Our philosophy is simple: we invest in your success. We believe the most powerful growth comes from building robust systems, not just chasing the next lead. This belief is forged from decades of experience at the highest levels of technology and marketing.
HandShake was born from a crucial discovery made at the intersection of enterprise technology and small business marketing.
Our journey began not in marketing, but in the world of major IT outsourcing. Our founder, Chris McNamara, was accountable for sales and service delivery on multi-million-pound projects for some of the UK's most critical technology infrastructure—including systems for the DWP, the Environment Agency's flood warnings, and secure government networks. This environment taught us a non-negotiable lesson: success is entirely dependent on the quality and resilience of the underlying system.
In 2019, Chris established a marketing agency, ClickGen, specializing in lead generation. Here, we discovered a fundamental truth: you can give the exact same lead to two different businesses, and one will achieve wild success while the other insists the lead is 'crap'. The difference was never the lead; it was the system (or lack thereof) for handling that lead. This insight became our obsession.
This obsession led us to build HandShake, initially as a pre-sales automation platform. We fused our enterprise-level systems thinking with cutting-edge marketing automation. This year, with the explosive potential of AI becoming clear, we've evolved again. HandShake now represents a single, unified approach: combining a world-class technology stack with a deep understanding of persuasive communication to build fully-funded, AI-powered growth engines for our partners.
"My entire career has been about building robust systems that deliver results, whether for the public sector or for our partners. HandShake is the culmination of that experience—a vehicle to bring enterprise-level thinking to businesses that are ready for serious growth. We're not just building AI tools; we're building the future of your business, and we're putting our own money on the line to prove it."
Connect with Chris on LinkedInIf our philosophy resonates with you, the next step is to see if we're a good fit. Apply for a partnership today and let's explore how we can build a new chapter of your business's growth story.
