First Block: Interview with Garrett Lord, Co-Founder and CEO of Handshake

For a full video, transcripts, and custom Notion x Handshake templates, please visit: To learn more about how Notion is supporting startups, please visit: Welcome to First Block, a Notion series where founders from the world’s leading companies tell us what it was like to navigate the many firsts of their startup journey—and what they learned from that experience. In this episode, we spoke with Garrett Lord, co-founder and CEO of Handshake. Handshake is the leading career platform connecting students and young professionals with employers, serving 17 million users and nearly 1 million companies. Garrett shares his journey from growing up in a working-class family in Michigan to building a company that democratizes access to career opportunities. He discusses his days living out of his car, the importance of talent density, and why this is the moment to go all in on your biggest bets. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:48 Founding the Spark 02:43 The Early Grind 06:42 Talent Matters Most 07:37 Scaling Through Leadership 13:17 Inside Handshake AI 18:04 Shaping the Future Workforce 19:38 Advice Block

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First Block: Interview with Garrett Lord, Co-Founder and CEO of Handshake is an episode from Tools & Craft Podcast by Notion.

This episode is 00:23:14 long.

This episode was published on Dec 16, 2025.

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