# Garrett Lord

> Garrett Lord is the co-founder and CEO of Handshake, which he built with Ben Christensen and Scott Ringwelski after experiencing uneven access to recruiting as a Michigan Tech student. His career includes computing work at Los Alamos and internships at Palantir; Handshake has expanded from campus recruiting into expert contributions to AI training and practical AI skills development.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Handshake
- **Organizations:** Handshake, Palantir Technologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, ITOxygen
- **Education:** Oakland Community College, BS in Computer Science, Michigan Technological University
- **Known for:** Won Palantir’s summer hackathon during his 2012 internship., Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology, 2017, with his Handshake co-founders., Money Changemaker for 2023.

## Career timeline

- **Before 2014** — Attended Oakland Community College and operated an IT business before transferring to Michigan Tech.
- **2012** — Interned at Palantir in Washington, DC, and won its summer hackathon.
- **2014** — Graduated from Michigan Tech; launched Handshake with Ben Christensen and Scott Ringwelski.
- **2015** — Michigan Tech adopted Handshake for career services.
- **2017** — Named to Forbes 30 Under 30 in consumer technology with his co-founders.
- **2022** — Handshake raised a $200 million Series F at a $3.5 billion valuation.
- **2024-12** — A conversation with an AI researcher led to recruiting STEM PhDs for model-training work.
- **2025** — Developed Handshake AI and announced Handshake’s refounding for the AI economy in October.
- **2026** — Handshake acquired Uplimit in June and expanded into practical AI learning.

## Achievements

- Won Palantir’s summer hackathon during his 2012 internship.
- Forbes 30 Under 30, Consumer Technology, 2017, with his Handshake co-founders.
- Money Changemaker for 2023.
- TIME100 AI 2026 honoree.
- Led Handshake through its 2022 $200 million Series F at a $3.5 billion valuation.

## Latest updates

- **2026-06** — Handshake acquired the Uplimit team and technology to expand into learning.
- **2026-07** — Discussed Handshake’s AI business and organizational changes on Knuckle Up with Nakul Mandan.
- **2026-08** — Named to TIME100 AI 2026; reported AI-unit gross annualized revenue above $1 billion after 16 months.
- **2026-08** — Joined Immad Akhund and Rajat Suri on Founders in Arms to discuss professional-domain data and AI training.

## Links

- Website: https://about.me/garrettlord
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettlord/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/garrettlord

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/garrett-lord
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-11