Aravind Srinivas: Rejected by IIT Madras Computer Science, MIT and even his first startup — how setbacks shaped the Perplexity AI CEO's success

Aravind Srinivas' journey from repeated rejection to leading Perplexity AI highlights the power of resilience and continuous learning. After missing IIT Madras Computer Science, failing to change branches, facing academic and MIT rejections, and seeing his first startup collapse, he persevered through research at UC Berkeley and work at OpenAI, Google and DeepMind. Today, he encourages students to prioritise speed, lifelong learning and curiosity, proving setbacks can become stepping stones to extraordinary success.