About the founder
Michael Chora
Founder & CEO, Shakewell
Michael Chora is a web and software engineer, entrepreneur, and the founder of Shakewell Agency.
From CTO to founder
After graduating from the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Information Technology focused on computer science, Michael built a career as a well-respected CTO across retail, e-commerce and web agencies — including Lagardère, AMR Hair & Beauty Supplies, Officeworks, Yellow Cabs and Apparent Advertising.
That work spans PHP and Laravel, cloud architecture on Amazon Web Services, UX/UI, and the front-end stack — a combination that let him build and run a diverse portfolio of high-performing businesses.
In 2022 he stepped away from corporate office life to launch Shakewell Agency. It is now a team of around 70 designers, engineers and product people, headquartered in Sydney with colleagues across Europe, the Middle East, the Philippines and the United States.
How he works
Michael has guided companies, universities and not-for-profits through websites, apps and IT overhauls. His strength is holding the big picture and the intricate detail at the same time — and, as a former technical lead, implementing solutions to problems before they arrive rather than after.
It is also why Shakewell does not sell a platform. The agency builds capability around the systems a business already runs, so nobody is locked into a tool that the market outruns in a year.
Work delivered under his direction
Get in touch
Michael is directly involved in the work Shakewell takes on. If you want to talk about a project, that conversation usually starts with him.