HRTech Interview with Nelson Sivalingam, CEO and Co-Founder at HowNow

How are AI powered learning and development initiatives transforming the way modern teams upskill? Nelson Sivalingam, CEO and Co-Founder at HowNow shares more:

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Hi Nelson, tell us about your HRTech journey and the story behind HowNow?

Even a decade ago, everyone was talking about the skills crisis, governments were investing, companies were struggling, and people were being left behind. But for me, it wasn’t just a headline. I saw firsthand how lacking the right skills could make people socially and economically irrelevant. I also experienced something just as painful: terrible digital workplace training. You know the type. Soul-crushing, click-next-to-continue, corporate torture. It felt like a problem worth solving, so I spent years of my life on it. That’s how HowNow was born: to help people build skills that actually matter, in a way that actually works.

Kudos on the recent funding, take us through the experience and what’s in store for the platform?

We’ve always been a capital-efficient company, even in the zero interest-rate policy (ZIRP) era. Raising funds is a milestone, not the goal. The real goal? Making L&D teams indispensable. Right now, too many L&D teams are seen as content providers instead of strategic drivers. They’re buried in admin instead of building skills. AI is changing that but not in the “robots replace humans” way. We believe AI should empower L&D, not replace it.

That’s why we launched HowNow AI, to take the guesswork out of learning. Our AI agents don’t just automate; they orchestrate. They map employees to the skills they actually need, organise learning ecosystems by proficiency, and personalise learning pathways so people aren’t just completing learning, they’re applying it.
And we’re just getting started. Soon, we’ll introduce AI that assesses skills based on real performance, not just self-assessments. AI-powered self-service analytics to eliminate manual reporting. And an AI L&D assistant to help teams scale impact without scaling workload.

The future of L&D isn’t about tracking courses. It’s about unlocking potential.

Why are businesses today seeking AI powered learning and skills platforms?

Because workplace learning lost its way. Instead of helping people grow, it became about tracking hours. Instead of solving real problems, it became about ticking boxes. Content was pushed, but capabilities weren’t built. Skills were stored in spreadsheets instead of being developed in real life. And yet, work is moving faster than ever. The biggest challenges—whether in business or society—won’t be solved by chance. They’ll be solved by people with the right skills, at the right time, tackling the right problems.
That’s why we built HowNow. To make meaningful learning part of everyday work. When learning is relevant, timely, and connected to real business needs, it fuels careers, drives company growth, and makes the world just a little bit better.

Read More: HRTech Interview with Ashwarya Poddar, Founder & CEO at ConverzAI

What can HR and L&D teams do better today to build better teams and skill enhancement programs?

HR and L&D teams need to shift their mindset from delivering learning to delivering impact. Too often, success is measured in course completions, engagement rates, and learning hours—but none of that matters if people aren’t building the skills they need to succeed. Instead, L&D should focus on these five key shifts: Stop measuring learning. Start measuring impact.

It’s time to move beyond vanity metrics. Instead of tracking how much content employees consume, track how well they apply what they’ve learned. Is productivity improving? Are skill gaps closing? Are employees making better decisions faster? That’s the real measure of success. Make learning frictionless.

The biggest blocker to learning isn’t motivation, it’s time. People are busy. So, instead of expecting employees to go out of their way to learn, bring learning into their flow of work. Make it easy to find, easy to apply, and directly linked to their day-to-day challenges. Stop pushing content. Start building skills.

Most learning platforms are just content warehouses. But dumping courses into a library doesn’t mean people are growing. Map learning to the skills that actually drive performance and use AI to personalize pathways based on roles, proficiency levels, and business goals. Let AI do the heavy lifting.

L&D teams are constantly being asked to do more with less. AI can eliminate admin work, automate reporting, and personalize learning journeys so teams can focus on what really matters: building a workforce that’s ready for what’s next. Create a culture where learning isn’t an event, it’s an everyday habit.

Learning shouldn’t be something employees are forced to do; it should be something that helps them win. Build a culture where learning is part of the workflow, recognized, rewarded, and aligned with career growth. When people see that learning makes their job easier and their future brighter, they’ll invest in it.

Can you share a few thoughts on the current state of HRtech with a shout out to innovative platforms that have captured your interest of late?

HRTech is at an inflection point. AI is unlocking incredible potential—not just for efficiency, but for effectiveness. It’s helping HR and L&D teams be strategic, not just operational. There are exciting innovations everywhere: AI-powered recruiters, tools that turn internal experts into knowledge-sharing powerhouses, and platforms that actually improve the employee experience instead of just tracking it. We’re just scratching the surface of what’s possible.

What about the future of HRtech most excites you?

For too long, HRTech has been focused on record-keeping: who completed training, who got hired, and who left. But the real opportunity ahead isn’t just faster processes; it’s smarter decisions and stronger people.AI is shifting HRTech from a passive system of record to an active system of enablement. Instead of just documenting skill gaps, we can now close them in real time. Instead of just tracking employee engagement, we can predict and prevent disengagement. Instead of relying on gut instinct for workforce planning, we can use data-driven insights to build more agile, future-ready teams. The most exciting part? We’re moving away from one-size-fits-all HR to precision people strategies. AI and automation aren’t just making HRTech more efficient, they’re making it more human. They free up HR and L&D leaders to focus on what matters: building high-performing teams, unlocking potential, and driving real business impact.

Five thoughts you’d leave everyone in HRtech with before we wrap up?

1) AI for AI’s sake is useless. AI that solves real problems is priceless (figuratively).
2) If HRTech doesn’t connect the dots to real business value, it won’t survive.
3) Software spend is under scrutiny. HRTech needs to deliver impact, not just features.
4) Too much HRTech is over-engineered for buyers instead of optimized for the people who actually use it. That balance needs to shift.
5) The future of HRTech isn’t about automation. It’s about amplification, helping humans do what they do best, even better.

Read More : The Evolving Compensation Landscape: What Employees Want and How Employers Can Respond

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