Perplexity founder Aravind Srinivas shares number 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 it takes one key skill to be chief of a company — “make peace with problems existing”, i.e. the ability to accept imperfection.

Speaking at a recent Dean’s Speaker Series talk at UC Berkeley Haas, Srinivas shared his thoughts on the most important skill needed to be a CEO, Perplexity's products, his approach to the business and towards investors.

For example, for the AI company's funding rounds, the startup founder says he eschews presentations for direct Q&A sessions. He also shared that Perplexity thrives by releasing products that are 80% perfect and then improving by adapting to the market needs.

Perplexity's Aravind Srinivas on being a CEO…

Srinivas emphasised that learning to accept imperfection was a key learning in his journey with Perplexity. “I used to think every problem just needed to be fixed instantly. As the company has scaled, I have learned to make peace with some problems just existing. That is the number one skill you need as a CEO or a founder,” he stated.

The line of thinking also extends to his company, where Perplexity strives to release products that are 80% perfect, which can then be improved by quickly adapting to the developing AI market, he added.

Srinivas also believes that in a fast-paced industry such as AI, “There’s really nothing to lose from taking risks.”

Watch: Aravind Srinivas at UC Berkeley Haas

No pitch deck, Aravind Srinivas takes direct approach to investors

For meetings at Perplexity, Srinivas says he eschews presentations and decks for question-answer sessions. And the same approach carries with 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 is internal, not internal data, you can ask Perplexity. It already knows 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 venture as he is “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.”

He however added that he still has a “boss” now — 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 entreprenuership drives change. “I’ve always looked up to entrepreneurs. Driving change the way you think should be done can only be truly done as an entrepreneur,” he added.