NWORX: Hariraj Vijayakumar is Solving the "Human Productivity" Gap with B2B SaaS
In the world of corporate giants, Hariraj Vijayakumar had reached the pinnacle. As the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) at Cognizant, he was responsible for the development of thousands of professionals. But Hariraj saw a fundamental limitation in the way companies managed performance. Most tools were designed for the start of the year (goal setting) or the end of the year (appraisals), leaving a massive vacuum in between. This realization led him to leave his prestigious corporate role to build NWORX, a B2B SaaS platform designed to be the "February to November" tool that actually helps professionals achieve their goals through daily digital interventions and coaching.
NWORX (nworx.ai) isn't just another HR tech platform; it is an ecosystem for "impact at scale." By productizing leadership development, Hariraj and his co-founder Shwetal Shivadeep are enabling everyone from first-year individual contributors to senior executives to become the best versions of themselves while chasing high-stakes business goals.
The January-December Gap
Hariraj identifies a major corporate flaw: "Goal-setting products are active in January/April. Performance reviews are active in December. NWORX is the February to November product—the tool that actually allows an individual to take their goals and figure out how to achieve them."
From Mainframes to the C-Suite
Hariraj’s career is what he calls "checkered" in the best way possible. Starting as a software engineer in the late 90s, he moved through technical stacks from Mainframe to Unix and Java. He spent years in the US market, transitioning from tech consulting to management consulting, and eventually into sales and account management.
The pivotal shift came when he moved from core business roles into Human Resources and Learning. "My value system came from playing those core business roles first," he explains on the ELI Podcast. "I understood the pressure of delivery and the commercial side, which allowed me to look at HR roles through a lens of productivity and impact."
Phase 1: Consulting. Phase 2: Scale.
Launched in 2017, NWORX didn't start as a SaaS platform. For the first two and a half years, Hariraj and his team operated under a consulting-led model. They worked with major companies to help elevate their leaders, but the aspiration was always "impact at scale."
"By the second half of 2019, it struck us that while we were making an impact, we weren't going to scale through consulting," Hariraj recalls. "We literally shut down the consulting side to focus entirely on building a technology product. It wasn't a product pivot; it was a business model pivot."
The NWORX Performance Engine
- Goal Breakdown: Taking high-level company goals and breaking them into actionable milestones.
- Digital Interventions: Providing frameworks and digital tools exactly when the professional needs them (e.g., a pitch framework before a big launch).
- Integrated Coaching: Connecting users with human coaches who provide specific feedback on soft skills and strategy.
- Adaptive Learning: The system identifies whether you're a marketing manager or an engineering lead and tailors the journey accordingly.
The Commercial Beta: Proving Value During a Winter
NWORX entered its commercial beta in October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic. Hariraj and Shwetal insisted on a "commercial" beta because "unless someone is willing to pay, nothing is proven." They started with two clients: a traditional large enterprise and a high-growth unicorn.
The early days were a lesson in device-agnostic design. "We started mobile-first, but users quickly told us they needed to do deep work on their laptops. We had to scramble to get the web version out," he notes. Since May 2021, the platform has seen a consistent uptick in Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR), proving that even during a "B2B winter," companies value tools that drive functional productivity.
Impact at Scale
- User Tiers: Servicing cohorts ranging from 5 leaders to 2,000+ professionals.
- Retention: High renewal rates indicating a strong problem-solution fit.
- Breadth: Applicable across sales, marketing, and engineering leadership.
Defining the Entrepreneurial Path
For Hariraj, the difference between a job and entrepreneurship is "chalk and cheese." While a job offers comfort and specialization, entrepreneurship offers a level of freedom and autonomy that is rare. "In a job, even as a senior executive, your decisions don't have phenomenal personal consequences. As an entrepreneur, every decision carries the burden of the sky on your shoulders."
He defines an entrepreneur as someone who finds a unique path to creating, delivering, and monetizing value. "If you want to try and create impact at scale yourself, this is the only path."
Hariraj's Advice for SaaS Founders
- The 3-Year Rule: "I was told to have 18 months of runway. I say give yourself three years mentally and financially if you're building a sustainable business."
- Obsess over Problem-Solution Fit: Start with clarity on the problem, even if it takes time. Make sure the problem matches your ambition for growth.
- Prudence vs. Ambition: Strike a balance. Don't be too conservative because of constraints, but don't be too ambitious without being mindful of them.
The Future of NWORX
As NWORX continues to grow, Hariraj remains focused on the "Human Productivity" theme—the intersection of performance, well-being, and excellence. With a seed round of nearly $1 million backed by ZeroNorth and Saka Marketing, the company is set to become the standard for how the modern workforce bridges the gap between setting a goal and actually achieving it.