In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, some founders are beginning to redefine even the most traditional aspects of startup fundraising. One such example comes from Aravind Srinivas, the cofounder and chief executive officer of Perplexity, who has deliberately abandoned the conventional, often elaborate pitch decks and lengthy investor presentations in favor of AI-assisted communication. As he explained in a detailed interview with Berkeley Haas released on Saturday, the only time he ever prepared a traditional pitch deck was for his company’s Series A round — an experience he describes as both unique and definitive.
Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, publicly announced its $25.6 million Series A funding round in March 2023. In the startup world, such Series A rounds often mark a company’s transition from early-stage development to serious scaling efforts. Typical fundraising efforts rely heavily on pitch decks — visually organized slide presentations that aim to concisely communicate who the founders are, what problem their product intends to solve, how it performs financially, and why the company is worth investors’ attention. These decks have long been a sacred tradition in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, but Srinivas has taken a decidedly different route.
Describing his approach, Srinivas said, “I just write a memo and tell them they can ask whatever they want in a Q&A.” By opting for a written memo in place of a deck, he allows the discussion to evolve naturally around the investors’ curiosity. He further highlighted that, for any inquiries not directly tied to confidential internal metrics, potential backers can simply ask Perplexity itself — the AI platform that, in his words, “already knows everything.” This approach emphasizes an implicit trust in the technology his company builds while simultaneously showcasing its real-world capabilities.
Before launching Perplexity in 2022, Srinivas built a career as a researcher at both Google’s DeepMind and OpenAI, two of the most influential laboratories in artificial intelligence research. By 2023, his startup had already attracted substantial investor interest, drawing the attention — and capital — of high-profile backers such as SoftBank, Nvidia, and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Just a year later, reports indicated that Perplexity was seeking additional funding at a remarkable $20 billion post-money valuation, underscoring how rapidly the company has captured the market’s imagination.
During the recent Berkeley Haas interview, Srinivas also recounted details of how he managed investor relations during the latest fundraising round. Rather than scheduling multiple in-person meetings or crafting polished marketing materials, he instead hosted a Zoom webinar for one particularly significant investor. Throughout the session, he answered numerous questions on the spot, allowing his candid style and the platform’s capabilities to drive the conversation. Following the call, however, that investor sent him a comprehensive list of follow-up questions via email — the kind that, in traditional circumstances, might require hours of thoughtful manual replies.
Srinivas decided to approach the situation creatively: he copied the entire list of questions and inputted them directly into Perplexity, instructing the system to “answer it like Aravind.” The AI proceeded to generate a detailed response emulating his communication style and professional tone. Rather than rewriting or embellishing the text, Srinivas simply sent the automatically generated link to the investor, noting in his message, “See if this suffices; if not, I can add more context.” The investor’s reaction was unequivocally positive. As Srinivas recounted, “They said, ‘This is wonderful.’ And they wired the money the next day.”
While startups occasionally secure significant investment without the use of formal decks — often when their reputation or traction generates high inbound interest — such cases remain comparatively rare in Silicon Valley’s capital markets. Most entrepreneurs continue to rely on meticulously designed presentations as a way of signaling preparedness and professionalism. Nevertheless, Srinivas’s approach illustrates how rapidly evolving AI tools can streamline a process once considered intensely personal and labor-intensive.
Perplexity’s strategy is not entirely without precedent. Earlier in 2023, the workforce management startup Rippling also announced that it had completed a $45 million Series A financing round, led by prominent venture firm Kleiner Perkins, without employing a traditional pitch deck. In a blog post, Rippling detailed its use of an “Investor Memo,” a multipage written narrative that conveyed the company’s value proposition in prose form rather than bullet-point slides. The memo was complemented by forty-six slides of supporting data, including projections, methodologies, and performance metrics — all prepackaged and unified rather than dispersed across spreadsheets during the due diligence process. This alternative approach suggested a broader shift toward deeper, more narrative-driven fundraising methods.
Taken together, these examples reflect a subtle yet meaningful transformation in how early-stage companies engage with prospective investors. Founders like Srinivas are demonstrating that, in a world increasingly dominated by intelligent systems, authenticity, efficiency, and technological demonstration can sometimes carry as much persuasive power as a perfectly designed pitch deck. Whether this represents an emerging trend or a rare exception, it underscores how AI is beginning to influence not only the products startups build but also how those businesses tell their stories and secure the capital that fuels their growth.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/perplexity-ceo-ai-not-pitch-decks-fundraising-aravind-srinivas-2025-10
