About Holp
We build software that makes complicated things feel simple.
Holp is an independent AI product company, founded by two people who've spent 43 years between them designing, building and improving digital products.
Why Holp exists
Great technology should be easy to use.
We’ve spent our careers building websites, platforms, booking systems, membership products and digital services used by thousands of people.
Along the way we’ve worked on hundreds of projects for organisations including the NHS, Nintendo, Pernod Ricard and Eureka! The National Children’s Museum.
Then AI changed what software could do.
The technology was extraordinary, but a lot of the products built around it weren’t.
They were complicated to set up, difficult to control and designed around the technology rather than around the person actually using it.
We thought there was a better way.
Holp started with a simple idea, which was to give businesses an AI agent they can trust without making them become AI experts first.
Something you could set up in minutes, that customers would actually enjoy using, and that could learn your business, answer accurately and work wherever your customers needed it.
That became Holp.
How we got here
We worked together for nine years. Then AI brought us back together.
Paul and Liam first worked together in 2011 at a digital agency in the south of England.
For the next nine years they designed and built everything from booking systems for global drinks brands to medical education platforms, museum ticketing systems and membership products.
Then Covid changed things.
Liam moved back to Lancashire and later founded Branch. He also built Tidze, an Innovate UK-backed live-streaming and ticketing platform that helped more than 100 musicians earn money during lockdown.
Paul sold the agency he’d founded 19 years earlier and turned his focus back to product and digital design.
When generative AI arrived, they both became fascinated by what it could make possible.
A few experiments became a prototype. The prototype became a meeting at a farm café halfway between Lancashire and Hertfordshire.
And Holp became a company.
The founders
Built by people who've spent their careers building for the web.
Holp brings together decades of product design, software development and experience building business-critical digital platforms.
-
Paul Wright (Wag)
Co-founder, Head of Design & Product
Paul has spent 26 years designing digital products and experiences. He founded and ran a digital agency for 19 years and has worked on more than 200 projects for organisations including the NHS, Pernod Ricard, National Parks and Eureka! The National Children's Museum. At Holp, he leads product and design, making sure powerful technology remains simple, useful and enjoyable to use.
-
Liam Mclaney
Co-founder, Head of Development
Liam has spent 17 years as a developer and technical lead, building platforms for organisations including Nintendo, the NHS, Pernod Ricard and Eureka! The National Children's Museum. He founded web consultancy Branch and created Tidze, an Innovate UK-backed streaming and ticketing platform. At Holp, he leads development, AI and integrations.
What we believe
AI should make customer service simpler, not less trustworthy.
That idea shapes how we build Holp.
-
Answers come from your business
Holp learns from the content you give it and answers your customers out of that knowledge, so it is designed not to make things up.
-
Your content stays yours
Your business content is there to help your customers and nothing else, so we don't use it to train our models, and neither do the AI providers we use to power Holp.
-
You can see what Holp is saying
Every customer conversation is there to review, so you can see what people are asking, how Holp answered and where your customers might need more help.
-
If Holp doesn't know, it says so
A useful "I don't know" beats a confident wrong answer, so when something isn't in its knowledge, Holp says so and helps the customer find another way forward.
Holp in numbers
Built on experience. Proven in the real world.
- 43
- years of combined experience designing and building for the web
- 200+
- projects delivered before building Holp
- 30,000+
- questions answered by Holp for real customers
- 100%
- of the organisations we've launched Holp with are still using it
We build for visitor attractions, charities and membership bodies.
Beyond Holp
Supporting good work
Holp is a commercial business, but we also want what we build to have a positive impact beyond the businesses that pay to use it.
We’re proud to sponsor Inspire Youth Zone in Chorley, supporting the work they do with local children, young people and families.
It’s a cause particularly close to our founder Liam, who grew up locally as one of four brothers in a family without much money.
Inspire is exactly the kind of place he wishes had existed for them.
We also give a small number of charities and community organisations completely free access to Holp. We can’t provide Holp free to every charity, but where we feel we can make a meaningful difference, we’re very happy to help.
Today, that includes Jerry Green Dog Rescue and Launch It.
-
Proud sponsor
Inspire Youth Zone
Helping Inspire continue its work with children, young people and families in our local community.
Visit Inspire Youth Zone -
Free Holp partner
Jerry Green Dog Rescue
We give Jerry Green Dog Rescue free access to Holp, which helps their team make information and support easier to find online.
Visit Jerry Green Dog Rescue -
Free Holp partner
Launch It
We give Launch It free access to Holp, supporting their work helping young people build businesses and create opportunities for themselves.
Visit Launch It
Where we are
A UK company, and a real address.
Holp Ltd is registered in England, number 16582223, at Chorley Business and Technology Centre in Lancashire. Support is UK based and answered in UK hours.
Your content and your conversations stay in the UK and are processed under UK GDPR. We can tell you exactly where the data sits and who is able to reach it.
What our customers say
Now Holp is part of our core customer service strategy – we couldn't imagine not having it.
Talk to a person.
Tell us what you're trying to fix and we'll tell you honestly whether Holp helps. Email [email protected] or send us a note.
- UK support hours
- No sales call
- Straight answers