• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Tech

Accompany Wants to Be Your Mobile Chief of Staff

By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Leena Rao
Leena Rao
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 3, 2016, 12:00 PM ET
155453099
Photograph by Aping Vision/STS Getty Images

When Google product executive Amy Chang was trying to sell premium versions of Google Analytics to companies, she would find herself in rooms of 15 to 20 people, many of whom she had met for the first time. “I didn’t have time to look up their bios and prep 20 different briefing docs on everyone,” Chang explained.

That’s where she came up with the idea for a service that would do all of that for you. She left Google, and in 2013 co-founded Accompany with her former colleague at Google, engineer Matthias Ruhl.

The premise for Accompany is simple: the mobile and web app wants to be your virtual chief of staff, providing you with all the information you need for anyone you are meeting with in a given day. The app, which has been in private beta for the past two years and opened to the public today, connects to your Google or Microsoft email account, your mobile calendar, and Facebook and Twitter accounts. From there, the company’s algorithms parse through your personal data — as well as biographies and information listed on the web — to create miniature dossiers on each of your contacts.

Get Data Sheet, Fortune’s technology newsletter.

Each night, Accompany will send you an email that include miniature briefings on all the people you are scheduled to meet the next day.

When you open your Accompany app, you’ll see your calendar, and when you can select the person you are meeting with, you’ll see a curated news feed that includes everything you may need to know about the person you are about to meet. That includes news about the company and person, posts from Twitter, as well as the contact’s full bio. You’ll also be able to see your email history with that person, as well as any notes that you have taken about them within the Accompany app.

Noticeably missing from the curated information and data sources is LinkedIn. The company, which was recently bought by Microsoft for $26.2 billion, doesn’t third parties to access to its data. LinkedIn bought Refresh, a competitor to Accompany, in 2015.

For more on LinkedIn, watch:

According to Chang, the proprietary algorithms developed by Ruehl and his team are what separates Accompany from its competitors. This code lets Accompany parse millions of data points on the web to create bios that are equally as accurate as LinkedIn.

“There are 10,000 Andy Smiths on LinkedIn, but we will comb through Facebook, Twitter, and more to make sure we have the right Andy Smith you are meeting with on Friday,” Chang said. The startup spent nearly two years building its core technology, she added.

The app is free for now, but eventually Chang says it will adopt a software as a service model, where users can pay for more features on the service. And though Accompany doesn’t currently generate revenue, the startup has drawn $20 million in investment from Cowboy Ventures, Charles River Ventures, Iconic, and the late Dave Goldberg.

About the Author
By Leena Rao
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Startups & VentureLeadership Next
Only social media platforms with ‘real humanity’ will survive, investor and Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian says
By Fortune EditorsDecember 3, 2025
6 minutes ago
NewslettersCIO Intelligence
Dave’s Hot Chicken is placing broad bets on AI to give the restaurant chain an edge in the chicken wars
By John KellDecember 3, 2025
46 minutes ago
AITech
IBM CEO warns there’s ‘no way’ hyperscalers like Google and Amazon will be able to turn a profit at the rate of their data center spending
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezDecember 3, 2025
49 minutes ago
Workplace CultureBrainstorm Design
Designer Kevin Bethune: Bringing ‘disparate disciplines around the table’ is how leaders can ‘problem solve the future’
By Fortune EditorsDecember 3, 2025
1 hour ago
AIBrainstorm Design
Microsoft AI wants all its employees to be AI-native by the end of the fiscal year, says VP of design Liz Danzico
By Angelica AngDecember 3, 2025
2 hours ago
Two men sit and smile in front of a building
Cryptostablecoins
Exclusive: Former Citadel employees raise $17 million for Fin, a global stablecoin app ‘without all the complexity’
By Carlos GarciaDecember 3, 2025
3 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
North America
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos commit $102.5 million to organizations combating homelessness across the U.S.: ‘This is just the beginning’
By Sydney LakeDecember 2, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Ford workers told their CEO 'none of the young people want to work here.' So Jim Farley took a page out of the founder's playbook
By Sasha RogelbergNovember 28, 2025
5 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Elon Musk says he warned Trump against tariffs, which U.S. manufacturers blame for a turn to more offshoring and diminishing American factory jobs
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 2, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
Success
Warren Buffett used to give his family $10,000 each at Christmas—but when he saw how fast they were spending it, he started buying them shares instead
By Eleanor PringleDecember 2, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
North America
Anonymous $50 million donation helps cover the next 50 years of tuition for medical lab science students at University of Washington
By The Associated PressDecember 2, 2025
1 day ago
placeholder alt text
C-Suite
MacKenzie Scott's $19 billion donations have turned philanthropy on its head—why her style of giving actually works
By Sydney LakeDecember 2, 2025
1 day ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.