Perplexity CTO Denis Yarats on AI-powered search

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that answers user questions. Founded in 2022 and valued at over $1B, Perplexity recently crossed 10M monthly active users and is growing fast.
In this episode, Sandhya Hegde chats with Denis Yarats, co-founder and CTO of Perplexity.
Join us as we discuss:
00:00 Reactions to Perplexity’s prototype in 2022
1:33 How Arvind and Denis started working together
4:04 Building a text-to-SQL tool initially
6:34 Launch of ChatGPT and pivot to general search
9:46 Focusing on user data, and not on the foundation model
14:43 Perplexity’s early adopters
16:42 Early customer feedback
18:44 Perplexity’s core technical competencies
22:44 Subscription pricing and future gross margins
25:12 Perplexity’s hardware partnerships
29:49 Future product vision
32:50 Advice for founders in the AI space
Sandhya Hegde is a General Partner at Unusual Ventures, leading investments in modern SaaS companies with a focus on AI. Previously an early executive at Amplitude, Sandhya is a product-led growth (PLG) coach and mentor. She can be reached at ⁠[e-mail]⁠.
Denis Yarats is the CTO and co-founder of Perplexity.
Unusual Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital firm designed from the ground up to give a distinct advantage to founders building the next generation of software companies. Unusual has invested in category-defining companies like Webflow, Arctic Wolf Networks, Carta, Robinhood, and Harness. Learn more about us at ⁠www.unusual.vc/⁠.

[@michael_haessig]

great question from the interviewer, got a new subscriber!

[@Hlbkomer]

Perplexity really stands out in the sea of AI contenders with the speed and reliability. Great chat!

[@bradtollefson4281]

um. i think you're amazing, Sandhya. Way to go!

[@ReflectionOcean]

By YouSum Live
00:00:20 Perplexity's journey from Text to SQL to general search.
00:01:33 Collaboration between Denis and Aravind from Facebook to Perplexity.
00:06:08 Transition from Text to SQL to focus on enhancing ChatGPT.
00:08:41 Decision to pivot to general search due to ChatGPT's success.
00:11:35 Data as the moat, not the model, for long-term success.
00:12:54 Importance of user data for model optimization and product improvement.
00:16:30 Targeting knowledge workers for a successful business model.
00:16:42 Early customer feedback shaping product direction for Perplexity.
00:18:45 Core competencies of speed and accuracy for Perplexity's success.
00:21:20 Optimizing model size for query efficiency.
00:21:39 Core competency: orchestrating LLMs for search optimization.
00:22:15 Subscription model focus: user time-saving, well-researched answers.
00:23:00 Increasing margins with scale and model efficiency improvements.
00:23:53 Potential future monetization avenues beyond subscriptions.
00:24:50 Leveraging hardware partnerships for distribution and innovation.
00:26:30 User-centric collaborations for enhanced product experiences.
00:31:12 Emphasis on speed and quality in product development.
00:32:50 Advice for AI startup founders: resilience, stability, strategic hiring.
By YouSum Live