In an eye-opening address at Y Combinator’s AI Startup School, Aravind Srinivas — CEO and co-founder of fast-growing AI startup Perplexity — delivered a powerful message that every aspiring entrepreneur should take to heart:“Big Tech will copy anything that works.”
With an audience full of undergraduates, postgraduates, and tech enthusiasts dreaming of launching their own AI ventures, Srinivas didn’t sugarcoat the reality of startup life in 2025. His message was clear: if you build something great, the tech giants will come for it. Your job is to stay faster, smarter, and closer to your users than they ever can.
Who is Aravind Srinivas?
Aravind Srinivas is one of the most dynamic names in the modern AI space. Aravind Srinivas, born June 7, 1994, in Madras, native of Chennai, India, Srinivas completed his B.Tech/M.Tech from IIT Madras and earned a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley under famed AI researcher Pieter Abbeel. Before founding Perplexity, he worked with some of the most elite institutions in artificial intelligence, including OpenAI, DeepMind, and Google Brain.
In 2022, he co-founded Perplexity AI with Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski — with a mission to create a next-generation answer engine that goes beyond the limitations of traditional search engines.
Since its inception, Perplexity has emerged as a powerful AI “answer engine” that provides real-time, sourced answers. As of June 2025, it processed over 780 million queries in a single month and raised a $500 million Series B funding round valuing the company at $14 billion.
What is Perplexity?
Perplexity is a real-time AI-powered answer engine launched in December 2022. Unlike pre-trained large language models that rely on outdated knowledge, Perplexity pulls live data from the internet and provides factually sourced answers to user queries.
Key Features:
- Real-time web search
- Cited sources
- Clean, conversational interface
- No login required for basic use
- Privacy-first experience
Its innovative browsing feature allowed users to access fresh, verified content rather than static responses — a functionality that quickly set Perplexity apart in the crowded AI landscape.
But innovation doesn’t go unnoticed for long.
The Warning: Big Tech Will Copy You
At the Y Combinator AI Startup School, Srinivas addressed the elephant in the room — imitation by tech giants.
“If your company can generate revenue in the hundreds of millions or even billions, you should always assume that a major player will try to copy it.”
He referenced his own experience at Perplexity, where the company pioneered real-time search in AI assistants — only to see Google’s Bard (Gemini) introduce the same feature three months later, followed by OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude in subsequent updates.
But rather than expressing frustration, Srinivas framed it as a marker of success.
“You will have to learn to live with that fear.”
Case Study: Perplexity’s Innovation and Industry Reaction
- December 2022: Perplexity launches with live web-browsing.
- March 2023: Google’s Bard (now Gemini) adds real-time search.
- May 2023: ChatGPT integrates web browsing via plugins.
- 2025: Anthropic’s Claude follows suit.
This rapid mimicry by industry behemoths reinforced Srinivas’s point — disruption attracts duplication.
What Startups Must Do to Survive
Srinivas laid out a survival plan for entrepreneurs:
1. Move Fast
- Speed is your first and best defense. Big Tech moves slowly despite their resources. Ship products quickly. Iterate even faster.
2. Be Original
- Copying is easy. Innovating is not. Focus on creating unique user experiences, niche capabilities, and differentiated features.
3. Build Trust
- Users stay loyal to brands they trust. Invest in transparency, consistency, and user privacy. Big Tech can clone your feature — not your community.
The Launch of Comet: Taking on Google Head-to-Head
In July 2025, Perplexity launched Comet, a powerful AI-driven browser designed to compete directly with Google Chrome and traditional search platforms.
Why Comet Matters:
- Integrates Perplexity’s real-time search
- Designed for knowledge work, research, and productivity
- Offers multi-tabbed AI interactions, summaries, and web integration
Srinivas made it clear that Comet isn’t just a chatbot in a browser — it’s a complete rethinking of how users interact with the web.
“Big Tech can’t just copy Comet the way they copied real-time search. We’ve architected something far more complex.”
Competition Intensifies: OpenAI’s Browser Move
Meanwhile, OpenAI is preparing to launch its own browser that merges chat and browsing capabilities — allowing users to perform tasks like making reservations, filling forms, and navigating websites within a chat interface.
This impending launch further validates Srinivas’s concern: every innovation invites a flood of imitation.
But the edge still lies with the original innovator — if they can stay ahead.
The Mindset Shift: Learn to Live with Fear
Srinivas’s message was not one of pessimism, but realism. He urged founders to embrace uncertainty and develop emotional stamina.
“Fear is not a sign of weakness — it’s a sign of relevance.”
Startups that wish to thrive in the AI age must treat fear as fuel — driving faster execution, deeper innovation, and stronger relationships with their users.
Advice to Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Here’s a summary of Srinivas’s advice for those entering the AI or tech space:
- Expect to be copied — It’s not ‘if’, but ‘when’.
- Don’t slow down — Speed and agility will be your moat.
- Keep building — Your momentum is your best defense.
- Trust your users — Brand and loyalty can’t be duplicated.
- Be independent — Don’t chase acquisition. Chase impact.
Final Thoughts: Innovation is Only the Beginning
Aravind Srinivas has lived through what every entrepreneur fears — building something incredible, only to watch it copied by giants. But instead of retreating, he built faster. He launched new products. He changed the game again.
“Disruption invites duplication, but resilience wins.”
For today’s startup founders, the lesson is clear: Success is about staying one step ahead, not about avoiding the chase.
Big Tech may copy your features — but they can’t clone your speed, your soul, or your story.