Ryan Foutty (Perplexity): The New Era of Search PodKast #236

In this episode, we sit down with Ryan Foutty, VP of Business at Perplexity , to explore how AI is revolutionizing search. Ryan’s career has taken him from Uber to Lime, OpenSea, and now Perplexity, where he’s once again at the forefront of a major technological shift. He shares how Perplexity is moving beyond traditional search engines—delivering direct, sourced, and real-time answers to users worldwide. With $900 million in recent funding and 20 million daily searches, Perplexity is scaling fast. Ryan breaks down the challenges of distribution, user adoption, and global partnerships, including its strategic alliances with major telcos like Telefónica. We also dive into Perplexity’s unique business model, its rising enterprise adoption, and its next evolution: transitioning from an answer engine to an action engine—enabling users to not just find information, but also complete tasks like shopping, booking travel, and more. If you’re an entrepreneur, investor, or simply curious about the future of AI, this episode is packed with insights on building, scaling, and staying ahead of the curve in one of the most transformative fields today. 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Welcoming Ryan 04:23 Perplexity’s mission and $900M fundraising 05:54 Ryan’s background: Sports to startups 08:07 First startup experience at Fresh 10:30 Joining Uber and early challenges 12:53 Transition to Lime and OpenSea 16:25 Entering Perplexity and AI search innovation 20:58 How Perplexity AI search works 23:41 Real-time information & accuracy 26:25 Perplexity’s business model: Pro & API 29:08 B2B vs B2C strategy 31:52 Partnerships with telecom companies 35:17 Growth strategies and hiring approach 38:42 Perplexity Pro features and expansion 42:05 Speed & execution in startup culture 45:29 AI search, trust & source verification 48:57 Perplexity’s competition & future 52:21 AI-powered personalized recom

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Ryan Foutty (Perplexity): The New Era of Search PodKast #236 is an episode from PodKast de K Fund by K Fund.

This episode is 00:53:51 long.

This episode was published on Feb 7, 2025.

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