When you think about today’s AI giants—Google, OpenAI, Anthropic—you probably imagine massive research labs, armies of PhDs, and endless compute budgets. Perplexity AI, on the other hand, is… none of those things. And that’s exactly what makes their strategy so fascinating.
In a world obsessed with model sizes and benchmark scores, Perplexity is quietly trying something completely different: winning through distribution, not technology.
Let’s break down how this unconventional strategy works, why it might actually succeed, and where it could all fall apart.
1. Perplexity’s Core Strategy: Don’t Beat the Giants—Leverage Them
Instead of trying to out-engineer companies with effectively unlimited resources, Perplexity has made a surprisingly bold move: they’re not even trying to build the best foundational model.
They’re avoiding the AI model arms race.
The founders acknowledge that competing head-on with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic just isn’t realistic. The model race requires billions in capital and relentless R&D.
Perplexity is a “wrapper,” by design.
Rather than creating a foundational model, Perplexity pays other companies for access to theirs—OpenAI for one task, Anthropic for another, Google for something else [02:57]. Perplexity layers on UX, retrieval, and clever orchestration to provide a polished search-and-answer experience.
Think of them as the friendly interface built on top of the world’s best models.
So what game are they playing? Distribution.
Instead of technological superiority, Perplexity is building a two-sided marketplace—users on one end, publishers and partners on the other. Their advantage lies in getting onto as many devices, carriers, and platforms as possible.
And that takes us to their flywheel.
2. The Distribution Flywheel: Perplexity’s Real Engine
Perplexity’s growth strategy isn’t just partnerships—it’s a self-reinforcing ecosystem designed to scale rapidly.
Here’s how their flywheel works:
Step 1: Aggressive User Acquisition
They partner with telecom giants to put Perplexity into the hands of millions.
Example: A major deal with Airtel in India gives 36 crore (360 million) users a free 12-month Perplexity Pro subscription
This is the kind of growth most startups can only dream of.
Step 2: Device Partnerships to Remove Friction
The next step? Get Perplexity pre-installed.
Motorola deal: Perplexity will come baked into upcoming Motorola phones.
Samsung discussions: They’re reportedly trying to land an even bigger partnership.
If Perplexity is already there when you open your phone… you’re much more likely to use it.
Step 3: Negotiating Power Through Scale
With millions of users, Perplexity suddenly has leverage.
They can negotiate with publishers and content owners for better deals.
Think of it like: “We’ll send you millions of readers—just let us license your content.”
Step 4: Differentiation Through Exclusive Content
This leads directly to a unique selling point: bundled access to premium content.
Through “Comet Plus,” they’re paying publishers—Time, The Washington Post, and others—an 80% revenue share to unlock gated articles inside Perplexity.
Users get premium journalism without juggling 10 different subscriptions. Publishers get revenue and reach. Perplexity gets a moat.
Flywheel complete.
3. The Comet Browser: Not Faster, But Smarter (Kind Of)
Perplexity also released its own web browser, Comet. And here’s the funny part:
It’s not technically better than Chrome.
The browser is built on Chromium—the exact same open-source base used by Google Chrome [06:45]. So performance-wise, it’s basically Chrome with a new outfit.
The real differentiator: content access.
What actually makes Comet interesting is the premium content bundle it offers through Perplexity’s publisher partnerships.
You’re not switching browsers for speed—you’re switching because unlocking articles across dozens of publishers suddenly becomes seamless.
This locks the browser strategy directly back into the distribution flywheel.
4. The High-Risk, High-Reward Path Ahead
As creative as this strategy is, it also comes with some real risks. It’s almost a house of cards—if one pillar falls, the whole thing gets shaky.
Risk #1: Telecom users might not convert.
Airtel’s 36 crore users sound amazing… but how many will become paying customers once the free year ends? [08:06]
Risk #2: Publishers could pull the plug.
If publishers feel they’re not getting enough value or revenue, they could walk away—and Perplexity’s main differentiator disappears overnight [08:19].
Risk #3: Device partners could jump ship.
If Samsung or Motorola decide to partner with a competitor, Perplexity loses a major distribution advantage
Risk #4: No tech moat to fall back on.
Because Perplexity is a wrapper, not a foundation model company, it doesn’t have deep core technology to revert to if partnerships collapse.