In an era where artificial intelligence is transforming industries, Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas is reimagining even the way startups raise money. Instead of relying on the traditional pitch deck, Srinivas used his own AI product to secure funding—proving that innovation isn’t limited to what a company builds, but how it operates.
Speaking at the Dean’s Speaker Series at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, Srinivas shared that he has never used a conventional pitch deck beyond his company’s Series A funding round.
“After that, I just wrote a memo and invited investors to ask anything they wanted. If they needed deeper data, they could ask Perplexity—it already knows everything,” he explained.
His approach underscores how AI is reshaping startup culture, making processes faster, smarter, and more transparent. Instead of sending investors static slides, Srinivas encouraged them to interact directly with Perplexity’s system to get real-time answers to their questions.
During one recent funding round, a potential investor sent him a long email filled with follow-up queries. Instead of manually replying, Srinivas turned to Perplexity’s AI browser, Comet.
“I copied the entire email, put it into Perplexity, and said, ‘Answer it like Aravind.’ Then I replied to the investor with the Perplexity answer link and wrote: ‘See if this suffices. If not, I can add more context,’” Srinivas recounted.
The investor’s response? “This is wonderful,” followed by a swift transfer of funds the very next day.
The story perfectly captures how AI can enhance productivity and trust, even in high-stakes situations like fundraising. It replaces time-consuming manual exchanges with intelligent, conversational interactions—demonstrating what the future of communication between founders and investors might look like.
Perplexity AI, which has raised over $100 million from notable backers including Nvidia and Jeff Bezos, is positioning itself as a major challenger to Google Search. The San Francisco-based startup recently launched its own AI-powered browser, Comet, after initially exploring integrations with Google Chrome.
With his unconventional approach, Aravind Srinivas isn’t just building AI for the world—he’s using it to reshape how the business world itself works.
