What you get by joining as an external member

Someone sent you an invitation to join their network on CTD as an external member. This article explains exactly what that means — what you get out of it, what you share, and what stays completely private.

The short version

When you accept the invitation and add some of your network data — an email account, your LinkedIn connections, or both — two things happen:

• You gain access to their network — you can search for warm intro paths through the entire team's collective connections, not just the person who invited you.
• They gain access to your network — everyone on their team can find warm paths through your contacts.

It's a mutual exchange, built on trust. What you add is entirely up to you — connect what you're comfortable with. You only ever share the shape of your network — who you know and how well — never the content of your communications.

What you can do after joining

As an external member, you get a fully functional CTD account — the same one individuals use for their own professional networking. Here's what that includes:

• Warm path search through their team's network — type in any person or company and see who on their team (or in your own contacts) can make a warm introduction. This is the core value of being an external member.
• Your own contact book, organized and scored — CTD pulls together everyone you've emailed across all your connected accounts, removes duplicates, and scores each relationship by how active it is. It's the only place where your entire network is in one view.
• Job change alerts — get notified when key people in your network change roles, so you can reach out at the right moment.
• The CTD mobile app — available on iOS and Android, so your network is always with you.
• Free, forever — your account is free. The team that invited you covers any costs on their side. You'll never be asked for a credit card.

What you share — and how it stays private

If you connect an email account, CTD never reads the body of your emails. The only information it collects is metadata: who you've emailed, when, and how often — enough to calculate relationship strength, nothing more. No subject lines, no message content, nothing personal. If you import LinkedIn connections, CTD gets your connection list — names, titles, and companies.

What the inviting team can see from your network:

• Who you know and how well (e.g., "Alex has a strong relationship with Jane Smith at Acme Corp")
• Nothing else — they cannot browse your contacts, they can only see a connection when it's relevant to a path they're searching for.

What the inviting team cannot see:

• The content of any email you've ever sent or received
• Your contacts who aren't relevant to any path they're searching for
• Your personal notes, calendar, or any data outside of CTD

Your data is yours. You can disconnect your account or leave the external member relationship at any time from Privacy settings. When you do, the team immediately loses access to paths through your network.

What you cannot access

External members have a scoped view of the team's workspace. You won't have access to:

• The team's CRM data or sales pipeline
• Internal org settings or admin controls
• Other external members' networks — each external member relationship is separate
• Any data the team's admin has chosen to restrict (admins can limit what external members can see)

How to get started

Click the link in the invitation email you received. Once you've created your account, you can add your network data — connect an email account, import your LinkedIn connections, or both. Add whatever you're comfortable with; the more you add, the more paths CTD can find for you.

Already have a CTD account? You can accept the pending request directly at app.ctd.ai/account/supergraphs/pending.

To review or adjust what you're sharing, go to app.ctd.ai/account/privacy at any time.

Have a question or running into an issue? Email us at support@ctd.ai — we're happy to help.