# Garrett Lord

Co-founder and CEO, Handshake. TIME100 AI 2026, Shapers. His student careers platform, Handshake, built an AI unit that went from zero to over $1 billion in gross annualized revenue in 16 months. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/garrett-lord/))

- Education: BS, Computer science, Michigan Technological University, 2014 ([mtu.edu](https://www.mtu.edu/alumni/recognition/profiles/lord-garrett.html))
- Career: Handshake (Co-founder and CEO, 2012 to now) ([linkedin.com](https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettlord), [time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/garrett-lord/))
- TIME profile: https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/garrett-lord/
- Profile: https://www.autumn.ai/resources/most-influential-people-in-ai/garrett-lord

- The idea for Handshake came from Palantir's $5,000 referral bonus, which made him ask why companies couldn't reach strong CS students without referrals. ([mtu.edu](https://www.mtu.edu/magazine/2026/stories/handshake-origins/))
- He and his co-founders drove 40,000 miles in a rusty Ford Focus pitching Handshake while looking for their first client. ([mtu.edu](https://www.mtu.edu/alumni/recognition/profiles/lord-garrett.html))
- Called himself "a super nerd" as a kid and had to show his teacher how to set up the classroom's new computers. He later ran an IT business on the side. ([mtu.edu](https://www.mtu.edu/magazine/2026/stories/handshake-origins/))
- Landed a Palantir forward-deployed engineering internship by persistently emailing its recruiters, then won the company's annual summer hackathon. ([mtu.edu](https://www.mtu.edu/magazine/2026/stories/handshake-origins/))
- Handshake's AI unit went from zero to more than $1 billion in gross annualized revenue in 16 months, he says, and works with eight frontier labs. ([time.com](https://time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/garrett-lord/))
- Joined the Mont Ripley ski patrol and played broomball in his first year at Michigan Tech. ([mtu.edu](https://www.mtu.edu/magazine/2026/stories/handshake-origins/))