Everything on Five Degrees starts with a Quest — your plain-language description of what you are looking for. Not a search query, not a filter. Just what you need, in your own words.
Here is the whole journey, start to finish.
Step 1 — Post a Quest
You might write "I need a part-time nanny for weekday mornings in Austin" or "Looking for a designer who has shipped a real mobile app." The more honest the Quest, the better the path we can find.
Step 2 — We find the path
Behind the scenes, Five Degrees searches your trust graph for the shortest chain of real relationships that ends at someone who fits. This is where the trust chains do their work — every candidate path is made of people who actually know each other.
Step 3 — The chain lights up
The people along the path each get a chance to pass the request forward:
- If they help, the Quest moves one step closer.
- If they pass, we quietly reroute.
- Nobody is spammed, and nobody is obligated.
A Match is not a search result. It is the end of a path that real people chose to walk with you.
Step 4 — The Match
When the request reaches someone who can help and they say yes, that is a Match. Now you are not strangers — you are two people connected by a chain of mutual trust, with a reason to talk.
Why this beats a marketplace
A marketplace gives you a list of strangers and a rating. A trust chain gives you context:
- You know how you are connected.
- You know who vouched along the way.
- You start the conversation already halfway to trusting each other.
That is the difference between finding someone and being introduced to them. And you do not have to do the asking yourself — your Buddy handles that part.