Search helps you find people, companies, and investors — across your network, other users' networks, all of Distill, and LinkedIn and the web. You describe what you're looking for in plain language, Distill works out the criteria, and it shows you the matches along with why each one fits.

There are four ways into Search. They all use the same engine and produce the same kind of results, so pick whichever suits the moment:

• Quick lookup (top bar) — jump straight to a specific person or company you already have in mind.
• Search (Searches page) — describe who you're looking for and let Distill build the search.
• Filters — set structured criteria by hand, or fine-tune a search Distill built for you.
• Agent: hand off a research task and let Distill assemble the results.

Jump to a section

1. Quick lookup from the top bar

Use the search bar at the top of Distill to reach a specific person, company, or project fast. Type a name, a work email, a job title, or paste a LinkedIn URL, then pick a result to open that profile.

This is the quickest way to get to something you already know exists. To discover a new set of people or companies, use the Searches page below.

2. Run a search on the Searches page

Open Searches from the left navigation to run a full discovery search.

Step 1 — Describe what you want in plain language

Type your request the way you'd explain it to a colleague — Distill reads natural language and figures out the criteria for you. For example:

• Show me founders in SF
• VCs who invest in seed-stage startups
• Heads of marketing at Series B SaaS companies

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Tip — search by current state, not history. Distill works from current company and profile data, so time-based questions like "raised a seed round in the last year" or "recently changed jobs" may not return what you expect. Search for the current state instead (for example, "seed-stage fintech companies").

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Step 2 — Choose a scope (optional)