{"id":313412,"date":"2025-05-26T05:10:40","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T12:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/?p=313412"},"modified":"2025-05-24T11:33:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-24T18:33:27","slug":"perplexitys-cbo-speed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/perplexitys-cbo-speed\/","title":{"rendered":"Perplexity&#8217;s CBO:  Speed is The New Moat in AI Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">New!!  <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/perplexity_ai?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@perplexity_ai<\/a>&#39;s CBO <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dmitry140?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@dmitry140<\/a> + <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/samdblond?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@samdblond<\/a> on AI in Sales:<\/p>\n<p>\ud83c\udfc3\u200d\u2640\ufe0fYou Must Move Much Faster \ud83d\ude80<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; No excuse to not be moving much faster than 12 months ago <br \/>&#8211; Every question you&#39;d ask in a meeting you can just ask an AI in advance.  No excuses.<br \/>&#8211; No excuses to be doing\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NWjVbLL71C\">pic.twitter.com\/NWjVbLL71C<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jason \u2728\ud83d\udc7eSaaStr.Ai\u2728 Lemkin (@jasonlk) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jasonlk\/status\/1926339914821521655?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 24, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Perplexity&#8217;s CBO Dmitry Shevelenko joined Sam Blond ex-CEO of Brex at 2025 SaaStr + AI Summit for a deep dive on AI and Sales.\u00a0 More on the full session coming soon but this deep dive on being prepared for meeting prospects in the Age of AI was super interesting.<\/p>\n<h2><em>&#8220;Every question you would typically ask during a discovery call should now be asked of AI <strong>before<\/strong> the meeting.&#8221;<\/em><\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The 90-Minute Meeting Prep is Dead<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Here&#8217;s a hard truth every CRO, VP of Sales, AE and founder needs to hear: <strong>You have no excuse to not be moving faster.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">While you&#8217;re spending 2+ hours researching prospects, reading through LinkedIn profiles, and manually preparing for sales calls, your competitors are using AI to compress that same preparation into minutes. The result? They&#8217;re having more conversations, closing deals faster, and scaling their businesses while you&#8217;re still stuck in research mode.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Perplexity&#8217;s CBO shared how AI is revolutionizing meeting preparation\u2014and it&#8217;s not just about efficiency. It&#8217;s about unlocking what he calls &#8220;superpowers&#8221; that transform how founders approach every customer interaction.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Perplexity&#039;s CBO on AI Meeting Prep: Unlock Superpowers &amp; Transparency\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gAm99ZEC8oc?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The AI Meeting Prep Framework That Changed Everything<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The framework is deceptively simple but devastatingly effective:<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Step 1: Front-load Your Intelligence Gathering<\/strong><\/span> Every question you would typically ask during a discovery call should be asked of AI <em>before<\/em> the meeting. Think about it\u2014why are you learning basic information about a company&#8217;s challenges, their industry, or their recent moves in real-time during a precious 30-minute slot with a decision-maker?<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Step 2: Use the Time You Save to Go Deeper<\/strong><\/span> Here&#8217;s where most founders get it wrong. They think AI prep is about asking fewer questions. It&#8217;s actually about asking <em>better<\/em> questions. When you&#8217;re not burning meeting time on basic discovery, you can dig into the nuanced challenges, explore specific pain points, and have the kind of strategic conversation that actually moves deals forward.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Step 3: Show Your Work in Real-Time<\/strong><\/span> This is the power move that separates great founders from good ones. During the actual meeting, share your screen and ask AI questions about the prospect&#8217;s company live. &#8220;What are the biggest challenges Company X is facing right now? How have they tried to solve them?&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">Why This Approach is Pure Gold for B2B Sales<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Authenticity Through Transparency<\/strong><\/span>: When you&#8217;re using AI to research their challenges in real-time, and your solution naturally emerges as a fit, that&#8217;s not scripted\u2014that&#8217;s authentic. The prospect sees the discovery happening organically.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Credibility Through Intelligence<\/strong><\/span>: You&#8217;re not just another vendor with a pitch deck. You&#8217;re a strategic partner who comes prepared with deep insights about their business, industry, and specific challenges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Efficiency Through Preparation<\/strong><\/span>: You&#8217;re maximizing every minute of face-time with prospects by focusing on high-value strategic discussions rather than basic fact-finding.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Perplexity&#039;s CBO on AI Sales: Replacing Reps &amp; Building Trust\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AFmdudFVbOg?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The Timing Lesson Every Founder Must Learn<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Perplexity&#8217;s success story offers a crucial lesson about market timing and execution speed. Their CBO revealed something fascinating: if they had started six months earlier, GPT-3 wouldn&#8217;t have been good enough to create their magical AI + internet experience. Six months later, and someone else would be on stage talking about their success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">The window for competitive advantage is narrower than ever<\/span>.<\/strong> In today&#8217;s market, timing isn&#8217;t just about having the right product at the right moment\u2014it&#8217;s about executing at the right <em>speed<\/em> when that moment arrives.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">Beyond Meeting Prep: The Acceleration Mindset<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The meeting prep framework is just the beginning. The real transformation happens when you apply this acceleration mindset to every aspect of your startup:<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Prototyping and Concept Developmen<\/span>t<\/strong>: The rate at which you can prototype, test concepts, and gather feedback has been &#8220;dramatically accelerated.&#8221; What used to take weeks now takes hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Product Validation<\/strong><\/span>: Instead of spending months building something you think the market wants, you can rapidly test and iterate on concepts before committing significant resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Strategic Planning<\/strong><\/span>: Tools like Cursor for rapid development and emerging AI-powered project visualization tools mean you can explore multiple strategic directions simultaneously rather than sequentially.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The Mental Model That Changes Everything<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Here&#8217;s the framework every founder should be running through their head constantly:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>How can I do in one hour what used to take a day?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>How can I do in one day what used to take a week?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>How can I do in one week what used to take a month?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">This isn&#8217;t about working more hours\u2014it&#8217;s about leveraging AI to compress time-to-insight and time-to-action across every business function.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The Competitive Reality Check<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Your competitors are already doing this. While you&#8217;re debating whether AI tools are worth the investment or learning curve, founders who embrace these superpowers are:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-disc space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Having more qualified conversations per week<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Closing deals faster with better preparation<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Iterating on product concepts at unprecedented speed<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Building deeper relationships through more strategic interactions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The question isn&#8217;t whether you should adopt AI-powered meeting prep and business acceleration\u2014it&#8217;s whether you can afford not to.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">Getting Started: Your AI Meeting Prep Playbook<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>For Your Next Sales Call:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-decimal space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Prompt AI with: who you are, what your company does, who you&#8217;re meeting with, their role<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Ask: &#8220;How should we structure this call? What should I know going into this meeting?&#8221;<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Follow up with deeper questions about their specific challenges and recent company developments<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Prepare 3-5 strategic questions that go beyond basic discovery<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\"><strong>For Your Next Product Decision:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol class=\"[&amp;:not(:last-child)_ul]:pb-1 [&amp;:not(:last-child)_ol]:pb-1 list-decimal space-y-1.5 pl-7\">\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Use AI to rapidly prototype and visualize different concepts<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Generate multiple approaches to the same problem<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Get quick feedback on concepts before committing development resources<\/li>\n<li class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Compress your concept-to-feedback loop from weeks to hours<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2 class=\"text-xl font-bold text-text-100 mt-1 -mb-0.5\">The Bottom Line<\/h2>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">Speed is the new moat, and AI is the tool that builds it. Every founder now has access to superpowers that compress research time, accelerate decision-making, and enable deeper strategic thinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The founders who win in this new landscape won&#8217;t be the ones with the most resources or the biggest teams\u2014they&#8217;ll be the ones who move fastest while maintaining the highest quality of strategic thinking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"whitespace-normal break-words\">The tools are at your fingertips. Your competitors are already using them.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Perplexity&#039;s CBO on AI Meeting Prep: Unlock Superpowers &amp; Transparency\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gAm99ZEC8oc?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1&#038;origin=https:\/\/www.saastr.com\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-load-mode=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New!! @perplexity_ai&#39;s CBO @dmitry140 + @samdblond on AI in Sales: \ud83c\udfc3\u200d\u2640\ufe0fYou Must Move Much Faster \ud83d\ude80 &#8211; No excuse to not be moving much faster than 12 months ago &#8211; Every question you&#39;d ask in a meeting you can just ask an AI in advance. No excuses.&#8211; No excuses to be doing\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/NWjVbLL71C &mdash; Jason&#8230; <br \/><a class=\"more-link fade\" href=\"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/perplexitys-cbo-speed\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":313413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[]},"categories":[24898,31,24987],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-313412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ai","category-blog-posts","category-saastr-ai"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.saastr.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/cboperl-scaled.jpg?fit=1000%2C563&quality=70&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5oib2-1jx2","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313412"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313417,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313412\/revisions\/313417"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saastr.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}