I take Perplexity Computer for its first real spin and test five use cases that founders can use right now to make money and move faster. I connect my Gmail live, let the AI send cold outreach on my behalf, set up daily competitive intelligence monitoring, research 50 VCs for a mock Series A, and kick off a full investment memo on Shopify, all in a single session. By the end, I walk away genuinely impressed and convinced the $200/month Max plan can pay for itself with one closed deal.
Timestamps
00:00 – Intro
00:35 – What We’re Testing Today
02:35 – Use Case 1: Warm Outbound at Scale
15:31 – Use Case 2: Automated Competitive Intel
25:11 – Use Case 3: Investor Pipeline Research (50 VCs)
26:58 – Use Case 4: Turn a Podcast Into a Content Machine
31:39 – Use Case 5: Live Market Diligence (Shopify Investment Memo)
34:17 – Bonus: Additional Use Cases Worth Trying
36:06 – Closing Thoughts and Takeaways
Key Points
* Perplexity Computer runs multiple research tasks in parallel using sub-agents, skills, and tools — functioning like a virtual analyst working across the open internet.
* The cold outreach workflow found real email addresses, researched each prospect’s recent activity, and drafted hyper-personalized emails that reference specific details — then sent them through a connected Gmail account.
* Setting up recurring competitive intelligence monitoring (daily reports, weekly sponsor tracking) is where the tool shifts from a one-off assistant to a persistent agent running on autopilot.
* The VC pipeline research use case demonstrates how founders who lack a warm network can still build a structured, targeted investor list with fund sizes, thesis alignment, and partner contacts.
* At $200/month on the Max plan, the cost pays for itself if even one sponsorship deal or investor meeting closes from the outreach.
* The platform already supports connectors for Gmail, Google Drive, Slack, HubSpot, Ahrefs, Reddit, and more — making it a serious contender for centralized founder workflows.
Numbered Section Summaries
1. Setting the Stage: A Live, Unscripted Test
I make it clear up front that I have never used Perplexity Computer before. I ask it to generate five founder-specific use cases, and I commit to testing each one live so the audience can see exactly what works and what falls short.
2. Warm Outbound at Scale
I feed Perplexity a prompt to find companies that advertise on TBPN, identify the right contacts, and draft personalized cold emails for podcast sponsorships. The tool researches five companies in parallel, finds email addresses, and writes outreach that references each prospect’s recent tweets, interviews, and funding news.
3. Going Beyond the First Email
I push the tool further by asking it to target partnership and brand marketing leads instead of CEOs, set up follow-up sequences at day three and day seven, and build a recurring weekly monitor that catches new sponsors across competing tech podcasts the moment their budget is active.
4. Automated Competitive Intelligence
I set up a daily 8 AM monitoring task across five podcasts (My First Million, All In, TBPN, 20 VC, and Acquired). Perplexity checks for new episodes, guest announcements, pricing changes, and notable social media activity — then sends a report only when something meaningful changes.
5. Delivery and Notification Gaps
I probe whether the tool can send reports via email or iMessage. Email works through the Gmail connector, but iMessage is unavailable. I note that platforms like Lindy AI and OpenClaw have an edge here because they let you interact through iMessage, Telegram, and Discord.
6. Investor Pipeline Research
I role-play as the co-founder of Idea Browser raising a Series A. Instead of supplying a VC list, I ask Perplexity to identify the best-fit firms on its own. It maps the company to AI tools, creator economy, and community platform sectors, then researches firms like Bessemer and Union Square Ventures in parallel.
7. Live Market Diligence on Shopify
I request a full investment memo — financials, earnings highlights, margin comparisons against BigCommerce and Wix, analyst sentiment, bull and bear cases — compiled into a PDF with charts. The tool loads data visualization skills, pulls in CSV price history, and spins up sub-agents to build the report.
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