Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has revealed two unconventional lessons he learned from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. Speaking on the “20VC” podcast recently, Aravind Srinivas said the two tech leaders shaped his views on entrepreneurship, risk-taking and long-term ambition. According to Srinivas, Jensen Huang operates Nvidia as if the company could fail at any moment despite its massive success, while Elon Musk focuses on building for a larger mission rather than personal wealth. The Perplexity cofounder said both lessons have influenced how he thinks about building and running a company in the fast-moving artificial intelligence industry.
Aravind Srinivas on lessons from Jensen Huang and Elon Musk
Aravind Srinivas said one of the most important lessons came from Jensen Huang’s approach to leadership. “Think about it. $5 trillion, guaranteed to make $500 billion in revenue in the next two years. He has the most advanced chips in the world,” Srinivas said about Nvidia.“And he operates with the mentality that he could be 30 days away from going out of business. That is what it takes to be Jensen Huang.”The Perplexity CEO said Tesla CEO Elon Musk taught him a different lesson — the importance of working toward a larger goal instead of focusing only on money. “If you look at his pay package for SpaceX, it’s structured around creating a colony on Mars with a million inhabitants,” Srinivas said.“It’s not motivating to be worth 10 trillion in net worth or something.”
Perplexity CEO says people should ‘work forever’
Aravind Srinivas also shared his views on work and retirement during the podcast. He said he does not support the idea of building a company, selling it and then stepping away from work after becoming wealthy.“You always need to be doing something,” Srinivas said. “You need to work forever.”Srinivas said work should be about more than money and suggested that continuing to build, create and contribute is important even after achieving financial success.