Built by the team behind the UK's leading VA agency.
Sam and Ellie Wilson founded Virtalent in 2014 and spent a decade building the UK's leading VA agency. Handld is the platform they wished had existed from day one.
Sam & Ellie Wilson
Co-Founders, Handld & Virtalent
12 years
in the VA industry
250+
VAs managed at Virtalent
1,000s
of businesses supported
£0
external investment. Ever.
A decade inside the VA industry.
Everything we learned building Virtalent went into building Handld.
Virtalent launches
Sam and Ellie, aged 22, start the business from a student flat in Birmingham. Ellie works as a VA herself to understand the job from the inside.
National press & first growth
Virtalent is featured in a double-page spread in The Sunday Times. The team grows quickly and early clients include some of the UK's fastest-growing businesses.
VA of the Year
Virtalent wins VA of the Year for the Midlands region. Ellie is named on Management Today's 35 Women Under 35 alongside Stella McCartney and Martha Lane Fox.
100+ VAs. Serious scale.
Fully remote since day one, Virtalent grows through the pandemic while supporting businesses that need reliable help more than ever. The team reaches 100+ VAs.
250 VAs. A decade of learning.
Virtalent celebrates 12 years. 250+ VAs. Clients from sole traders to Formula 1 teams. And a clear picture of what software VAs actually need.
Handld is born.
After a decade of watching VAs juggle five or six disconnected tools, Sam and Ellie build the platform they always wished existed. This is it.
We spent ten years watching brilliant VAs spend their evenings wrestling with spreadsheets, chasing invoices, and trying to make five tools work together. We built Handld because they deserved something better.
Sam Wilson
Co-Founder, Handld & Virtalent
Why we built Handld
After ten years and hundreds of VAs, we kept seeing the same thing. Talented professionals running their whole business across a patchwork of tools that were never designed for them.
We also saw the emotional toll. VAs who were brilliant at their work but spent their evenings wrestling with invoices, contracts, and spreadsheets, and never feeling quite polished enough. Handld exists so you can focus on the work you love and look every bit as professional as you are.
The old way
- Toggl for time tracking
- A separate invoicing tool for every client
- Trello or Asana for tasks
- Calendly for scheduling
- Google Drive for file storage
- A contract template found online
- WhatsApp threads for client updates
None of them talk to each other. None of them make you look professional to clients.
Handld
- Time tracking, built for how VAs bill
- Professional invoicing in minutes
- Task management across all your clients
- Scheduling your clients can use themselves
- Secure file storage, organised by client
- Contracts and proposals that look the part
- A branded client portal with your name on it
One login. Everything in its place. Built for VAs, by people who've worked alongside them for a decade.
Award-winning, industry-recognised
Ellie has been recognised as one of Management Today's 35 Women Under 35 (a prestigious list whose alumni include Stella McCartney, Martha Lane Fox, and Karen Blackett) and named on their Women in Leadership Power List. Together, Sam and Ellie have led Virtalent to recognition at some of the UK's most competitive business awards.
35 Women Under 35
Ellie Wilson
Women in Leadership Power List
Women in Leadership Power List
Ellie Wilson
Small Business Award Finalist
2023
Established Business of the Year Finalist
2024
Small Business Finalist
2024
'At Your Service' Category Nominee
2024
VA of the Year, Midlands Region Winner
2017
As featured in
VAs are business owners. It's time the tools agreed.
Virtual Assistants are not just freelancers taking on tasks. They are business owners, managing relationships, deliverables, finances, and growth, usually on their own.
Handld gives you the same professional infrastructure a larger business would have, without the cost, the complexity, or the five separate subscriptions to get there.
Run your business properly. Look the part. Keep your clients impressed. That's what we built this for.