Tharun Murugesan
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Record (getrecord.in)
About
I'm Tharun Murugesan, CEO at Record, where we're building the foundational infrastructure for skill verification to fix what I see as a broken hiring system. My journey has taken me from mechanical engineering to co-founding a student marketplace, freelance writing, managing an agro-export business, product management roles, and now leading a company that's achieving significant growth in the credentialing space. I'm passionate about creating protocols over platforms—believing that while platforms compete, protocols enable. I offer deep expertise in product strategy, startup narratives, and practical solutions for scaling skill verification. I'm looking to connect with EdTech companies, staffing firms, and HR leaders who want to transform how they verify skills and hire talent.
Networking
What I can offer
- ›Skill verification at scale through Record's APIs and infrastructure
- ›Deep expertise in product management and startup narratives
- ›Go-to-market strategy for startups
- ›Solutions to reduce manual work for recruiters and solve discoverability for qualified candidates
Looking for
- ›EdTech companies to integrate Record's skill verification APIs
- ›Job boards and staffing firms to partner with
- ›Recruiters and HR leaders to understand how Record can ease their hiring or staffing business
Best fit for
Current Interests
Background
Career
Started as Internship Trainee at Roots Industries India Limited, co-founded Rentella, worked as Freelance Writer, Managing Partner at Madara Corporation, Associate Product Manager at Frigate, Startup Narrative Strategist at Deck Rooster, became CEO at Record, and serves as Strategic Advisor at Adtitude Labs.
Education
BE - Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College (2017 - 2021), Product Management program from Upraised (Aug 2022 - Dec 2022).
Achievements
- ›As Managing Partner at Madara Corporation, turned over 1.25Cr in 5 months
- ›Worked with 45+ startups from Pre-seed to Series A stages as an investor pitch deck writer
- ›At Record, onboarded large upskilling companies and enterprise clients, generating revenue at a six-figure annualized run rate
- ›Record achieved 1514% user growth in 2025, growing to 10,000+ active users
- ›Received official approval from YouTube for Record's 'YouTube Learning' feature
Opinions
- The current hiring system is 'broken' due to lack of trust and verification infrastructure for skills
- Self-reported skills are 'worthless' and manual verification is a massive operational inefficiency
- Strongly believes in building foundational 'infrastructure' or 'protocol' layers over 'application-layer' platforms
- Platforms compete. Protocols enable
- Capitalism and Competition are antonyms
- There are no failures, only feedback
- India's shift to a skill-based economy is hamstrung by lack of a 'common language for skills' and 'shared protocol for verification'