Meet Aravind Srinivas, an Indian-origin entrepreneur and CEO of Perplexity AI. Since its launch in 2022, the company has gained attention of millions of people for its innovative approach in the field of search technology. The knowledge-centric organization has successfully generated a revenue of $9 million.
Early Life & Background of the Founder
Aravind Srinivas was born and raised in Chennai, India, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Since childhood, he has been passionate about entrepreneurship. Srinivas loves spending his time gaining knowledge and reading Wikipedia and encyclopedias. He was raised in an environment where knowledge was more valued than money.
He went to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras to earn a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. During this time, he developed an interest in machine learning. Further, he pursued graduate studies at the University of California, Berkley, where he learned about natural learning processing.
Later, he did an internship at Google-owned DeepMind in London. From there, he gained experience in advanced AI research and OpenAI.
In 2020, Srinivas secured a job as a research intern at Google, headquartered in Mountain View, California, where he focused on utilizing machine learning for computer vision. This opportunity helped Srinivas to continue advancing his research.
Putting Knowledge to Use: Perplexity AI
Aravind deep learning, expertise in natural language processing, and practical experience helped him develop AI-driven tools. In 2022 he co-founded Perplexity AI.
The tool uses a large language Model (LLM) to provide users with direct answers to their queries sourced from the web. If you ask any questions to perplexity, like for any nearby hotels, restaurants, beaches, etc., the tool will show you results in a small box.
The tool comes with both free and premium versions, and for its excellent features, it has raised $100 million in funding. Early-stage investors were Jeff Bezos, former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy, Balaji Srinivasan, former YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, Google Chief Scientist Jeff Dean, and more.
How Does it Work?
Perplexity AI uses a combination of advanced language models like GPT 3.5-turbo and GPT 4-turbo. In addition to this, it also used customized versions of Meta’s Llama AI model, Anthropics Claude, and Mistral AI’s model. This unique mix of technology sets the tool apart from other platforms. Its main focus is to provide a personalized search experience to its users.
Revenue & Strategic Management
The platform processes over 100 million queries in a week which generates an annual revenue of around $50 million. Founder Srinivas focused on building a diverse team with different skills to work well together. He prioritizes the recruitment of individuals who are good in areas where he is not. This strategy helped him avoid micromanaging his team.
The philosophy to create a product that’s not already out there helped Srinivas take to success. In just two years, the company succeeded in growing to $3 billion in value. Today, perplexity is a team of over 100 that are committed to delivering exceptional results.
The successful journey of Aravind is a result of hard work, determination, and confidence. Despite numerous challenges and failures, he remained focused. Today he serves as an inspiration for many individuals who are looking to transform their lives and make their name in the world of technology.
Later, he did an internship at Google-owned DeepMind in London. From there, he gained experience in advanced AI research and OpenAI