Family Dinner Recap: Raman Malik

On Wednesday, November 6th, The Garage welcomed Raman Malik, Kellogg ‘22 and Head of Growth at Perplexity, for Family Dinner. Raman, formerly the co-founder and CEO of Rhetoric—a platform for delivering persuasive presentations that raised over $4M in funding—brought his wealth of experience in data science, entrepreneurship, and growth strategy to the Residents of The Garage.

Raman opened the evening by sharing his journey, which began in data science consulting and evolved through roles at Lyft and his own startup, Rhetoric, before leading him to his current role at Perplexity. His diverse background, marked by successes and valuable lessons from failure, set the stage for a discussion on how AI is redefining industries and unlocking opportunities for entrepreneurs. A few of the most important points of the night were:

1. AI Literacy is Essential
   Raman emphasized the necessity of understanding AI as a transformative tool, particularly how Perplexity combines real-time search with large language models to deliver accurate and transparent answers. Developing AI literacy is key for leveraging the technology’s full potential.
2. Data-Driven Growth Strategies
   Drawing from his time at Lyft and Perplexity, Raman highlighted the importance of data in optimizing user acquisition and retention. He stressed, “If you want to understand if your product is working, you need to have a really good understanding of the data that’s happening within it.”
3. Embrace Failure and Experimentation
   The speaker encouraged students to take risks and learn from failure, calling it an essential part of the growth process. He shared, “If you don’t have a couple of failures under your belt, go get those failures.” His own startup journey provided him with valuable insights despite the challenges.
4. Vertical Thinking for AI Applications
   Raman urged attendees to explore how AI can transform specific industries, particularly those with mature structures. By applying large language models, it’s possible to uncover new opportunities and rethink existing systems for significant impact. Thinking about the gaps in already existing fields and then trying to think about them in terms of AI can be a great start to multiple ideas.
5. Differentiation in the Competitive Landscape
   During the dinner, the speaker also described how Perplexity’s combination of live search and LLMs ensures accurate, up-to-date, and transparent results, allowing Perplexity to innovate quickly.

Residents left the dinner inspired by Raman’s practical advice and forward-thinking perspective, ready to apply his insights to their own ventures. As always, the evening emphasized a sense of collaboration, community, and excitement about the future of entrepreneurship at The Garage.