S 01 | Ep 49 Balancing Act Dmitri Shevelenko , Chief Business Officer at Perplexity AI , joins Alex for a conversation about building products people love , the art of timing in startups , and what it takes to compete at the highest level in the AI industry . Dmitri talks about his career path through Facebook , LinkedIn , and Uber , identifying a common thread across each stop , he only joined companies whose products he genuinely loved using himself . He explains how Perplexity arrived at exactly the right moment , when large language models became sophisticated enough to deliver natural language answers at speed , and why that timing made all the difference . Dmitri walks through the core product priorities of accuracy , speed , and readability , and how the team constantly balances those tensions to create an experience that saves users time while activating their natural curiosity . He discusses how a lean team with an obsessive focus on execution has allowed Perplexity to outpace much larger competitors , and why adding headcount often slows companies down rather than speeding them up . Dmitri also shares lessons from founding Tortoise , a robotics startup that ultimately did not succeed , and what that experience of pivoting , persevering , and eventually knowing when to stop taught him about resilience and ownership .