Perplexity founder Aravind Srinivas shares No. 1 skill needed to be CEO, and it’s not what you might think

Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity’s co-founder, president and CEO Aravind Srinivas believes that being the head of a company requires one key skill – “making peace with existing problems”, ie the ability to accept imperfection. During a recent Dean’s Speaker Series talk, Srinivas shared his thoughts on the most important skill needed to be a CEO, Perplexity’s products, his approach to the business and to investors. For example, for the AI ​​company’s funding rounds, the startup founder says he avoids pitches for live Q&A sessions. He also shared that Perplexity thrives on releasing products that are 80 percent perfect and then improving by adapting to market needs. Aravind Srinivas of Perplexity on being a CEO… Srinivas emphasized that learning to accept imperfection has been a key learning in his journey with Perplexity. “I used to think every problem just had to be solved immediately. As the company scaled, I learned to make peace with some problems that just exist. That’s the number one skill you need as a CEO or a founder,” he said. The line of thinking also extends to his company, where Perplexity strives to release products that are 80 percent perfect, which can then be improved by quickly adapting to the evolving AI market, he added. Srinivas also believes that in a fast-paced industry like AI, “there’s really nothing to lose if you take risks.” No pitch, Aravind Srinivas takes direct approach to investors. For meetings at Perplexity, Srinivas says he avoids presentations and decks for question-and-answer sessions. And the same approach applies to investors. “I’ve never done a pitch deck for any of the other Perplexity funding rounds. I just write a memo and I tell them, ‘You can do a Q&A and ask whatever you want. I’ll spend two hours with you, ask me all the questions you have, and we’re just going to pull the metrics for whatever you have and show you right there. And anything else that’s Perplex data can already know everything.’…I’m not exaggerating,” he told the audience. On being a “boss” and driving change as an entrepreneur, Srinivas said he started his own business because he was “unemployable”. He joked during the talk, “Some people are unemployable. They just don’t listen to what the boss tells them to do. I’m one of them.” However, he added that now he still has a “boss” – the customers. “Now, Perplexity’s customers are the boss. Every day I wake up, my phone has hundreds of these (messages) because I see across all these different social platforms, and that’s how I know, every day, there’s some work to do,” he added. The founder also believes that true entrepreneurship drives change. “I’ve always looked up to entrepreneurs. Driving change the way you think should be done can only really be done as an entrepreneur,” he added.

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