The short answers.

Most networking platforms reward who you already know. alchemy reverses that — the mission and partnership fit are the only signals other members see until you both confirm a meeting. That removes the bias that gatekeeps strategic introductions for women-owned and mission-driven organisations.

At the meeting itself — never before. Your alias (e.g. Partner Violet-42) is the only identifier in browse, match requests, calendar invites, and intro emails. Real names appear when you both show up to the call.

Not to use the directory or send match requests. But auto-scheduling only works when both members have connected — until then, accepted matches sit in 'scheduling pending' until you connect. You can connect any time from Settings.

Claude scores each pair on alignment of mission, partnership types sought, complementarity of needs and offers, and geographic compatibility. Most pairs are not a strong match — scores of 80+ are reserved for genuine alignment. Scores are cached for 24 hours per pair to keep costs predictable.

Any member can flag another from their profile or after a match. Three flags suspend an account automatically. We don't run an appeal process in the beta — write to hello@theupherroom.com if you believe something was a mistake.

Yes — every field except your alias can be updated any time from Profile → Edit profile. Your alias is permanent so other members can trust they're talking to the same person each time.

Deliberately no. alchemy's product surface ends at the introduction — once a meeting is booked, the conversation continues off-platform. We chose this so the value is the warmth of the introduction itself, not yet another inbox.

Mission-driven founders, entrepreneurs, and organisational leaders. Women-owned businesses get first access. Built by The UpHer Room Inc., a Center of Excellence advancing leadership for women.