Inside the expert network training every frontier AI model | Garrett Lord (Handshake CEO)

Garrett Lord is co-founder and CEO of Handshake, which started as a career network for college students and new grads but recently discovered something extraordinary: they were sitting on the world’s largest network of academic experts—exactly what frontier AI labs desperately needed. With 500,000 PhDs and 3 million advanced degree holders creating training data, in just eight months they’ve built a new business that hit $50 million in revenue in its first four months and is on track to blow past $100M in the first 12 months.

What you’ll learn:

1. How Handshake found an opportunity to leverage their proprietary network of experts to launch a data-labeling business that’s on track to blow past $100 million ARR in 12 months

2. Why AI models need human experts (e.g. physics PhDs) to improve, and what this “data labeling” actually involves

3. Inside the actual work: what a biology PhD does for 8 hours that makes GPT-5 smarter

4. The playbook for building a startup inside a startup: separate teams, separate offices, separate everything

5. Why the shift from “generalist” to “expert” data labeling created a once-in-a-lifetime business opportunity

6. Why AI won’t eliminate entry-level jobs—it’s creating “Iron Man suits” that make junior employees 10x more productive

—

Brought to you by:

CodeRabbit—Cut code review time and bugs in half. Instantly: https://coderabbit.link/lenny

Orkes—The enterprise platform for reliable applications and agentic workflows: https://www.orkes.io/

Claude.ai—The AI for problem solvers and enterprise: http://claude.ai/

—

Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-handshake-garrett-lord

—

My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/171410958/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation

—

Where to find Garrett Lord:

• X: https://x.com/garrettlord

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garrettlord/

• Email: Garrett@joinhandshake.com

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Garrett Lord

(05:00) Understanding data labeling and its importance

(13:08) The role of experts in AI model training

(15:35) The future of AI and human collaboration

(24:17) Why AI won’t eliminate entry-level jobs

(27:58) The continuous improvement of AI models

(33:05) The emergence of Handshake’s new business model

(37:07) Incubating new ideas in established companies

(40:42) Handshake's competitive advantage

(45:43) Scaling up and meeting market demand

(48:38) Overcoming challenges and adapting