Thillai Rajan
Professor , Department of Management Studies , IIT Madras
Thillai Rajan is a Professor in the Department of Management Studies and leads the Centre for Research on Start-ups and Risk Financing (CREST) at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. At IIT Madras, he teaches the first-year core course on Financial Management in the MBA Program at IIT Madras, and the introductory course on Financial Management for the B.Tech Program. His research, consulting and entrepreneurship engagements focuses on the areas of start-ups, venture capital and innovation. During 2009 – 18, he edited the annual India Venture Capital and Private Equity Report. He is also a co-founder of YNOS Venture Engine, a start-up set up to address the pain points of early-stage entrepreneurs. From 2017 – 2022, he was also an associate at the Mossavar Rahmani Center for Business and Government, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University. Between Aug – Dec 2022, he hosted India’s First LIVE chat show on Start-ups, The Start-up Junction, in Doordarshan Tamil, part of the National Broadcasting Network. He has been the recipient of the Fulbright Nehru Senior Research Fellowship, the Endeavour Executive Fellowship of the Government of Australia, and the Chevening Gurukul Fellowship.