Abstract: A professional-team-builder system determines whether a user, who is a team-building-eligible professional from among a plurality of team-building-eligible professionals, is opted in or opted out for participation in a team-building function of the system. If the user is opted in, the system displays, via a user interface, an opted-in interface, which includes a search interface having a plurality of search-criteria fields. The system receives search-criteria input via the search interface, and then retrieves at least one profile matching that input. Each retrieved profile corresponds to an opted-in and team-building-eligible professional that is a potential teammate of the user for a professional-services team. The system displays, via the user interface, one or more retrieved profiles. If, however, the user is opted out, the system displays, via the user interface, an opted-out interface, which includes a create-profile element, an update-profile element, and/or an opt-in element.