent can run the same query you would. Claude, Claude Code and ChatGPT reach your network in the middle of whatever else they happen to be doing, a CLI covers the terminal, and there is an iOS app for the phone.
That matters more as agents take on more of the work. Something drafting your outreach, or preparing you for a meeting, can find out who you already know at a company and come back with the same evidence and the same route you would have got yourself.
Happenstance at a glance
- What it is
- People search over the network you already have
- People using it
- 500,000+
- Connected sources
- Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram
- Price
- Free, the whole product with usage limits. Pro $30 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly
- Groups
- Free and unlimited; the largest hold 380,000+ people
- Security
- SOC 2 compliant, DTI Trust Level 2
What Happenstance can see, and who else can
Email is read as headers only. Message content and attachments never reach our servers. Yes. Your connections are searchable only by you, the friends you accept, and the groups you join, and sharing is always mutual. Your public profile shows a constellation of named people you know by default, which you can turn off anytime. We never share, sell, or use your data to train AI models. Happenstance is SOC 2 certified and DTI Trust Level 2; the full list of what is stored and for how long is on the security page.
Frequently asked questions
The basics
What's Happenstance?
Happenstance is an AI people search engine for the network you already have. It reads the accounts you connect, builds one searchable picture of everyone you know and how well you know them, and answers questions like "who can introduce me to someone at Stripe?" Every result is somebody you know, or somebody a friend or group can introduce you to.
How does Happenstance work?
You connect your accounts. Happenstance reads who you email and how often (headers only, never message content), who you share meetings with, who you're connected to and who you follow, then scores each relationship from that evidence. You ask a question in plain English and get ranked people, each with the path to them and the reason they matched.
How many people use Happenstance?
500,000+ people use Happenstance.
Plans and accounts
Is Happenstance free?
Yes. The free plan is the whole product, Sidedoor included, with unlimited connected accounts, friends and groups, and usage limits on chat and on web searches beyond your network. Pro is $30 a month, or $24 a month billed yearly, and raises those limits.
What accounts can I connect?
Seven: Gmail, Outlook, Google Calendar, Google Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. Each one brings in more people, and better evidence of how well you know them, so the more you connect the better every answer gets.
Privacy and security
Does Happenstance read my email?
Headers only: who wrote to whom, and when. Message content and attachments never reach Happenstance servers. That's enough to tell how well you know someone, which is what the relationship score is built from.
Is Happenstance secure?
Happenstance is SOC 2 compliant and DTI Trust Level 2. Your connections are searchable only by you, plus the friends you accept and the groups you join. The security page lists what is stored and for how long.
How people use it
What are friends and groups?
A friend is someone who agreed to share networks with you, in both directions. A group is a team, fund, cohort or community whose members pool their networks into one searchable place. Groups are free and unlimited, and the largest make 380,000+ people searchable.
Is Happenstance a CRM?
The kind you search. It does the half of a personal CRM most people buy one for, knowing who you know and finding the right person, from your accounts rather than from data entry. Reminders, per-person notes and a pipeline live in a CRM you maintain; a team running deals runs one beside Happenstance. That is why we call it a personal CRM you search instead of maintain.
Can I use Happenstance from ChatGPT or Claude?
Yes. There's a public API, an MCP server, a ChatGPT app, Claude and Claude Code integrations, and a CLI, so the same question works inside the assistant you already use.
Is there a Happenstance iPhone app?
Yes. Happenstance AI is on the App Store for iPhone, free, on iOS 26.2 or later. It is the same account and the same network as the web app, so anything you connect on one is searchable on the other, and Pro is available as an in-app purchase.
What's Sidedoor?
Sidedoor takes a job posting and searches your network at that company and at similar ones, including your friends' networks, so you can apply through a person instead of a form, free, and your search stays private.
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