91探花

When Andrew McLernon co-founded Interlink with Jay Gorga in 2018, they wanted to fundamentally transform the outdated, transactional world of B2B lead generation by combining cutting-edge AI technology with a transparent, client-first approach, all without a single penny of external funding.

Fast forward to today and Interlink is a profitable, high-growth business with a truly global footprint with offices in London, New York, Singapore and Pune. The company鈥檚 AI-driven solutions are helping enterprise technology businesses bridge the gap between sales and marketing, delivering transparent, personalised, cost-effective and quality lead generation.

Andrew, Interlink鈥檚 CEO and an EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2025 finalist, already has a reputation for championing human-centric strategies in an AI-powered world. A belief that technological innovation should be matched with long-term relationship building has been central to Interlink鈥檚 growth.

As well as client success, Interlink is blazing a trail in workplace culture. One of the first in its sector to introduce a four-day working week, the company has seen boosts in productivity, innovation and retention. This forward-thinking approach, combined with a leadership team where 60% of roles are held by women (in a business that鈥檚 70% female overall), has earned Interlink 鈥楪reat Place to Work鈥� status three years running, named among the UK鈥檚 Best Workplaces for Women鈩� 2025 by Great Place To Work and winner of Best Flexible Working Policy award at the UK Company Culture Awards 2025.

Andrew鈥檚 leadership reflects a deep commitment to valuing people, employees, customers and partners alike. His focus on balancing AI innovation with ethical, people-led business practices is not just redefining lead generation; it鈥檚 setting a new standard for how modern, global businesses can thrive without sacrificing values.

听

What Does Interlink Do?

听

We specialise in AI-driven lead generation for tech companies across the globe. By bringing together cutting-edge intent-targeting technology with a people-first philosophy, we deliver quality demand generation at scale.

Our focus on innovation and transparency means we can help our clients to target customers at the optimal point in their buying journey, driving stronger engagement and increasing sales conversions. Essentially, we make sure the right prospects get the right message at the right time.

听

What Has Been The Biggest Challenge In Setting Up And Growing A B2B Business?

听

For us, the biggest challenge has been maintaining a strong company culture while scaling at 74% year-on-year growth. It鈥檚 a constant balancing act: staying true to our values while growing fast, being disruptive in our industry and doing it all without external investment.

That means carrying the weight of fiscal responsibility while still pushing forward. It鈥檚 not always easy, but protecting our culture and upholding our values is just as important as hitting our ambitious growth targets.

听

What Do People Not Consider When Setting Up And Scaling A B2B Business?

听

Often people don鈥檛 consider the patience, discipline and, ultimately, passion that鈥檚 needed when setting up and scaling a B2B business. You need to be in it for the right reasons. If you鈥檙e building a B2B business, do it for the love, not just the profit. Chasing quick wins at the expense of doing things correctly might pay off in the short term, but it鈥檚 never sustainable.

At Interlink, we鈥檝e played the long game, for example, holding off on any major investments in our sales team until year four and five, once the foundations were rock-solid. In my experience, passion, patience and discipline are what make a business last, not cutting corners in pursuit of profits to the detriment of doing things right.

We Hear A Lot About Companies Getting Funding From Early On In Their Journey. Do You Think That Is Always Necessary?

听

We鈥檙e living proof that funding isn鈥檛 always necessary; we鈥檝e been fully bootstrapped from day one. That said, it really depends on your goals, your vision and the industry you鈥檙e in.

In our case, we were confident we could generate a healthy profit right from the start. With both Jay and I coming from sales backgrounds, we were able to hit the ground running and start selling immediately. We knew we could meet our year 1鈥�3 goals without external investment and we鈥檝e grown steadily from there, remaining a bootstrapped business.

For us, maintaining autonomy was key, not just so we could disrupt the industry we鈥檙e in, but so we could create a truly disruptive business culture. We believed in the business; we rolled up our sleeves and we put in the hard work to get to where we are today.

听

What Has Been The Biggest Advantage Of Growing Interlink Organically And Without The Need For Funding?

听

The biggest advantage has been the autonomy and complete lack of constraints put in place by anyone else. From day one, our goal was to disrupt the industry, to stand out for quality, transparency and doing things the right way. Growing organically has given us the freedom to take unconventional approaches to business growth and truly set ourselves apart. It鈥檚 also what made it possible to implement such a radical initiative as the four-day working week so early in the business鈥檚 evolution, something we probably wouldn鈥檛 have been able to do if we鈥檇 had external investors on board.

It also gave us something that might sound unusual: the freedom to make mistakes. Those mistakes have been invaluable, teaching us lessons we simply wouldn鈥檛 have learned if we鈥檇 been operating under the pressure or restrictions of external funding. It鈥檚 those lessons, and the independence to act on them, that have shaped Interlink into what it is today.

听

AI Is All The Rage, But What Have You Found To Be Its Biggest Advantage For Interlink?

听

The biggest advantage of AI for Interlink is that it gives us headroom. It takes care of the heavy lifting so we can focus on the things AI can鈥檛 do; passion, judgement, creativity, innovative ideas, experience, transparency and building trust.

Our clients don鈥檛 buy us just for the smart tech we鈥檝e built (plus, anyone can plug into AI these days). What they buy is the way we apply it with context, knowing when not to follow the data, and bringing fresh ideas that open doors competitors can鈥檛.

We use AI to speed up the groundwork, but our edge is our people and transparent ways of working. The team challenge briefs, bring disruptive campaign angles and aren鈥檛 afraid to say when something won鈥檛 work. That honesty earns more trust than chasing quick revenue or flashing a new AI tool. In a market full of black boxes, we show our workings, share our data and make clients feel confident they鈥檙e making the right calls.

The real advantage comes from pairing AI with qualities that are too often overlooked in our industry: honesty, creativity, and a genuine passion for solving the client鈥檚 problem

听

What Is The Biggest Learning You Have Taken From Your Journey So Far?

听

Probably patience and discipline. To grow at the rate we have, we鈥檝e had to regroup and rebuild frequently. For example, the business structure and processes we had in place three years ago wouldn鈥檛 be right for our circumstances today. That鈥檚 not to say that鈥檚 a sign of failure, it鈥檚 a measurement of success. Outgrowing certain structures means we鈥檙e evolving and moving forward. The real skill is predicting when change is needed and optimising for it.

It took us seven years to build the foundation blocks of our business, and even then, the work doesn鈥檛 stop. Once one block is secure it鈥檚 time to strengthen another. I used to think we were always just around the corner from being 鈥渄one.鈥� But there is no 鈥渄one.鈥� There鈥檚 always another corner, another area to improve, another rebuild waiting.

Accepting that the journey is also the destination completely changes how you see things. You start to appreciate the rebuilds, even the mess, because perfection would mean standing still. And standing still is the opposite of growth. That鈥檚 as true for the business as it is for us as leaders; the learning, the adapting and the deliberate investment in our own development is part of what keeps everything moving forward.

听

What Do The Next Few Years Have In Store For Interlink?

听

The next few years at Interlink will be defined by going deeper into what matters most to our clients. What challenges are keeping them up at night? Where are the opportunities we can help them unlock?

By putting client success at the centre of everything we do, we鈥檒l continue to evolve our services and expertise around real needs, not just market trends. That means listening more, understanding pain points better and delivering solutions that make a tangible difference. It鈥檚 about becoming a trusted partner, anticipating what clients will need next and helping them get there faster.

On the technology side, the roadmap is clear: stay close to the customer and solve the problems that actually matter. Our Customer Advisory Board, which is made up of seasoned marketers, shares both today鈥檚 challenges and what鈥檚 coming next. By co-creating solutions with them, we can move fast, ship early and iterate in line with real market needs. This approach has kept us first to market with new products for more than seven years, and there鈥檚 more in development right now.

But our north star doesn鈥檛 change: lead momentum. It鈥檚 not just about generating the right lead from the right company, it鈥檚 about what happens next. We鈥檙e focused on creating movement around those leads so sales and marketing can act without the usual drop-off.

Ultimately, our technology is designed to stop lead quality and responsiveness from decaying. Instead of asking clients to spend more on net-new leads, we help them convert more of the ones they already have at greater velocity. That鈥檚 where the next wave of efficiency, quality, conversions and growth will come from.

How Has Global Expansion Impacted Your Company Culture And How Have You Adapted Without Compromising On Your Values?

听

Global expansion has reinforced the importance of our values as the foundation of our culture. We see culture as almost the byproduct of our values but definitely not an 鈥榦ut-of-the-box鈥� concept that can be imposed identically everywhere. By using our values as a lens for every decision, we ensure consistency while allowing for local nuances too.

We place a great deal of trust in regional leaders to champion our culture in a way that feels authentic for their teams. In some cases, we鈥檝e seconded UK employees to overseas offices to help embed our cultural DNA from the inside. We鈥檝e also learned that what motivates people varies from country to country. The benefits that land well in one region might not resonate in another, for example, so we adapt as necessary but without losing sight of our core principles.

What we鈥檝e achieved is a confident, consistent culture that empowers teams to make day-to-day decisions with our values front and centre, regardless of location or time zone.

听

How Important Is Leadership Style In Shaping Culture And Has Your Approach Changed As The Company Has Scaled?

听

Leadership style has been critical in shaping and sustaining our culture as we鈥檝e grown. From the outset, we鈥檝e favoured an open, honest, non-hierarchical structure; we don鈥檛 sit above the business, we sit alongside it.

As we鈥檝e scaled, the leadership team has grown in parallel, but the emphasis has remained on autonomy and trust. We鈥檙e transparent about our strengths and weaknesses, and we embrace learning from mistakes, an openness that encourages people to take ownership and bring our culture to life, wherever they are in the world.

For us, leadership isn鈥檛 about control, it鈥檚 about enabling and empowering. By staying true to our values and ensuring they guide every action, we鈥檝e been able to scale without losing the essence of who we are as leaders and as people.

听

In A Fast-Paced, Scaling Business, How Do You Balance Performance Demands With Employee Wellbeing?

听

We see employee wellbeing as the foundation of sustained high performance, not something to be traded off against results.

We鈥檝e deliberately introduced disruptive policies, such as a 4-day work week and flexible working, to push boundaries and keep wellbeing front and centre. The challenge is that we鈥檝e been a different business every year (growing from 拢5.5m to 拢8.5m to 拢12.5m and beyond) and with that growth come ambitious performance targets that aren鈥檛 typical.

But, these ambitions make it even more important to protect and prioritise our people and that鈥檚 why we鈥檙e constantly asking ourselves how we can be best-in-class for employee wellbeing. This doesn鈥檛 just happen by magic and takes constant effort, but it鈥檚 something that we won鈥檛 compromise on as we recognise that it鈥檚 essential to achieving our growth goals while maintaining a happy, healthy team.

听

What Advice Would You Give To Founders Who Are Trying To Build A Strong Culture From Day One?

听

Culture isn鈥檛 something you can dip in and out of, it鈥檚 the by-product of your values and DNA, and you can鈥檛 retrofit that later or treat it like a slogan on a wall. You need to be confident in those values from the start, because they become the lens for every decision and how leaders operate. In many ways, culture is what happens when nobody鈥檚 watching, so it has to be genuine and consistent from the very beginning if you want something lasting to build on.

听

How Can We Find You?

听

Checkout our website , find us on , or get a peek behind the scenes .

听

Interlink Has Been Named A Great Place To Work For Three Consecutive Years Now. What Makes Interlink A Great Place To Work?

Being named a Great Place to Work for three years running comes down to one thing: our people. As we鈥檝e grown to 146 employees globally, we鈥檝e been very deliberate about bringing on board people who share our values and who are a great cultural fit. We鈥檙e striving to be the best company in the industry, not just for our customers, but for our employees too, our team subscribe to that.

Our people-first philosophy underpins everything we do. By fostering a positive, supportive and inclusive workplace, we create an environment where our team can thrive, develop and feel genuinely valued, which serves to strengthen our client relationships and service delivery.

We know our success is directly tied to the wellbeing and satisfaction of our team and this reinforces our commitment to making Interlink a place where everyone can do their best work, be their authentic selves and grow alongside the business.